Fort Valley State University

A case of undetected diabetes can send a child into a coma. Wanike Shakespeare knows about the consequences of diabetes firsthand which is why, as a health and nutrition/mental health manager for Head Start, she encourages all parents to take preventative measures to fight this sometimes deadly disease.

“If you go look up the statistical data of how many young kids have diabetes you would be totally shocked,” said Shakespeare, who works at the Fort Valley State University-based Head Start. “We have to educate the parents as well as our students.”

Hundreds of policymakers, administrators, bioenergy experts and university researchers from the Southeast gathered in Tifton for the 2008 Southeast Bioenergy Conference from Aug. 12-14.

Dr. Surinder Gulia, a research professional at Fort Valley State University, attended this conference which included a daylong bioenergy industry tour.

“It was a good opportunity to attend this conference and learn about the research developments and status of bioenergy and bioethanol production in Georgia and the Southeast,” Gulia said.

Traveling a long way from home, Dr. Zehra Guler of Turkey is spending six months at Fort Valley State University to do research as an international visiting scholar.

Guler, an associate professor at Mustafa Kemal University, is working on goat-milk research that she could have done at other schools, such as Cornell University or the University of Wisconsin which are renowned prestigious institutions in dairy technology research in the world, but she chose Fort Valley State which is a noteworthy decision, said Dr. Young Park, a professor of food science at FVSU who is working with Guler.

By Ayanna McPhail, publications editor/writer
Agricultural Communications Department

Parasites lurking in a seemingly healthy sheep or goat can wipe out a flock. The harmful internal worms can devastate the financial earnings of those whose livelihoods depend on raising and selling healthy animals.

By Jennifer Jordan, student writer
Agricultural Communications Department

Vivian Fluellen was awarded for her outstanding service for pioneering efforts toward faculty development in family financial planning for the 1890 Family and Consumer Sciences and Distance Instructional Alliance.

This assistant professor at Fort Valley State University received the award on June 10 at the Association of Extension Administrators and Association of Research Directors Land-Grant conference in Memphis, Tenn.

By Ayanna McPhail, publications editor/writer
Agricultural Communications Department

Forestry Career Development Events for high school students are not a walk in the park.

To get some training for the challenging forestry events held at Fort Valley State University, 26 educators and students participated in a weeklong program geared toward teaching participants how to master the events.

Tracey Baker is convinced her husband would be missing a limb if her family hadn’t started growing organic produce.

Although she doesn’t have statistical evidence, Baker says her diabetic husband is living proof of the positive effects homegrown fruits and vegetables have on the human body. To help others eat healthy, Baker and her husband created Devana Farms a couple of years ago.

Biotechnology is big business in Georgia, and Fort Valley State University is playing a key role when it comes to this high-tech industry.

The university’s College of Agriculture, Home Economics and Allied Programs is scheduled to begin construction this summer on a $3.1 million Agricultural Biotechnology Center that’s expected to be completed by Fall of 2009.

Fort Valley State University’s College of Agriculture, Home Economics and Allied Programs has recently promoted one of its own.

Dr. Govind Kannan has been named interim assistant dean for research.

The Fort Valley State University College of Agriculture, Home Economics and Allied Programs, under the leadership of Interim Dean Mark Latimore Jr., will begin construction of its $3.1 million Biotechnology Center in July.

To plan for a groundbreaking scheduled for May 29, Raymond Gilmore, chairman of the groundbreaking event committee and head of the college’s management and fiscal operations unit, has formed a groundbreaking event committee comprised of FVSU employees.

When nearly 70 contestants – young and old – placed their home-cured hams on the judging tables last month, they left their efforts under the watchful – and professional – eyes (and nose and fingers) of a judge who’s been evaluating home-cured hams at the Lowndes County Ham and Egg Show for nearly 30 years.

Dr. Glenwood Hill has judged the quality of hams displayed at the Valdosta show since 1978 when he was invited to participate as a judge by area extension personnel and show sponsors.