Regent Kessel Stelling Tells Business Students, Faculty about Progress at Synovus

Our Turner College of Business hosted a terrific lecture this week by Kessel Stelling, chairman and CEO of Synovus, as well as a member of our state Board of Regents.

Regent Stelling gave a fantastic overview of the enormous progress made by Synovus over the past few years. He discussed the TARP repayment, the "ringing of the bell" at the New York Stock Exchange by the Synovus team and the culture that has been so unique and impressive at Synovus.

Former Synovus executive and CSU Foundation trustee Jimmy Yancey was in attendance, as was Gardiner Garrad, CSU Foundation trustee and former Synovus board member. The students and faculty heard great lessons from a great leader. Kudos to Dean Hadley and team.

Governor Offers Vivid Tribute to CSU's Command College

Gov. Nathan Deal has been front and center among state officials warning the public about winter storm threats this week. Yesterday, during a nationally televised news conference, an alumnus with a sharp eye noticed the governor, right, was wearing a bright red jacket bearing the official seal of the Georgia Law Enforcement Command College.

Columbus State has been home to the Command College since 1995, when the university formalized a partnership with the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police. Since then, more than 1,200 law enforcement managers from throughout Georgia and beyond have gone through extensive coursework here to obtain a master's degree specifically tailored to help them do their jobs better.

Command College Director Archie Rainey, a longtime CSU professor of criminal justice, presented the distinctive jacket to the governor in 2011, shortly after he took office. As you can see on the Command College's homepage, Dr. Rainey (standing just to the right of the governor in that photo) was among 15 state law enforcement leaders meeting with the governor at the Capitol that day.

We're proud of the level of professionalism among Georgia law enforcement that our Command College has been able to help foster over the years. The governor's red Command College jacket offers a vivid reminder of the work they do during times of crisis and beyond.

Faculty Artists Offer Gold Medal Performance

Sunday: I joined a packed audience at Legacy Hall to witness a spellbinding concert by professors Alexander Kobrin (piano), Sergiu Schwartz (violin) and Wendy Warner (cello). These three faculty, each holding an endowed distinguished chair in our Schwob School of Music, performed Schubert and Mendelssohn pieces that enthralled an incredibly enthusiastic audience for two hours.

These faculty attract from around the world best-of-class students who enhance our university population and add incredible diversity to our student body. Endowments create a much-needed competitive advantage for public universities, providing a competitive edge in recruiting outstanding faculty.

Of course, our Saunders Center for Music Studies, thanks to the generosity of the Schiffman family, is  an "All-Steinway" facility, and this too is so very important. In the midst of all the Olympic excitement in Sochi, it was incredibly gratifying to see a gold medal performance from our faculty in Uptown Columbus at the RiverCenter's Legacy Hall.

CSU Theatre Offers Powerful Drama in Stop Kiss

Congratulations are in order for these Columbus State University theatre students:

• Quanesha Wilson
• Brooke Pulaski
• Danny Blanda
• Matthew Scott
• Alden Burroughs
• Kayla Reid
• Rachel Wolovick

They all offer compelling performances in CSU Theatre's latest production, Stop Kiss. This powerful drama is directed by professor Becky Becker; professor Sam Renner handles scene and technical design; lighting is the work of professor Scott Parker; sound is by professor Krystal Kennel; and costumes are by professor Steven Graver.

All contributions were exceptional. As I looked at how students in various classes contributed to this production, it reinforced how very fortunate we are to have such a compelling and engaged theatre program at our university.

World-Class Piano Concert Reflects Gift's Impact

Often, the term "world class" is embraced by universities intent on using compelling terminology to describe key initiatives or programs that hopefully will be considered competitive and successful.

Our Schwob School of Music's Pianomania concert last week set a new definition for "best of class" and is reflective of the power of faculty recruiting and its impact on student performance. It is a pleasure to share with you a letter written by Ike Van Meter, director of institutional sales for Steinway, following his attendance at Pianomania:

Please accept my most sincere thanks for inviting me to attend the 2014 "Pianomania" fundraising concert at CSU this past Sunday. You may recall that I have attended this event every year since its inception and I am writing today to say that it is now very obvious that each year at this event the bar of excellence has been not only placed but literally shoved higher and higher. After last year's performance (which was excellent by the way) I didn't think a performance of mostly college students could get much better. I was dead wrong. Sunday's Pianomania performance exhibited a level of artistry, musicianship and technical prowess...no, wizardry that was far beyond impressive. Alex Kobrin and his current piano studio at CSU are nothing short of amazing. I've never heard a student performance that comes close to touching what I witnessed that afternoon. 

I was so impressed with the experience that first thing yesterday morning I wrote to Sally Coveleskie, national director of institutional sales at Steinway & Sons in New York, to tell her of what a fabulous concert that you had presented. In no uncertain terms I mentioned to her, because of the huge and easily demonstrable difference that the All-Steinway program has made at CSU, that if any school deserves to be the "poster child" for the All-Steinway School program, it is CSU and its Schwob School of Music. I believe that the story of how Maxine Schiffman's gift, enabling CSU to become All-Steinway, has allowed your institution to attract and retain superbly talented, highly qualified faculty and students (not to mention the story of the progress that you have made since then) needs to be shouted from the roof tops of every Steinway dealer in America. What I heard and saw on Sunday was a fabulous testament to what "can be" when the right people, with the right equipment come together to make a difference in our world. This is a tale that should to be told... and told often.  

Also... it did not escape my attention that Alex's student, Tatiana Muzanova, was the first prize winner in the Artist Division at the 2013 Liszt-Garrison Piano competition in Baltimore this past October. I imagine this is the start of a trend which, if Sunday's performance is any indication, will certainly continue and increase in frequency all the while bringing greater welcome attention and recruiting power to the Schwob School and CSU.

Congratulations on a creating and nurturing such a fabulous program and its absolutely stunning results.

Sincerely;
Ike
Ike M. Van Meter
Director, Institutional Sales
Steinway Piano Galleries 

Bidding a Memorable Final Farewell to our Fall Semester

Tonight is our fall commencement, and we are so very excited to honor Ray and Evelyn Crowley, long-term supporters of our university with honorary doctorates. The Board of Regents makes these decisions with great thought, and clearly the Crowleys are most worthy recipients. We are delighted to have state Rep. Earl Ehrhart deliver our commencement address.

I just submitted the final grades for my entrepreneurship class. I was so very impressed with the caliber of work of these seniors and particularly proud to have four study-abroad students from Germany in the class. The final business plan presentations were outstanding.

I attended Brandon Smith's final percussion performance in the past week. Brandon is a student of professor Paul Vaillancourt, and this recital was given in partial fulfillment for the Bachelor of Music degree. In the final number, Brandon was joined by fellow students Joel Castro, Lacey Guyton and Jonathan Mashburn as they performed The Invisible Men with the 1907 silent move, Les Invisibles. by the Pathe Brothers playing on the screen behind them. A truly great evening!

Finally, I received the nicest holiday note and thoughts from Tamara Comer ... This reinforces why we are all in higher education.

Days Leading up to Thanksgiving Offer Swirl of Activities

Chelsee Pike, our Student Government Association president, was kind enough to invite me to join her at Popcorn with the SGA President today in our Davidson Student Center.

This begins the crush of pre-Thanksgiving, pre-final exam commitments and gives our students some added support and nutrition during the final weeks of the semester.

Tonight is the launch of our Cougar men's basketball season, and the women's cross country team has landed at the NCAA national championships in Spokane, Wash.

Over the next week, students in our wind ensemble and our philharmonic orchestra will perform, and our fall opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, starts tonight as well. The quality of student engagement is high and that contributes to the overall quality of our university.