Newspaper Page Text
20th ANNUAL KISS-A-PIG GALA
Presented By: Piggly Wiggly
Saturday, May 19, 2012
at Hyatt Regency Island of Savannah
A
Ame‘.car- PutaBtei
PRSRT STD
U.S POSTAGE
PAID
Savannah. GA
Permit No. 923
“GEORGIA’S BEST WEEKLY’
1805 MLK Jr. Blvd.
Savannah, Ga 31415
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
abannaf) tribune
May 16,2012- May 22,2012 • Vol. 41 No. 11 • 912-233-6128 • Fax: 912-233-6140
f
Dozier Named
President of
Savannah State
University
Dr. Cheryl Davenport Dozier
Dr. Cheryl Davenport
Dozier has been named by
the University System of
Georgia Board of Regents as
the permanent president of
Savannah State University.
The regents’ decision fol
lowed a recommendation by
USG Chancellor Hank
Huckaby and ends the inter
im status she has held at
SSU since April of 2011.
“Dr. Dozier has
demonstrated a great capaci
ty for leadership and a clear
ability to unite the campus
and the community,” said
Huckaby. “Her work as
interim has been impressive
and it is the right decision to
allow her the opportunity to
provide permanent leader
ship for the University.”
In expressing apprecia
tion to the board and chan
cellor for their confidence in
her leadership, Dozier said,
“I am proud of the progress
that has been made thus far
but the pursuit of excellence
is far from over. With the
commitment, engagement
and involvement of all of our
stakeholders, I am certain
that Savannah State
University will continue to
thrive and flourish as it ful
fills its mission to develop
productive members of a
global society.”
Since taking charge as
interim president, Dozier has
launched a number of pro
grams dealing with improv
ing graduation and retention
Continued on pg. 11
rates, customer service, and
strengthening external rela
tionships.
For example, Dozier
launched the “Closing the
Gap” initiative, which pro
vides one-time financial
assistance to graduating sen
iors who have an outstand
ing balance of S1,500 or less
and exhausted all other
financial aid options. The
program aims to ensure
deserving students are able
to successfully complete
their Savannah State
University education despite
any last-minute financial
crises or hardships that may
threaten their graduation.
Prior to being named
interim president at
Savannah State, Dozier
served as associate provost
for Institutional Diversity at
the University of Georgia
from 2006-2011 and assis
tant vice president of
Academic Affairs at the
Gwinnett University Center
from 2002-2006. She is a
tenured Professor in the
School of Social Work.
She is the co-principal
investigator for the Peach
State Louis Stokes Alliance
for Minority Participation, a
$10 million National
Science Foundation (NSF)
funded program at UGA that
broadens the participation of
minority students in Science,
Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics at SSU and
six other USG institutions.
Local Students Start New Peer-Driven
Safety Program
Stacey Tisdale, Cayana McLeod, Bryanna O’Reilly, Tierra Brown, Bernie Fette
By :Reed Shindell Student Intern Hilton Head Christian Academy
A large percentage of according to a recent survey, Seat® program to help each
local teens admit to engaging so they've launched the peer- other become safer drivers,
in risky driving habits, to-peer Teens in the Driver More than 60,000 teen driv
ers in Georgia each year are
involved in traffic crashes,
by far the number-one killer
of young people.
“Jenkins was selected
to participate in this program
because Chatham County has
an unusual high rate of crash
es among teenage drivers,
said Bernie Fette, Public
Affairs Director of Texas
Transportation Institute.”
Researchers attribute
the crashes to inexperience,
combined with one or more
of the five main risks that
plague young drivers: driv
ing at night, distractions (pri-
Continued on pg. 11
Hitch Village to be Transformed by East
Savannah Gateway Project
T he Hitch Village pub
lic housing neighbor
hood, a staple in
Savannah’s eastside commu
nity for 55 years, will pro
vide the focus for East
Savannah Gateway, a neigh
borhood transformation
headed by the Housing
Authority of Savannah and
its community partners, as a
renaissance of the Wheaton
Street Corridor to upgrade
property and people stuck in
long-term cycles of poverty
and its side effects.
The project will mimic
past projects at Sustainable
Fellwood and Ashley
Midtown Hope VI, the hous
ing authority is set to contin
ue modifying the face of the
city’s traditional public
housing and its neighbors
with a mixed-income format
in sustainable neighbor
hoods.
The new proposal will
stimulate support services to
revolutionize neighborhoods
into promising environ
ments. These support servic
es will include the cradle to
college-or-career concept
championed by Savannah-
Chatham Youth Futures
Authority and community
partners in the Promise
Neighborhood model, better
performing schools and
resources and job training.
Home ownership
would be increased in addi
tion to providing health,
safety and employment serv
ices.
The effort joins earlier
initiatives by the housing
authority and city of
Savannah: Ashley Midtown
Hope VI, a $55 million, 364-
unit project on East
Earline Davis, executive
director, The Housing
Authority
Anderson Street;
Sustainable Fellwood, a $60
million, 320-unit project off
West Bay St.;Savannah
Gardens, a $100 million,
550-unit tract on
Pennsylvania Avenue.
In 2009, Earline Wesley
Davis, housing authority
director and the Housing
Authority utilized a portion
of the $5.3 million federal
stimulus fund to tear down
the 29-acre, 337-unit Hitch
tract. In addition to this,
extensive energy-efficiency
renovations were made to
neighboring Fred Wessels
Homes and its 250 public
housing units.
Hitch Village residents
were immediately impacted,
and relocated as part of the
plan.
In January, the authority
obtained a $300,000, two-
year Department of Housing
and Urban Development
Choice Neighborhood plan
ning grant focused on the
area between Bay and Henry
streets and East Broad Street
Continued on pg. 11
Deadline to Comment on Savannah
Harbor Deepening Extended
The Savannah Harbor
The U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers on Tuesday
extended the deadline for
submitting comments on the
proposed deepening of the
Savannah Harbor by 15 days
to June 5.
The corps produced the
final documents on the proj
ect, including Final General
Re-Evaluation Report and
Final Environmental Impact
Statement, on April 11 with
an initial 30-day comment
period that began April 20.
The expanded deadline
came at the requests from
the South Carolina
Department of Natural
Resources and the Southern
Environmental Law Center.
The final report sug
gests the 47-foot depth as the
one that provides the great
est net benefits to the nation.
Those benefits come from
the efficiency derived from
larger ships. The reports the
amount of cargo coming in
and out the port will howev
er remain constant, despite
the deepening.
Signing of the Record
of Decision, the final step in
the process before construc
tion can begin, is still antici
pated in late 2012 despite the
longer comment period,
according to corps officials.
LENDER
ank
arver
PresoueiU aiudL-
I>CLLiiibt:r 197]
mjfi
ofS
Louis u. momcr
Founder .ind t t ftcadatil
ervice, Leadership and Success
85 Years
FDIC