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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