GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENTS TO CELEBRATE

Dear Students and Alumni,
I am always excited to share with you stories about your fellow students and alumni. After all, the reason we are here is to support our students in achieving their educational goals. Shameka Fahie was

recently struggling, as I’m sure most of us can relate, to complete her courses. After posting about her difficult times in the CSU Facebook group, Shameka’s academic advisor, Olivia, came across the post and wanted to provide some encouragement. Olivia sent a card with some inspirational words. Shameka stated, “I am literally in tears from the thoughtful note my academic advisor mailed to me after seeing my Facebook post. Thoughtful moments like this are one of the reasons why I enjoy being a CSU student. Thanks for my advisor and my fellow students for reminding me that I got this! Onward and upward to graduation!”

Another wonderful announcement is our newest Hero Behind the Hero scholarship winner, Dana Chacon. Dana is currently working on her BS in Organizational Leadership and plans to focus on becoming a servant leader in her community. She spends a great deal of time volunteering both at home for organizations like United Way and abroad in a Guatemalan orphanage. In addition to this, her two children will be attending college next year alongside her! We are excited to see her continue her journey and reach her educational and career goals.

Columbia Southern University will be hosting the Education Beyond Tomorrow 2017 Virtual Conference on April 24-26. The event aims to inspire the imagination of educators to consider education beyond tomorrow, incite the pursuit of innovation in andragogy, pedagogy and practice, and envision learning-centered environments supported by technology. The three-day event will be broadcast online at no cost for attendees. Presentations will be given under one of three thematic strands intended to explore a different aspect affecting the future of education: cooltech— technologies that empower innovation, engagement, and the creation of communities of learners; andragogy— theory and best practices for faculty promoting learner efficacy through comprehensive assignments and authentic assessments; and beyond tomorrow — innovation in learning-centered environments that create unlimited learning in a defined space. You can read more and register for the conference here.

Later this month we will be headed to two exciting conferences: the Fire Department Instructor’s Conference (FDIC) April 24-29 at the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium and the Distance Education Accrediting Commission annual conference in San Antonio. Here, we will be honoring both an outstanding and famous graduate at an event on Monday, April 24th from 6-8 at the St. Anthony Hotel at 300 East Travis Street, San Antonio. For more information on the alumni social, click here. If you happen to be attending FDIC or are in the San Antonio area, please stop by and say hello!

Thank you for being a part of the CSU family of students and alumni.

God bless,

Robert Mayes