TROY News Center

August 31, 2011

Optimist Club of the Beaches donates $20,000 for new TROY scholarship
 

PANAMA CITY, Fla.—A new scholarship agreement between Troy University and the Optimist Club of the Beaches will provide financial support to local students who wish to study at TROY's Panama City Site.

Members of the Optimist Club formally presented a $20,000 donation to University officials during a ceremony on Monday, Aug. 29, at the Panama City Site. The gift will provide initial funding for the new endowed scholarship program.

The scholarship will help local students pursue their educational goals, said TROY Panama City Site Director Lisa Kitto.

"Our students are traditionally working adult learners with jobs and families who often have many obstacles in their way toward achieving their goals of earning a degree," Kitto said. "This new scholarship will aid our students in their quest toward a career of which they might only have dreamed if not for the support of the members of the Optimist Club."

Optimist Club member Mark Graham, who also serves on the scholarship committee, said the club aims to increase the educational opportunities available to local residents by investing in scholarships.

"Through our scholarship program—which we have now 19 full scholarships between 3 colleges—we hope to help people who will return to Bay County and become an asset to the community," Graham said. "We created this scholarship at TROY to provide our scholarship applicants with a wider selection of colleges to chose from and to help the TROY site here in Panama City."

During the ceremony, club members also presented the first scholarship to TROY student Takenya Lovette of Panama City. Lovette, who earned a bachelor's degree in psychology at TROY, is currently pursuing a master's degree in counseling/psychology.

A local committee will award scholarships from a pool of applicants who have demonstrated a need for support to fund their education. Recipients must be full-time students residing in the Panama City area and must maintain a 2.5 grade point average.

For more information about the scholarship, or to apply, contact the Panama City Site at (850) 747-0634.

August 31, 2011

TROY professors showcase research in new book
 

TROY -- The work of two Troy University professors will have an impact on conservation for decades to come.

Dr. Michael Woods, professor of botany and curator of the Troy Herbarium, and Dr. Alvin Diamond, assistant professor of biology, curator of the Troy Herbarium and director of the Arboretum, are co-authors of "The Annotated Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Alabama."

The book, which features the work of not only Woods and Diamond but six other experts from across the state, is the first comprehensive statewide checklist of vascular plants to be produced since 1901, and includes notes on rarity, nativity and selected synonyms. The combined total of 3,743 species and 1,120 genera in 204 families indicates considerable floristic variety and elevates Alabama high among states with great overall plant diversity

"It is exciting to know this book will be the baseline for all botanical studies conducted in Alabama for at least the next half-century," Woods said. "As plant research and discovery in Alabama continues forward, this list will prove useful to botanists, conservation biologists, ecologists and anyone interested in or working on vascular plants in Alabama."

Diamond said this book represents a tremendous amount of work to document the incredible diversity of plant life in Alabama.

"It will be an invaluable reference for anyone interested in plant biology and conservation for years to come," he said.

August 30, 2011

Troy University announces Dothan Campus scholarship recipients
 

DOTHAN—Troy University has announced scholarship recipients for the 2011-2012 academic year at the Dothan Campus.

Academic scholarships were awarded to 38 students this fall at the Dothan Campus. The recipients (separated by hometown) are:

Altha, FL
Andrew Johnson, Edgar Bernard McDaniel Memorial Scholarship, Accounting major

Bonifay, FL
Heidi Acuff, Edgar Bernard McDaniel Memorial Scholarship, Accounting major

Chipley, FL
Cortney Corbin, Broughton W. & Marion Connell Memorial Leadership Scholarship, Accounting major

Columbia, AL
Kaylee McLain, Broughton W. & Marion Connell Memorial Leadership Scholarship, Mathematics major
Micah Pelham, Douglas C. Patterson Leadership Scholarship, Elementary Education major

Dothan, AL
Sarah Anderson, Dean's Scholarship, Pre-Professional Biology major
Michelle Bauer, Student Affairs Scholarship, Applied Computer Science major
Nicolette Carter, National Alumni Association Scholarship, Accounting major
Keah Chambers, Broughton W. & Marion Connell Memorial Leadership Scholarship, Pre-Professional Biology major
Carmen Daniels, Broughton W. & Marion Connell Memorial Leadership Scholarship, Chemistry major
Samantha Deal, Sumter Hilman Majors, Jr. Memorial Scholarship, Elementary Education major
Ryan Denault, Community College Transfer Scholarship, Applied Computer Science major
Lauren Goolsby, Vice Chancellor Scholarship, Elementary Education major
Melanie Heney, Community College Transfer Scholarship, Elementary Education major
Joann Le, Associate Provost Scholarship, Pre-Professional Biology major
Melinda Murner, Community College Transfer Scholarship, Secondary Education/Mathematics major
Phillip Pinyan, Community College Transfer Scholarship, English major
Courtney Sanders, Broughton W. & Marion Connell Memorial Leadership Scholarship, Pre-Professional Biology major
Tiffany White, Jim and Glenda Rose Scholarship, Collaborative Education K-6 major

Enterprise, AL
Dejah Hess, Jack R. Sublette Memorial Scholarship, Applied Computer Science major

Fort Rucker, AL
Clara Latka, Broughton W. & Marion Connell Memorial Leadership Scholarship, Accounting major

Geneva, AL
Sabrina Crabtree, Student Affairs Scholarship, Collaborative Education K-6 major

Gordon, AL
Miranda Freeman, Community College Transfer Scholarship, Sociology major

Greenwood, FL
Russell Register, Vice Chancellor Scholarship, Secondary Education/History major

Hartford, AL
Adam McDougald, Broughton W. & Marion Connell Memorial Leadership Scholarship, Applied Computer Science major

Headland, AL
Whitney Davis, Community College Transfer Scholarship, Social Work major
Sara Martin, Dean's Scholarship, English major
Janice Nelson, Robert M. Paul Memorial Scholarship, English/Language Arts major

Malvern, AL
Casey Watters, Broughton W. & Marion Connell Memorial Leadership Scholarship, Community Counseling major

Ozark, AL
Anna Boynton, Student Affairs Scholarship, Secondary Education/English/Language Arts major
Jessica Echevarrias, Community College Transfer Scholarship, Elementary Education major
Debra Johnson, Phi Theta Kappa Transfer Scholarship, Human Services major
Emerson Viles, Associate Provost Scholarship, Mathematics major

Pinckard, AL
Ava McNab, George H. Malone Memorial Scholarship, General Business major

Slocomb, AL
Kacy Arnold, Student Affairs Scholarship, Elementary Education major
Drue Baxley, Dean's Scholarship, General Business major

Taylor, AL
Stephanie Flowers, Broughton W. & Marion Connell Memorial Leadership Scholarship, General Business major

Webb, AL
Stuart Jones, Broughton W. & Marion Connell Memorial Leadership Scholarship, Mathematics major

August 25, 2011

Rosa Parks Museum to host free lecture by artist E. Bruce Phillips

MONTGOMERY—Artist E. Bruce Phillips will discuss his exhibit "Different Perspectives" during a lecture at Troy University's Rosa Parks Museum on Saturday, Sept. 10.

The lecture will be held at 11 a.m. inside the museum auditorium. Admission is free and open to the public.

"Different Perspectives" is currently on display inside the Rosa Parks Museum exhibit hall through Oct. 4.

An assistant art professor at Tuskegee University, Phillips' work blends painting, drawing and collage techniques to create unique compositions celebrating human experiences and challenging social norms.

Produced over a three-year period, "Different Perspectives" features works of social commentary that take audiences on a journey filled with music and sound, dance and sports, human triumphs and frailties, and social injustices and inequities.

The exhibit hall at the Rosa Parks Museum is free and open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday. For more information about the exhibit or upcoming events, contact museum curator Viola Moten at (334) 241-8701.

August 24, 2011

TROY's Surveying and Geomatics Sciences Program earns national accreditation
 

TROY -- Troy University's Surveying and Geomatics Sciences Program has become one of the few in the country to receive national accreditation.

TROY received accreditation from the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), the premier accrediting body in the country for engineering and technologies, retroactive to Oct. 1, 2010.

"We are very excited about this," said Dr. James Rinehart, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. "This is yet another special accreditation within the College of Arts and Sciences and Troy University."

TROY's Surveying and Geomatics Sciences Program is the only one of its kind in the state of Alabama and one of less than about 30 in the country. Of those, fewer than 20 have been accredited.

"We've always been able to attract students regionally, but what this accreditation will do for us is attract students from the whole country," Rinehart said.

Dr. Steve Ramroop, program director, said this accreditation will give the program's students national and international opportunities.

"Our students can apply to take land survey exams anywhere in the U.S.," Ramroop said. "It's a measure of where we are in the program."

TROY began the accreditation process with an application, and then the program had to submit a thorough self-study report -- a report Rinehart said was noted by ABET as an exemplary self-study report at its national conference.

Rinehart said the program, which is offered as an undergraduate degree on the campus in Troy only, hopes to expand soon to graduate and certificate programs.

"It's a growing program, and we are honored to be the school of choice in the state of Alabama as far as geomatics studies goes," he said.

Both Rinehart and Ramroop contribute much of the program's success to its advisory board. Many members of the board are members of the Alabama Society of Professional Land Surveyors.

"They have provided tremendous support to our program since its inception," Ramroop said.

TROY has offered geomatics studies since 1998. During early Spring 2011, a team of five TROY geomatics students took top honors nationally in the 10th Annual National Society of Professional Surveyors Competition for a Hydrographic survey of the 45-acre Pike County Lake that included hydrographic and topographic studies combined to form a digitized bathymetric chart to complete the survey.