Applications for on-campus student housing for the 2022-23 academic year will open in phases over the course of the next few weeks. For rising second-year students, it will open on Jan. 31. For all other current residents, it will open on Feb. 14. Finally, it will be open to all students starting Feb. 21.

For this upcoming year, however, expected first-year enrollment is much higher than it was in previous years. The Department of Housing and Residence Life has announced its plans to allocate more space than there were in previous years to accommodate first-years, effectively reducing on-campus housing opportunities for upperclassmen. 

In fact, the administration expects that there will not be enough space for the predicted number of current residents who want to stay on-campus for the upcoming year, even if they register on time.

“We anticipate that we’ll have to start the waitlist earlier than we’ve ever had to start it, during this early spring application timeline,” said Kari White, interim associate director for Housing and Residence Life Administration. 

She encouraged students who absolutely need to live on-campus in the upcoming year to apply as soon as their phase opens. 

“If you apply and are not placed on the waitlist, then you will have a place in housing. We’re using the available beds we have … and matching that up with the number of students who apply,” White said. “Once we reach capacity, we turn the waitlist on. It is a first-come, first-serve [system], but what we have done is phased it so that students who meet these certain criteria can apply by certain dates.” 

The biggest group of students that is given primary consideration for on-campus housing is undergraduate first-years. In the upcoming school year, there are expected to be about 3,450 incoming first-years, as compared to the 3,210 who joined at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year. 

This number has been steadily increasing for the past few years. It is especially significant because an average of 96% of incoming first-year students have chosen to live on-campus over the past 10 years (not including the years impacted by COVID-19).

To accommodate the substantial influx of students, traditional halls such as Fulmer Hall, which typically housed a mix of transfer students and first-year students, will be converted to first-year only.

Even as upperclassmen, many students prefer on-campus housing for a variety of reasons. It provides proximity to classes and campus resources, as well as an environment in which it can be easy to meet students and partake in social activities.

Seniors who plan to graduate in December, students who intend to study abroad in the spring and who plan to co-op or intern in the spring are among those for whom on-campus housing is helpful. 

It can be easier to cancel an on-campus lease in the middle of the school year as opposed to an off-campus one. Housing and Residence Life stresses that it is simply the responsibility of those students to apply for housing as soon as they can.

“We don’t know in the springtime who those students are, so it will be up to students who that applies to to get their applications in early,” White said. 

“When we get down to July, and we have space available and our waitlist is cleaned up, then there might be an opportunity, but the message to you all is if that applies to you, you need to apply as soon as your phase opens.”

New transfers, new graduate students, rising second-years and need-based students are some of the other groups of students who are likely to opt for on-campus housing.

“Since we do know who these other students are (need-based, rising second-years, new grad, new transfer and first-year), we’ve already made our process to accommodate [them] as much as we can … We are using the phased approach of the application itself to meet the needs of our primary considerations for students,” White said. 

More information about the timeline for housing applications can be found at housing.gatech.edu.

After a year transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic, during which the Georgia Tech Library was compelled to shift most of its resources and services to a digital format, the Library is finally welcoming back its Core Collection of physical books. The collection has been missing from the Institute’s library since renovations on Price Gilbert began in 2017, but were not brought back until now due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Judge S. Price Gilbert Memorial Library, the Popular Reading collection can now be found on the first floor; the Psychology, Social Science, Architecture and Fine Arts collection on the second; the Literature and Science collection on the third and the Medicine, Engineering and Technology collection on the fourth.

The initiative to bring books back onto the shelves of the library started when vaccines were made available to Tech students, faculty and staff, as the school pushed for more in-person activities and classes in general. The return of the books was seen as a way to reengage students with school in a physical way following over a year of quarantine.

Towards the end of June 2021, to kick off the books’ journey back to the library, President Ángel Cabrera and Provost Steven McLaughlin helped place some of the first books back on shelves. These books belonged to the science fiction collection, which can be found in the Science Fiction Lounge on the first floor of Crosland Tower. The Library has continued to provide e-resources for the Tech community throughout the pandemic.

When course instruction was mostly online and most activities at Tech had adopted a virtual format, these digital resources were crucial for research and for classes to be able to continue smoothly. Scheduled visits and consultations with staff such as librarians, archivists and public service associates also continued virtually.

With the increased need for e-resources, the library also expanded on its online resources, accessible to all students, staff and faculty, in May 2021.

The Library now holds more than 30,000 physical volumes, as well as over 900,000 titles in cold storage at the Library Service Center.

There are a total of 1.2 million items in the library’s circulating collection, which includes books, eBooks, music and movies.

Since a large portion of this physical collection is stored in partnership with Emory University, students, staff and faculty can access items from Emory’s multi-million volume collection as well. More information regarding the resources offered by the Library and how to access them can be found at library.gatech.edu.

In addition to its online resources and the physical books that are back on shelves, the Library is also offering a variety of free online and in-person workshops and activities for students and staff.

One of the upcoming workshops is an online EndNote 20 workshop on Tuesday, Sept. 28 from 4 to 5 p.m., which is intended to familiarize attendees with EndNote 20, a powerful bibliographic tool that can help with the research process.

Another is an Adobe Illustrator workshop Wednesday, Sept. 29 from 4 to 6 p.m., which will help attendees learn the interface and learn about features and tools within Illustrator.

More information about the return of the books and library services can be found on the Tech Library website and social media at library.gatech.edu.

On Friday, Feb. 12, as a part of their Well-Being Weekly series, GT Health Initiatives held a one-hour workshop, “Flavorful Fridays.” The theme of the week’s program was healthy relationships.

During the workshop, dietician Amber Johnson and health educator Deontez Wimbley discussed having a healthy diet and maintaining healthy relationships as Wimbley demonstrated a few heart-healthy recipes.

Although, in the past, the Health Initiatives’ dieticians used to hold this event in-person in the Student Center healthy space, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the workshop was held online over Instagram Live.

As Wimbley went through the recipes for oven-baked salmon, cucumber salad and baked potatoes, Johnson chimed in and provided information about the nutritional values of the different ingredients and the benefits that consuming them could yield.

“I think we commonly know [salmon] as a lean healthy form of protein, but what some folks might not know is that it’s also a really great source of Omega-3 fatty acids,” Johnson said, “and those not only help support your mental health, but they also keep inflammation low [and] keep your heart feeling healthy.”

One of the goals that Johnson and Wimbley expressed they had was to de-stigmatize fats and carbs.

“Fats are not a bad thing, we need them. Fats are responsible for the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins … [and] from a taste perspective, fat makes things taste good,” said Johnson. “Eat your fats. That’s our takeaway.”

Wimbley then turned the conversation towards a different topic, his three P’s for cooking and healthy relationships.

“One: any good relationship, even any good cook, requires practice,” Wimbley said. “So it’s the continued repetition of trying something new, making a mistake, admitting the mistake, recognizing what went wrong and trying again, and really having that flow within our relationships as well as within our cooking that can really help us advance towards a more healthy … life.”

Johnson expressed the importance of not being too hard on oneself.

She mentions framing failures as learning opportunities rather than simply deciding to never attempt the task associated with the failure again.

“Every recipe has a different process and every relationship has a different process,” Wimbley said.

Wembley was referring to the second of his three P’s, which stood for the process.

“What you want to do is you want to learn the process that makes it the most successful recipe and the most successful relationship,” Wimbley said. “There’s all different types of processes, but you want to find the process that works best for you.”

Wembley concluded his advice with his final P which stands
for patience.

“The process really leads us into half the conversation about patience… Just being willing to go at the best pace for the best outcome. You really don’t want to rush the recipe,” Wimbley said.

Wimbley and the VOICE team can be reached either through email at voice@gatech.edu or through the website voice.gatech.edu.

The team of two registered dieticians on staff, including Johnson herself, can be reached through email at nutrition@gatech.edu.

Students can also visit the website nutrition.gatech.edu.

“Thank you for being here and showing us how to create a delicious meal and teaching us all about what healthy relationships can look like,” Johnson said. “Knowing that it doesn’t start at perfect, and that they all take work, continuously, is a good message to hear.”

Additional programs in the Well-Being series include Mindful Mondays, TEDxTalk Tuesdays, Well-Being Wednesdays and VOICE Message Thursdays.

On Friday, Feb. 12, as a part of their Well-Being Weekly series, GT Health Initiatives held a one-hour workshop, “Flavorful Fridays.” The theme of the week’s program was healthy relationships.

During the workshop, dietician Amber Johnson and health educator Deontez Wimbley discussed having a healthy diet and maintaining healthy relationships as Wimbley demonstrated a few heart-healthy recipes.

Although, in the past, the Health Initiatives’ dieticians used to hold this event in-person in the Student Center healthy space, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the workshop was held online over Instagram Live.

As Wimbley went through the recipes for oven-baked salmon, cucumber salad and baked potatoes, Johnson chimed in and provided information about the nutritional values of the different ingredients and the benefits that consuming them could yield.

“I think we commonly know [salmon] as a lean healthy form of protein, but what some folks might not know is that it’s also a really great source of Omega-3 fatty acids,” Johnson said, “and those not only help support your mental health, but they also keep inflammation low [and] keep your heart feeling healthy.”

One of the goals that Johnson and Wimbley expressed they had was to de-stigmatize fats and carbs.

“Fats are not a bad thing, we need them. Fats are responsible for the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins … [and] from a taste perspective, fat makes things taste good,” said Johnson. “Eat your fats. That’s our takeaway.”

Wimbley then turned the conversation towards a different topic, his three P’s for cooking and healthy relationships.

“One: any good relationship, even any good cook, requires practice,” Wimbley said. “So it’s the continued repetition of trying something new, making a mistake, admitting the mistake, recognizing what went wrong and trying again, and really having that flow within our relationships as well as within our cooking that can really help us advance towards a more healthy … life.”

Johnson expressed the importance of not being too hard on oneself.

She mentions framing failures as learning opportunities rather than simply deciding to never attempt the task associated with the failure again.

“Every recipe has a different process and every relationship has a different process,” Wimbley said.

Wembley was referring to the second of his three P’s, which stood for the process.

“What you want to do is you want to learn the process that makes it the most successful recipe and the most successful relationship,” Wimbley said. “There’s all different types of processes, but you want to find the process that works best for you.”

Wembley concluded his advice with his final P which stands
for patience.

“The process really leads us into half the conversation about patience… Just being willing to go at the best pace for the best outcome. You really don’t want to rush the recipe,” Wimbley said.

Wimbley and the VOICE team can be reached either through email at voice@gatech.edu or through the website voice.gatech.edu.

The team of two registered dieticians on staff, including Johnson herself, can be reached through email at nutrition@gatech.edu.

Students can also visit the website nutrition.gatech.edu.

“Thank you for being here and showing us how to create a delicious meal and teaching us all about what healthy relationships can look like,” Johnson said. “Knowing that it doesn’t start at perfect, and that they all take work, continuously, is a good message to hear.”

Additional programs in the Well-Being series include Mindful Mondays, TEDxTalk Tuesdays, Well-Being Wednesdays and VOICE Message Thursdays.

At five years old, Melissa Nord was terrified of thunderstorms. Now, she is an Emmy-winning certified broadcast meteorologist, having covered everything from winter storms to tornado outbreaks.

Nord recently joined 11Alive News in Atlanta as their weekend morning meteorologist.

“It’s been a dream of mine to come back home to Atlanta to forecast,” Nord said.

Growing up, Nord was intrigued by the weather channel coverage, to the point where, even as a child.

She would sometimes stay at home and watch it instead of going outside and playing.

“I saw these meteorologists, these scientists talking about the different aspects of each storm and they were standing outside in the elements, not scared, but [rather] informing people of what to expect,” Nord said. “My fear grew into fascination … that’s why I got interested in weather.”

Nord grew up in the Atlanta area and attended Tech for her undergraduate degree in EAS.

“I think what’s great about the EAS program at Georgia Tech is you have so many options,” Nord said. “You really [get] to find your niche and what you [are] interested in and [are] not interested in and I landed upon broadcasting.”

During her time at Tech, being involved with the Tech Cable Network, where she started a weekly weather forecast, gaining experience from her internships and being pushed out of her comfort zone in her synoptic meteorology class were some of the things that Nord believes helped her in her future career.

“I think that class in combination with the cable network really prepared me to not only understand the science and talk about the science in a professional manner, but also communicate it on television,” Nord said.

It was once she started working in her internships that Nord felt she realized all that went into doing forecasts for TV.

“Every single microclimate that you forecast in all the different areas of the country, [they] all have different challenges,” Nord said. “So you have to re-learn how to forecast in those places.”

Looking back, Nord believed that her first job was quite tough.

“I think once you get past those first jobs where you kind of pay your dues, where it’s rougher than normal, you find a good balance where you really enjoy what you’re doing professionally, but you also [can] still make up for time lost with family,” Nord said.

Nord feels that having good relationships with family members and maintaining close friendships is a value that has been really important to her throughout her journey.

“Life is short and you need to spend time with your family,” Nord said. “It’s better to have, I think, fewer good relationships than a bunch of superficial, surface-level relationships … I think that we can do all we want in our careers, but at the end of the day, that’s just one part of your life. If you don’t have happiness, what’s the point, right?”

Reflecting on her own career so far, Nord is thankful that she has been able to really come into her own.

Although when she graduated, she was equipped with lots of knowledge, it was growing into who she is as a scientist and a communicator that was important to her.

“I think that I’ve developed my own craft and style of doing things in the last few years and let my personality come out,” Nord said.

Nord is also very grateful that she seems to have found the perfect niche for who she is.

“I always thought, if I don’t go into weather, I want to be a teacher,” Nord said.

Within broadcast meteorology, Nord is able to combine her passion for science with teaching.

She gets to do community outreach, including visiting schools and community outreach.

“I think it’s most rewarding to me when I inspire someone to be interested in the science of the weather,” Nord said. “I think weather resonates with a lot of people and I just fell in love with it.”

On Thursday, Jan. 14, Tech hosted the 10th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Lecture, this year featuring Nikole Hannah-Jones.

Hannah-Jones is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, a staff writer for The New York Times, as well as the creator of “The 1619 Project”, which she said was what her work, her career and her academic trajectory had all culminated in.

The event was sponsored by Institute Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (IDEI) and the Division of Student Life as a part of Tech’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration.

It began with a brief introduction by Archie Ervin, vice president of IDEI, who introduced the guest speaker Hannah-Jones, as well as Pearl Alexander, executive director of Staff Diversity, Inclusion, and Engagement.

Afterwards, a conversation unfolded about Hannah-Jones’ career, her coverage of racial injustice and “The 1619 Project.”

Hannah-Jones started off by describing how the project came to be and what it meant to her.

“I had been thinking about it for a few years since I was in high school … I have really spent a lot of my career trying to show that the legacy of slavery and anti-blackness shapes so much of the institutions we see in this country,” Hannah-Jones said.

The project relates the past to the present in a multitude of ways.

“I wanted to show that nothing about modern American life, or very little, anyway, has been left untouched by the legacy of slavery, and that’s really what this … project was aimed to do,” Hannah-Jones said.

She explained that both the project and her podcast, related to her project, were meant to point out how fragile democracy is. Additionally, it points out how American democracy is a lot younger than is commonly believed.

“What the project does … is it takes all of the areas of American life, which are really some of the ‘pinnacles’ of American life … and it actually shows how they are linked to slavery,” said Hannah-Jones.

She further expounded upon the rationale behind her project.

“I think … what’s important is to explicate, what is the role of popular history or national history that we’re taught?” Hannah-Jones said. “It’s not actually just to tell us what happened, it’s to make us think about our country and ourselves in a very particular way. And, therefore, facts that service that narrative are lifted up, and facts that detract from that narrative are either played down or rendered invisible altogether.”

Hannah-Jones emphasizes the importance of who is telling stories.

“What we showed with The 1619 [project] is the power of narrative,” Hannah-Jones said. “It’s the power of who gets to tell the stories in this country, and who shapes our perception.”

When asked by Alexander what her response to some of the criticism garnered by her project was, Hannah-Jones pointed out that some of the criticism was legitimate, but she explained some criticism some of it was illegitimate and political.

She mentioned that given the size of the project as well as the nature of creating in general, she had to be open to the fact that not everything in it was perfect, and that there were arguments she could have made stronger, or in hindsight, would have made differently.

Towards the end of the lecture, she answered some questions sent in by those in the audience.

Hannah-Jones advised students and educators to be active in learning the parts of history that might not have otherwise been taught to them.

President Ángel Cabrera then offered his closing remarks.

“As much as historians can work on telling us the facts, sometimes it takes … a storyteller to reframe those facts, to tell the story in a different way that helps us connect the dots… I think that your contribution is really, really important,” Cabrera said.

Archie Ervin shared some of his thoughts on moving forward.

“Martin Luther King once said, ‘The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice,’” said Ervin. “My professional work has been around building capacity for inclusion, and that involves many disciplines … I am optimistic that we have the capability to evolve. I’m not saying that it’s easy, or it will be easy, but I am ever, ever, hopeful.”