{"id":62484,"date":"2015-01-14T13:24:38","date_gmt":"2015-01-14T19:24:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/?p=62484"},"modified":"2015-01-14T13:26:16","modified_gmt":"2015-01-14T19:26:16","slug":"delta-state-energized-for-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/2015\/01\/delta-state-energized-for-new-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Delta State energized for new year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Delta State University President William N. LaForge recently provided an energetic welcome back to campus, citing last year’s\u00a0institutional<\/span> progress<\/span>\u00a0and indicating that 2015 promises to be a banner year for the green and white.<\/span><\/p>\n

LaForge provided high praise for improved student performance in the classroom, giving credit to student effort and guidance from faculty members and administrative support staff.<\/p>\n

A total of 241 students were recognized for the President\u2019s List\/Delta Scholars (3.8 GPA or higher) and 275 students received Dean\u2019s List recognition (3.5\u20133.79 GPA).<\/p>\n

The president recently participated in Jackson Academy\u2019s faculty development day, which focused on the future of higher education. In his remarks, LaForge defended traditional higher education while also advocating for a balance with new pedagogies and online learning.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, I believe there is a need for students to have the opportunity for valuable \u2018face-time\u2019 and engagement with faculty who provide so much in the way of mentoring, advising and guidance,\u201d said LaForge. \u201cI recognize the extra time and effort that faculty must give for this model of education, and I appreciate all you do to give our students the requisite attention needed. That is a vital feature of the \u2018Delta State way\u2019 for which we are well known.\u201d<\/p>\n

LaForge also indicated student success initiatives through the Student Success Center and the First Year Seminar program seem to be paying off.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are launching the Okra Scholars Seminar that implements the program dollars we have been awarded through the First in the World grant from the U.S. Department of Education in support of university retention efforts,\u201d he said. \u201cKickoff of the intense and rigorous one-hour class is this month, and Christy Riddle and her team in the Student Success Center are off to a great start.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mantra is \u201cA Commitment to Completion,\u201d and eligible students include those who are first generation, Pell Grant eligible, or Delta area residents and have 17-21 ACT scores. The initial pool for consideration is the First Year Seminar group from last semester.<\/p>\n

In one unique category, LaForge saluted Delta State\u2019s football program for boasting 50 players with a 3.0 GPA or higher and a team average of 2.71 this past semester.\u00a0 Recognition was given to coach Todd Cooley and his staff for their strong stance on academics as a priority.<\/p>\n

Other highlight notes from the president\u2019s welcome included: reaffirmation of the university\u2019s accreditation; remaining on track to realize the projected million dollar savings in overall budget; Foundation reports an all-time, mid-year high in private gifts to the annual fund; Winning the Race conference on race relations returns for its second year March 30-31; and a continued dedication to recruitment effort after the university\u2019s first uptick in enrollment in eight years.<\/p>\n

To track exciting progress at Delta State, follow the university\u2019s news feed at www.deltastate.edu<\/span><\/a>. Keep up with the president\u2019s efforts at http:\/\/president.deltastate.edu<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Delta State University President William N. LaForge recently provided an energetic welcome back to campus, citing last year’s\u00a0institutional progress\u00a0and indicating that 2015 promises to be a banner year for the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":62492,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,6,418,296,93,108],"tags":[969,753,1422,1028,994,252],"class_list":["post-62484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-academics","category-admissions","category-community-3","category-facultystaff","category-foundation","category-president","tag-academics-2","tag-budget","tag-foundation","tag-new-year","tag-retention","tag-student-success-center"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62484"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62494,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62484\/revisions\/62494"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}