By bringing the spirit of celebration back to the drudgery of handing out caps, gowns and tassels to each student, Ayers Holmes was able to have a little fun with a job that was certainly not in any description of her position. 
Red Cross blood drive, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., NH Lounge
June 8, 2011
Alumnus Evans to deliver Spring Commencement Address
Launched in 2001, Columbus Underground was founding Editor Walker Evans’ answer to a lack of online resources for Columbus’s nightlife scene. A devoted fan of his city, Evans grew the site from a social calendar to a resource that helps the local community stay informed on just about everything Ohio’s capital city has to offer. With 2.1 million visits and 8.5 million page views in 2010, the site has seen nothing but growth in a climate that has seen other local publications decline. Evans graduated from Columbus State in 2003 with a degree in Interactive Multimedia Technology.
Evans attributes much of Columbus Underground’s success to its “robust” community, which he says has around 41,000 registered users. The site is open to the public, but creating a free account allows readers to contribute to the conversation on the site’s message boards. At just about any hour of the day, Evans says several hundred community members are weighing in on anything from the best sushi spot in town to a range of local and national political topics.
Evans says the web format has allowed him to be fast and fluid, often beating local print media to break news. One of the site’s specialties is coverage of urban development—a passion of Evans’s.
Started when Evans was twenty-one, Columbus Underground grew steadily until Evans incorporated the business and began selling ads four years later, in 2005. By then, it was still a part-time effort that he often shared with his wife, Anne. Evans and Anne split the duties of running the site, the weekly newsletter, and their popular Twitter and Facebook accounts. Evans also founded TheMetropreneur.com in August 2010, which is an online news resource for small businesses and entrepreneurs in central Ohio.
Walker’s community involvement is wide-ranging. He’s a member of the North Market Development Authority Board of Trustees, Columbus 2020! Create Committee, The Columbus Metropolitan Club Board of Trustees and the Dine Originals Columbus Board of Directors.
Nearly 800 students have petitioned to graduate on Friday and more than 200 of them will earn their degrees with distinction – cum laude, magna cum laude or summa cum laude. The ceremony will be held starting at 10 a.m. in Veterans Memorial, 300 West Broad Street. The ceremony is free and open to the public.
Behind the
scenes and by
the numbersMuch work has been going on behind the scenes in preparation for the college’s Switch2Semesters in Autumn 2012. As student advising begins later this summer, the college-wide effort will move toward center stage. Before that happens, here are a few numbers that reveal the project’s scope. This is the second installment of “Behind the scenes and by the numbers.”
More than 300 faculty and staff are being trained to advise or assist students through the semester conversion. This group includes anyone who regularly advises students or who works in a student services/student contact area.
8 training/advising courses are available to faculty and staff who will be advising or assisting students during the Switch2Semesters. The first round of semesters training sessions is underway, with additional sessions to be offered in the coming months. Information will be released on the upcoming sessions.
Almost every college form and publication must be updated to reflect semesters. Estimates put the number of these documents in the hundreds. Every department and/or program has an individual responsible for updating the forms used or distributed by their area.
The college has launched 2 semesters-related websites, one external (www.cscc.edu/semesters) and one internal (http://intranet/Switch2Semesters/), to carry basic information, important updates, and useful tips and resources.
Two “transition/resource” guides, one for students and one for advisory personnel, have also been created. Both are posted on the Faculty & Staff Resources page of the Switch2Semesters Intranet site. Printed copies of the student transition guide, Getting Ready for Semesters, are available in student services offices and by emailing semesters@cscc.edu.
Several consultants from Navigator LLC are assisting college semesters personnel with project management and IT issues.
Columbus State is meeting and sharing ideas with the 16 other Ohio colleges and universities that are converting to semesters by Autumn 2012. These statewide gatherings help make the transition process more efficient for all institutions involved.
Adult CPR and AED class offered
A class to learn Adult CPR and AED (Automated External Defibrillator) will be offered Tuesday, June 14, from 8:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. in 375 N. Grant (EMT Building). The instructor is Norman Jones. Registration is available online through the Employee Training Registration link or by contacting Barbara Allen at ext. 5297 or ballen03@cscc.edu.
Summer Quarter Welcome Team seeks volunteers
Summer 2011 is here and the Welcome Team hopes you will have some time to share helping new and returning students. Welcome Team Summer 2011 will be held Monday, June 27 and Tuesday, June 28 from 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. Welcome Team counts on your support and hopes you will be able to join in the fun as we welcome new and returning students to our Columbus State campus.
Your service is vital and appreciated and has a direct impact on student success at Columbus State. Your time, patience and enthusiasm create an excitement that makes Welcome Team a valuable experience for all.
This quarter the Welcome Team will be offering assistance in a tent in the center of campus.
Please RSVP to Barbara Allen, ballen03@cscc.edu, or call ext. 5297 with the times and days you are able to work. She will send you a confirmation within 24 hours.
Share the good news with other friends and colleagues as well. All are welcome!
GroupWise email upgrade to add much more storage
During the summer break, IT will upgrade employee GroupWise email boxes to 2Gb. There will be no outage associated with the upgrade and you may continue to use GroupWise while the upgrade is underway.
You will notice that the “mailbox size” percentage at the bottom of the GroupWise window will drop to one quarter of the present value when the upgrade is complete. For example, if your box is 80% full now, it will drop to 20% when the upgrade is complete.
Rustbelt Regional Poetry Slam finals to be held here Saturday
A regional poetry slam called The Rustbelt Regional will be held Friday at 7 p.m., and Saturday at 1 p.m. at Travonna Coffee House, 1195 N. High St., with the finals held in the Nestor Hall Auditorium at 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 11. The event is free and open to the public!
Parking at Ft. Hayes not available this Summer Quarter
The extra facilities for parking at Ft. Hayes High School will end for Spring Quarter 2011 on June 10. The lots will not be available for parking during Summer Quarter 2011. Use of the lot is expected to resume for the Autumn Quarter 2011.