During the semester, Greek organizations sometimes become involved in unlawful or negative activity that requires consequential actions.

In order of increasing severity, the sanctions available for student organizations are warnings, specific restrictions, probation, suspension held in abeyance, interim suspension and most severely, expulsion.

The Office of Student Integrity (OSI), which oversees individual and organization activity on campus and issues sanctions, takes different factors into consideration before they reach decision on consequences for negative Greek activity.

“It’s not like we say that certain actions result in specific consequences,” said Peter Paquette, Director of OSI. “It is really the severity of what’s occurred and so questions that we would ask when we are deciding if groups need to be suspended is balancing needs of the group and campus, whether there is a risk in keeping them here or a history or do we feel like we can mediate behavior other ways. We really try to balance the campus, safety and the severity.”

Fraternities sometimes have direct or indirect involvements with negative or unlawful activity, such as vandalism, theft, distribution of alcohol to students under 21 and public disturbances through various means. Despite these
incidents, Tanner Marcantel, Director of Greek Affairs, states that good comes from these groups.

“Fraternities and sororities are student organizations that provide a home environment for their members,” Marcantel said. “They offer friendship, emotional support, and academic enrichment for their membership. Members of fraternities and sororities are afforded the opportunity to participate in intramural sports, campus-wide events, philanthropic efforts and community service projects. Last year Greek organizations gave 56,589 hours of their time to service work and donated $514,113 to charities.”

Concerning the improvement of student activity under Greek houses, Marcantel further states that Tech continuously interacts with Greek organizations to prevent negative activity.

“Tech is committed to holding all organizations accountable for any activities that are found in violation of the Student Code of Conduct and due process is followed to allow the students or student organizations a fair outcome,” Marcantel said. “Situations have occurred that resulted in OSI investigating and taking appropriate action, but Tech works with the fraternities and sororities very closely to educate members about issues before they become a Code of Conduct violation.”

With respect to Kappa Alpha’s suspension due to hazing, Paquette states that it was the right punishment. He also says that students can use conversation as a way to stop bad situations from occurring.

“I feel like it was an appropriate punishment,” Paquette said. “Across the country there have been unfortunate instances with fraternities and sororities, and I think that it often call for dialogue. Quite frankly, I think students should be the ones driving it and saying what they want to be happening on their campus or not. Students have a lot of ability to shape the culture of this place look like.”

On a regular basis, Greek groups, as well as other organizations, are expected to abide by the Student Code of Conduct and investigations are held to hold individuals and, in some cases, entire groups that are responsible for any violations in question.

At the beginning of October, Stamps and the GTPD began a prescription drug disposal service where students can safely throw away prescription drugs.

This initiative was started to prevent misuse of drugs on-campus or in the Atlanta community.

Illegal use of stimulant drugs on campus is recognized as a common issue that stressed students engage in. This drug disposal service is offered to tackle this issue and a secure manner.

“We certainly know that there is an abuse of prescription drugs in terms of stimulants, whether this will change it, I don’t know, but certainly, undisposed drugs on campus could find their way into circulation.

Some of these drugs have included Ritalin and Adderall,” said Dr. Gregory Moore, Senior Director of Stamps Health Services.

In the past, similar programs have been established under the GTPD and separate organizations at Tech, but the faculty at Stamps and the GTPD decided to hold drug disposal bins at the health center due to the consistent rate of traffic in the building.

Once the bins are full or ready for disposing, GTPD takes the drugs and dispose of them in a safe location.

In the past, drugs have been disposed of in inappropriate ways, so the disposal services serves as an alternative to other harmful drug disposal methods.

“There are a couple of problems with drugs that are out of date or no longer needed,” said Moore. “The common way in the past was flushing them down the toilet, but unfortunately drugs then get into the water supply and harm the environment and people who drink from the water supply. The second problem is that they can move into illegal circles of distribution within the community.”

Because most drugs on the black market come from medical cabinets within people’s houses, Stamps wishes that the service would prevent drugs from the Tech campus from entering the circulation.

“We hope that they use it,” said Moore. “Most college-aged students are generally healthy and do not have a lot of medicine around but we do find that illegal use and circulation can happen, even with antibiotics.”

The Stamps faculty understands that students often need specific drugs to treat their individual health concerns. They do maintain, though, that used drug prescriptions should be disposed of safely.

This academic year, Tech joined the Consortium to Promote Reflection in Engineering Education (CPREE) in an effort to improve the educational experiences of first and second year engineering students. The consortium, which is comprised of 12 universities and headed by the University of Washington, is funded by a $4.4 million grant from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust and aims to improve learning through reflection methods in class settings.

“It’s for advocating reflection in engineering education, so basically, we want our professors to have their students adopt reflective practices similar to what is done in the profession of engineering,” said Esther Jordan, Assistant Director of Programming at the Center for Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL). “The consortium defines it as giving meaning to prior experiences and determining how that meaning will guide future actions.”

The program emphasizes reflection as the main method for reinforcing learning for first and second year engineering students, and the program will attempt to focus on faculty who instruct introductory courses as well as engineering courses.

At Tech, Jordan and CETL plan to observe the faculty’s current teaching methods and exercises that promote reflection and, through the consortium, compare the best practices through discussions and planned events over a two year period. In general, the program will follow two steps to find the best methods of reflection.

“The first year, we will map what faculty are having their students do already on campus and look at the best practices and uses of reflection on campus,” Jordan said. “We are then going to report our findings to the consortium which will work together to create what they are calling a field guides to help best use reflection in your classes. Then with the second year of the grant, we will focus on promoting reflection.”

Once the field guide has been made, CETL will hold workshops for faculty to get Tech’s instructors to adopt the practices and ideas laid out in the guide. Another promotional idea is to maintain faculty learning communities where groups of 10 faculty members will meet every week or other week to discuss themes in teaching and learning.

“We will primarily reach out to instructors who are connected with first and second year engineering students in chemistry, biology, mathematics and basic engineering classes,” Jordan said. “Also, we will be participating [in] Teaching Day 2016 in March where we will involve faculty reporting on what they are doing and trying to promote reflective practices at that event. Usually, approximately 200 faculty attend that event.”

Jordan stated that the long term goal of the program is to better prepare student for professional settings, achieve their academic goals and successfully receive their degrees, and she believes that reflection is an important way to enhance those possibilities.

“The whole point is to improve their learning experience and better prepare them for professional practice in a career setting.”, said Jordan “Also, much of the literature shows that, through reflection, students are more likely to achieve learning that endures over time because you sit back, reflect and make connections which deeply affects memory and creates more enduring learning.”

program will follow two steps to find the best methods of reflection.

“The first year, we will map what faculty are having their students do already on campus and look at the best practices and uses of reflection on campus,” Jordan said. “We are then going to report our findings to the consortium which will work together to create what they are calling a field guides to help best use reflection in your classes. Then with the second year of the grant, we will focus on promoting reflection.”

Once the field guide has been made, CETL will hold workshops for faculty to get Tech’s instructors to adopt the practices and ideas laid out in the guide. Another promotional idea is to maintain faculty learning communities where groups of 10 faculty members will meet every week or other week to discuss themes in teaching and learning.

“We will primarily reach out to instructors who are connected with first and second year engineering students in chemistry, biology, mathematics and basic engineering classes,” Jordan said. “Also, we will be participating [in] Teaching Day 2016 in March where we will involve faculty reporting on what they are doing and trying to promote reflective practices at that event. Usually, approximately 200 faculty attend that event.”

Jordan stated that the long term goal of the program is to better prepare student for professional settings, achieve their academic goals and successfully receive their degrees, and she believes that reflection is an important way to enhance those possibilities.

“The whole point is to improve their learning experience and better prepare them for professional practice in a career setting.”, said Jordan “Also, much of the literature shows that, through reflection, students are more likely to achieve learning that endures over time because you sit back, reflect and make connections which deeply affects memory and creates more enduring learning.”

Jordan hopes that the Tech faculty will be onboard to accomplish the goals of CPREE.

This year, the Mental Health Portal was opened for the student body to provide students with continued access to Tech’s mental health resources and information. Mental health is a consistent concern among the student body, and Stamps Health along with SGA have attempted to make Tech’s resources more accessible and easier for students in need.

The mental health portal is one of the student resources recommended by Tech’s Mental Health Task Force, which was formed last year in response to a white paper by student leaders on campus.

“The white paper came out last year, and it talked about the environment at Tech and the stresses on students and offered recommendations,” said Dr. Shannon Croft, the Lead Psychiatrist at Stamps Health Center. “Some of the recommendations included offering availability for counseling services, alleviating pressures put on students and giving more resources for student success.”

Once Lynn Durham, Assistant Vice President and Chief of Staff to the President, organized the task force, 11 general recommendations were made to aid mental health concerns, including surveying types of students on campus, making a student wellness center, centralizing information on services for students and more.

The Mental Health Portal is one initiative by the task force, and the intention was to assist students who are hesitant about reaching out. In addition, student organizations, such as SGA, have offered input to this resource.

“The portal is designed to be an anonymous way students can see what resources are available to them,” said Brandie Banner, SGA Executive Vice-President. “Tech has many resources for students who are struggling, but in the past those students have been difficult to identify. I am confident the mental health portal will help students find the resources that best cater to their needs.”

Mental health concerns are very consistent at Tech and according to Croft, students experience a variety of serious personal dilemmas.

“At Tech, we see a number of serious situations that include crippling depression, anxiety that stops people from leaving their room, failing all classes or withdrawing from friends,” Croft said. “We have also observed destructive actions like smoking five times in a day, binge drinking, which has sadly become very common on campus, and, unfortunately, even suicide.”

Croft stated that Tech has at least one student who commits suicide each year and while the reasons are not always clear, he emphasized that balance is important for students and healthy living.

“The purpose of the mental health portal and what we really want are for Tech students to avail themselves to all of the resources available to them and get them to realize there is a lot of support at Tech,” Croft said. “The faster that we can intervene, the quicker we can act to avert any trouble.”

As a Tech student, Banner believes that the campus should strive to eliminate the common hesitation in reaching out for help. If students can overcome those obstacles, she states that they can only improve.

On August 15, Tech’s Honors Program bid farewell to Dr. Greg Nobles, its founding director, and welcomed its second director, Dr. Roberta Berry. Founded in 2004, the program is entering its ninth year.

Nobles had lead the program for eight years and taught in the School of History, Technology and Society since 1983. During his time at Tech, he has written four books and received various awards from prestigious academic groups. According to Nobles, he felt ready to transition to other endeavors and leave the Honors Program in what he believes to be capable hands.

“In deciding to step down, I felt that I had done most of what I wanted to do as founding director, and it was a good time to let someone else bring fresh energy and imagination to the position—which, again, I am confident Dr. Berry will do,” Nobles said. “I also wanted to have more time for my own research and writing and, above all, to finish a book I’ve been working on.”

Berry has worked and collaborated with Tech since 1999. During her time at Tech, she has taught in the School of Public Policy and contributed to a number of programs at Tech. For six years, she has directed Tech’s Pre-Law program and the Law, Science and Technology Program for more than 13 years.

She believes that Tech offers a variety of opportunities for students in terms of undergraduate studies, research and community involvement, and she hopes to promote them for students involved in the Honors Program.

Berry, who has worked as the Associate Professor in the School of Public Policy, wishes to introduce students to the various colleges at Tech and advocate involvement in different disciplines.

“One of my ideas is to develop a new foundational seminar for first-year students introducing them to some of the exciting learning and innovation underway in all six colleges,” Berry said. “The goal would be for students to expand their understanding and appreciation of our rich disciplinary diversity and to recognize and explore the interdisciplinary themes.”

Another idea for the Honors Program students involves establishing a set of curricular and co-curricular paths that allow students to accomplish organized projects and report the results during their senior year.

“These are ideas-in-progress,” Berry said. “My approach to directing the Honors Program is one of collaborative leadership, drawing on the ideas and creative energy of many contributors, including Honors Program students, alumni, faculty and professional staff, the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and the leadership team within the Office of Undergraduate Education and other programs and administrative offices across campus.”

On August 24, Dr. Berry was able to further interact with the new 2014 class at an orientation where Honors Program students created various designs for banners, murals, furniture and T-shirts for the Honors Program community. The students were assisted by the Honors Program Associate Director Dr. Monica Halka and the Honors Program Academic Advisor Nicole Leonard in many of the projects.

“It was fun and rewarding to plan and execute the event together with an enthusiastic, energetic and creative team,” Berry said. “Honors Program students also brainstormed project ideas, helped produce materials and served as facilitators at the event.”

Nobles stated that Berry is fortunate for the support from faculty and students involved and that she is bound to lead the program to greater things.

“I am happy to observe that the Honors Program still boasts an excellent staff, fine faculty colleagues and yet another terrific group of new students,” Nobles said. “Dr. Berry is fortunate to have this opportunity before her. I’m certain she appreciates that and I’m sure she’ll keep the program on an excellent trajectory.”

This academic year, the College of Computing is receiving a large increase in its Computer Science and Computational Media enrollment. Compared to last year, Computer Science enrollment has increased approximately 25% with over 300 more students. Also, Computational Media enrollment has increased by 65% compared to Fall 2011.

Many students understand that a high demand exists for skilled computationalists in today’s job market, and many students are searching for degrees in computational fields. Tech also has about 155 computer science minors for the current academic year.

If numbers continue to grow in major and minor enrollments under the College of Computing, the institute will consider hiring instructors to handle the demand.

“In the past few years we have hired additional instructors to handle the growth, not only in computing majors, but also in computing minors,” said Charles Isbell, Senior Associate Dean of the College of Computing and Professor in the School of Interactive Computing. “The Institute’s official numbers on student minors do not tell the whole story, because students are not required to declare a minor until just before they graduate.”

Despite the growing enrollment, the College of Computing will not receive any additional funding because the budgeting formula does not involve enrollment numbers, but the College plans to continue communication with the Institute for accommodations over time.

Isbell believes that Tech’s College of Computing stands out because the economy has an increasing need for people in computing skills and Tech’s rankings attract students on a national and international level.

The College of Computing is ranked 9th in the U.S. and by acknowledging its surrounding community, it has received increased attention in the marketplace. Many students see degrees from the College as beneficial additions to a resume.

“We are benefiting from a tremendous need for skilled computing talent, as more and more sectors of the economy rely on computing to drive business,” Isbell said. “It’s very hard to run a business in this day and age without an agile IT infrastructure, a web and social media presence or a connection to mobile computing. That being said, we like to think we do things pretty well in the College.”

Additionally, Isbell expressed gratitude to every student and faculty member involved in the College for the enrollment growth.

“We appreciate their energy and enthusiasm for computing, and we will do everything we can to provide them with the best possible computing education that any university can offer,” Isbell said.

“None of this would be possible without the commitment of our faculty,” Isbell said. “They truly care about the best undergraduate education. Our faculty are the biggest reason we are in the position we are.”

While summer is coming to a close, Tech is wrapping up its annual summer FASET program where newly acquired Tech students and transfer students come to learn about the campus, meet students and faculty and prepare for their first weeks of class.

Head of the program and FASET leaders prepared a variety of events for the students and parents,  such as skits, tours, games and discussions about the campus and college life.  FASET leaders take pride in their passion for Tech and enjoy interacting with new students.

“What stands out to me most about FASET is that we are such a diverse group, yet we have one thing in common, we are passionate about Tech. Besides FASET orientation sessions for freshman and transfer students, we have leadership training events, social outings and a retreat earlier this summer.” said Laurel Street, a FASET leader and fourth year BA major.

For many FASET leaders, hosting all the events and experiences for the students bring them back to the times when they attended FASET before their freshman year.

Most students remember energetic and excited FASET leaders who stood out in the road with foam fingers and lists of fun activites for the day.

Now, FASET leaders are reliving those moments themselves along with their fellow Tech students, and in turn, they are encouraging freshmen showing them everything that they need to know about Tech.

“When I went to FASET, I saw those leaders waving their foam fingers and signs and thought that I could never be on of them.” said Katherine Sorrentino, a FASET leader and 2nd year BME major. “After spending my first year at Tech, I have come to love this institute so much that I wanted to share it with everyone else. Being a FASET leader brought the whole thing full circle.”

Current members of the program believe that it takes the right mindset to be an effective leader for the incoming freshman or transfer group.

Some leaders intend to guide the people who visit Tech and show them how to succeed while they are here so that they can achieve their goals and graduate with career or postgraduate study. The leaders know their actions can make a difference.

“Being a FASET leader means having the potential to change lives, and as the sessions have gone by, I have realized how true this is.” said Andrea Vargas, FASET leader and 2nd year BA major. “We share our stories with these incoming students and show them how to start their college career on the right foot and how to avoid some crucial mistakes.”led

Most clubs in the summer retire until the returning fall semester, but DanceTech has tried to bring more activity to the summer by offering special dance clinics where students can

The dance organization is providing their clinic service to reach out to other students who are familiar with dance and want to get involved with other dancers on campus for stress relief and skill development.

“The summer clinics were classes created for summer students, who missed dance and wanted to release some stress. The classes were in contemporary, jazz, ballet, and hip hop, and the summer clinics were created to promote our company, provide a fun, stress-free experience, and give an opportunity for dancers to see how auditions will be held,” said Lauren Clark, president of Dance Tech.

Student in DanceTech participate and interact with a variety of dancers, and the club focuses on developing dancing skills and performing in at different events in the Atlanta area.

“DanceTech Performing Company was created to provide intermediate to advanced dancers with the opportunity to further their skills,as well as, perform for the community at local service events,” said Clark “Throughout the past year, we have performed at Homecoming’s Mock Rock, Fall De-Stress Week, MOVE’s Senior Prom, GT for the Kids’ Dance Marathon, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, GT Relay for Life, and our annual Spring Show. “

The organization has attempted to expand their marketing outreach in the summer and these clinics provide an opportunity to meet that goal. Also, the flow of new students for the upcoming academic year allows these attempts to succeed.

“DanceTech has focused hard on marketing our company this summer,” said Clark “We were dedicated to reach students who were on campus, as well as incoming students.”

In the coming Fall semester, DanceTech plans to hold auditions in the second week of the fall semester where they intend to look for dancer who are interested in joining their company and serving the community.

This summer, RoboJackets will be preparing for a summer full of different robotics contests and community outreach during the year. Many of the specialized teams for different competitions plan to use these events as competitive outlets and places of exposure to technical challenges in their fields of interest.

“Each competition we attend has a slightly different vibe, but as a whole, the robotics community tends to be friendly and supportive.” said President of RoboJackets, Ben Nuttle “When teams come together, everyone benefits, and you get tension of a sporting event but none of the hostility.

The club already began their summer competitive ventures at the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition in Rochester, Michigan where they had technical issues, but the team learned a lot from their fellow participants  and had fun along the way.

In July, another RoboJackets team is getting ready to participate in the robotics version of the World Cup, RoboCup. This international competiton in Brazil will pit robot teams in soccer matches, and it will give Tech students the opportunity to compete on an international level with other competitors who can share ideas and programming methods. In addition, Robojackets plan to visit Ontario, Canada for the International Autonomous Robot Racing Challenge in late July where they will putting their debut entry to race against other roboticists from various research labs, clubs and universities.

Outside of compeitions, RoboJackets will also plan for different outreach programs during the year, such as the Technology Enrichment Sessions in the fall and the First Robotics Competition in January. Members of RoboJackets want to take advantage of their involvement in these enriching events

“RoboJackets gives you the hands on experience you can only get with project-based engineering, while you diversify from your major and learn new skills and technologies.”, said Nuttle “Our ambition is never our limiting factor. Being in RoboJackets is as much a commitment as you wish to make of it.”

Starting March 22, Tech, Emory University and the Metro Atlanta Chamber, the founding groups, are presenting the first annual Atlanta Science Festival (ASF), which is an eight-day event with over one hundred events that celebrate science and technology in the surrounding Atlanta area and associated campuses.

“[The] events…include everything from the science of beer for adults at Monday Night Brewing Company to a superhero science night at the Children’s Museum,” said Meisa Salaita, from the Center for Chemical Evolution.

The mission of ASF is the recognition and celebration of STEM fields, and the festival aims to highlight Atlanta as leader in innovation, connect the public, institutions and local scientists, strengthen the bonds between science and humanities and expand the community of science enthusiasts.

“Atlanta has so much to celebrate in terms of science and engineering. Our universities and local companies are doing cutting edge research that we are excited to share with the community,” Salaita said. “In addition, we think it is so important to help instill a strong foundation and love of science in our young children to create the next generation of scientists, as well as show Atlanta adults how science is connected to everyday life.”

Salaita believes that Atlanta has the potential to shine and exhibit its potential as a scientific community, and, through this festival, many events will be held off of campuses at different locations where participants can learn and engage in STEM related events.

“I think this Festival is a real chance to see the city shine in terms of what it has to offer related to science,” Salaita said. “Attendees can watch a screening of Contagion and hear from the scientists who were involved in the creation of the film at the CDC, see a concert by an amputee drummer using a robotic arm developed at Georgia Tech and visit an in-town organic farm and learn about the science.”

The ASF is funded by a variety of organizations that include the founding partners and over 25 other partners, such as the Center for Chemical Evolution, the Mercer Health Sciences Center and other institutions, corporations and individual donors.

Salaita also mentions that children, as well as students and adults, are welcomed to the event because science is an integral part of our lives.

“Children will have countless opportunities to meet real scientists, learn about what they do, and actually get to do some science themselves,” Salaita said. “There are so many events and so many reasons to attend events that it is impossible to pinpoint just one reason. Mostly that they should come out to the week’s events and see the science that Atlanta has to showcase and how that science is connected to their everyday lives.”