
When an invitation to sit on the Georgia Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers arrived in an informal email from a colleague, Michael Toma, Ph.D., welcomed the chance to share his ongoing research on the economic health of southeastern Georgia with Gov. Brian Kemp, the Georgia House of Representatives and Senate leadership and their constituents. However, when he joined a small group of colleagues from around the state in a legislative office near the capitol in Atlanta late last year, the opportunity felt far from casual.

The National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Research Center at Georgia Southern University received a state grant for almost $150,000 through the Georgia Department of Education for program evaluation of Georgia’s federally funded P-20 programs.

As a result of Georgia Southern’s commitment to increasing student awareness and access to mental health resources, the University has recently been named a full JED Campus (JED) Member university. Georgia Southern recently completed a four-year partnership with JED, a national collegiate mental health program that guides colleges through a collaborative process of building comprehensive systems, programs and policies.

Georgia Southern University has hired alumnus John Stevenson (‘96) as its inaugural associate vice president for business engagement. He will lead the newly established Office of Business Engagement to advance the University’s mission through corporate partnerships. In this role, Stevenson will leverage his experience in business growth, strategic partnerships and investment management to develop and execute a University-wide strategy to increase research collaboration, philanthropy and student experiential learning opportunities with businesses.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Drum Major Award is given to those performing daily acts of service to make their community a better place. Simpkins and the foundation team also host their own leadership camp for kids primarily in the Central Savannah River area.

Georgia Southern University professors Sally Brown, Ph.D., and Alisa Leckie, Ph.D., have been awarded the Research Grant Initiative for Implementation Research to Improve Early Language and Literacy Outcomes by the Sandra Dunagan Deal Center for Early Language and Literacy at Georgia College & State University.

The 2025 Miss Georgia Southern University was recently named, and the crown belongs to Gracie Allen, a senior biochemistry major on a pre-medical track.

The Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition has published a groundbreaking discovery based on work from Georgia Southern University researchers. Doctoral students enrolled in a seminar on the epidemiology of chronic diseases have found a rising, positive trend in American adolescents: the liver health of youth aged 12 to 19 is improving.

Mark dela Cerna, Ph.D., assistant professor of biochemistry, and a team of students have discovered a method to inhibit certain cancer-causing proteins and metastasis, the spread of cancer cells from the place where they first formed to another part of the body.

Janny Crespo-Grow, Ph.D., will take on the new role of director of research security and export controls on Feb. 3. As part of the research integrity team under the vice president for Research and Economic Development, she will lead the implementation and administration of the University’s research security and export control programs while ensuring compliance with federal law, sponsor requirements and University policy.