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Fall 2005 Volume 9 Number 1 |
Home » MSC Today Magazine » Fall 2005 » New Chairs
New Academic Division Chairs, Meet three key additions to Macon State's Dr. Anthony L. Patti Dr. Anthony Patti is Macon State's new Georgia Eminent Scholar in Management, a position endowed by the Macon State College Foundation and the Georgia Eminent Scholars Program. His expertise is a valuable addition to both the Division of Business and Economics and the College's Institute for Business and Information Management, which is based at the Warner Robins Campus. In addition to a B.S. in electronics engineering technology, Patti holds an MBA in management from Georgia State University and a Ph.D. in operations management from the University of Georgia. As a faculty member at the University of New Orleans, he taught numerous courses in production and operations management. He has amassed an extensive list of publications and presentations. Patti's background and knowledge will be invaluable as Macon State expands partnerships with Robins Air Force Base and other industries. He has faced the challenge of integrating Lean principles into the operations of a large government contractor with complex manufacturing systems. He has applied “Theory of Constraints” principles in a major airline's remanufacturing operations division. Also, he is a private pilot. Most remarkably, he is building his own airplane in his garage. “Macon State and the Central Georgia area are fortunate to have
someone with such a relevant combination of skills,” said Mike Hale,
Institute director. “My wife, Rose, and I are very excited about moving to the Macon/Warner Robins area,” Patti said. “MSC has a very promising future, and I am excited about being a part of it.” -- Gail Pollock Dr. Martin W. Slann Dr. Marty Slann's phone began ringing off the hook within an hour of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America. Along with other terrorism experts, Slann suddenly became a go-to guy for news organizations, public forums and various groups within and around Clemson University, where at the time he was chair of the political science department. “For about two weeks I barely had time to go home,” said Slann, the new chair of Macon State College's Division of Social Sciences. “There were calls from print and electronic media in the region, and also a lot of question-and-answer sessions with students. Understandably, from that day forward, many people who had never paid much attention to the subject of political terrorism wanted to learn as much as they could.” Today, Slann continues to research and write about terrorism and his other areas of expertise. He left Clemson in 2002 to become director of academic affairs at Penn State University, Wilkes-Barre Campus, but a desire to return to the South attracted him to the Macon State job, as did the chance to add teaching back into the mix of his administrative work. He recently settled in Macon with his wife, Ruth. “Macon State has a very talented group of social scientists on the faculty and I'm happy to be part of it,” he said. A Chicago native, Slann earned a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Miami, then added a master of arts in political science from the University of Connecticut. After joining Clemson's faculty in 1968, Slann finished his doctorate in political science at the University of Georgia. He has authored or co-authored five political science textbooks and written numerous scholarly papers. Slann hopes to add a counterterrorism track of study to the College's bachelor's degree in public service, as well as develop a general course in terrorism and create a model United Nations program. “Students graduate and enter a global economic world, no matter where they end up living,” Slann said. “Internationalizing our curriculum can help prepare them for that world.” -- Sheron Smith Dr. Martha L. Venn Macon State College's first chair of the new Division of Education is a noted expert in innovative teaching methods that education majors must master in order to reach increasingly diverse populations of schoolchildren. Dr. Martha L. Venn, most recently the chair of the special education department at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, joined Macon State's faculty in July to guide the development of the College's new bachelor's degree in early childhood education. “With Macon State developing a new bachelor's degree in education and creating a new division at the same time, it was vital we find exactly the right person to lead those efforts,” said Dr. Barbara Frizzell, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty. “I'm confident we've found a visionary leader in Dr. Venn.” Recent federal legislation, such as “No Child Left Behind” and “Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act,” require that all children with and without disabilities be educated in the same environments using the same state performance standards. Education departments at colleges and universities throughout the nation are trying to adapt their curriculum to prepare new teachers to engage the diverse learning styles of schoolchildren. “Macon State has an opportunity to become a national model because we are building from the ground up,” Venn said. “I saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something very creative in teacher education.” A native of Peoria, Ill., Venn holds a Ph.D. in early childhood special education from the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana; a master of science in education from the University of Kentucky and a bachelor's degree from Western Illinois University. The mother of three grown children, Venn is a former professor at Valdosta State, which means she already has extensive working knowledge of Georgia's educational system. Among her research specialties is how to help teachers-in-training learn to effectively use instructional technology. Venn is widely published and has been the primary author of funded grant proposals totaling nearly $2 million. Most of the grants have been targeted toward enhancing special education teaching techniques and the use of technology in classrooms. “Because I already had relationships with educators throughout Georgia, I felt I could come to Macon State and hit the ground running,” Venn said. “It's a dream come true to be here.” -- Sheron Smith |
