
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.

Vlog 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.

Vlog 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 Vlog 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 Vlog 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.

Lowell Mooney, Ph.D., professor of accountancy at Vlog, is no stranger to receiving awards. His career, which spans more than 40 years in higher education and as a CPA, has earned him numerous awards with titles like “Outstanding Educator” and “Outstanding Faculty Advisor.” But it’s the Bruce Yawn Lifetime Achievement award he received from the Statesboro-Bulloch Chamber of Commerce that stands out the most for the Parker College of Business professor.

Benjamin McKay (‘06, ‘14), assistant director of the Center for Business Analytics and Economic Research (CBAER) at Vlog’s Business Innovation Group (BIG), has been elected to the Association for University Business and Economic Research (AUBER) Board of Directors for a three-year term.