November 18, 2024
 
 
Dear Alumni,
 
As the fall semester races to Thanksgiving, I am continually grateful for our community. Our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the communities we serve—our people—continue to support and propel Georgia Southern toward our stated goals.
 
To that end, we are progressing in the development of our new institutional strategic plan. Guided by our vision of “People. Purpose. Action. Growing Ourselves to Grow Others,” we have completed campus-wide listening sessions that engaged faculty, staff, and students across all campuses. These listening sessions and focus groups explored how we might “Soar Beyond” through our focus on people and our purpose of transforming lives and communities. The Strategic Planning Steering Committee is synthesizing these valuable insights to develop a feedback survey for the broader campus community. We anticipate administering the feedback survey in early spring to ensure we are on the right path, with the goal of finalizing the strategic plan by mid-spring.
 
Soaring Beyond, Because of You! 

In my monthly letters, I have the great honor of highlighting the success of our faculty, staff, and students. This month, I celebrate and applaud senior computer science major Daniel Troyano who recently won one of the top prizes at SCORE Savannah BizPitch for his development of Stepwise. The digital automation platform is designed to help anyone, regardless of technical ability, to automate any task they do on a computer. Daniel has worked on this project for more than a year with the help of Georgia Southern University’s Business Innovation Group (BIG) in downtown Statesboro, where he found mentors and business partners who have helped him grow Stepwise. Congratulations to Daniel and those who have helped this impressive project soar!
 
I hope you will join me as we celebrate the holiday season with our annual lighting ceremonies on Nov. 19 and 20. We will kick things off with the Lighting of Sweetheart Circle on the Statesboro Campus on Nov. 19, followed by the Lighting Ceremony on the Armstrong Campus in Savannah on Nov. 20.
We are thrilled to finally cut the ribbon on the Jack & Ruth Ann Hill Convocation Center on Dec. 4! You are invited to join us for an exciting day to celebrate this milestone for Georgia Southern. The multi-story complex will provide additional instructional space for the Waters College of Health Professions, specifically for the sports and exercise psychology and sports management programs. In addition, the multipurpose arena can be utilized for large-scale events and will be the new home court for Georgia Southern Eagles NCAA basketball games. 
 
Please save the date for the fourth annual Southern Royale on Feb. 8 in Atlanta. Watch your email for more information and a link to sign up from the Georgia Southern University Alumni Association.
 
As we head into Thanksgiving and time with family and friends, I remain grateful and thankful to be leading this great institution. Hail Southern!

Sincerely,

Dr. Kyle Marrero
President