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Campus Review
May 7, 2013
Loch Shop Makes Collegiate Retailer Honor Roll
Graduate Student Experiences Great Success
by Samantha Watson, University Relations
Clayton State University’s own Loch
Shop was recently nominated for the
Collegiate Retailer of the Year (CROY)
Award. This award is bestowed on a store
that demonstrates the highest level of col-
legiate retailing excellence. The judging is
based on six criteria; campus connection,
academic support, customer commitment,
shopping experience, workplace culture,
and profitability. Clayton State history
professor Dr. Randall Gooden and
Nebraska Book Company nominated the
Loch Shop for this award.
“The Loch Shop has evolved over the past
three years from a bookstore serving the
student body, to a campus shop for the
future. Under Director R. Todd Smith’s
direction, the Loch Shop’s re-design of its
retail offerings and atmosphere have
enabled the guests the chance to enjoy a
pleasurable and true shopping experi-
ence,” praises Woodie White, the regional
manager of the Nebraska Book Company
Textbooks, LLC.
California State University’s Forty-Niner
Shops Bookstore was named the 2013
Collegiate Retailer of the Year by the
NACS Foundation, a subsidiary of the
National Association of College Stores
(NACS). Yet, because of the overall high
quality of entries this year, the award
selection committee also named 17 addi-
tional stores to the CROY Honor Roll,
which included the Loch Shop.
“We are delighted that we were able to
recognize The Loch Shop in its efforts and
the tremendous things it is doing,” com-
ments Kris Spencer, the development
manager for the NACS Foundation.
The NACS has only sponsored the CROY
award once before, and this is the Loch
Shop’s first nomination.
A legacy of success is what Clayton State
graduate student Christie Wooten is in the
midst of accomplishing. If Clayton State
University helped her dreams be made
real in 2008, the year she received her
Bachelors of Science in Psychology and
Human Services, then Wooten is assured
Clayton State will continue to make her
dreams real throughout the completion of
her master’s degree.
Wooten is the program services coordina-
tor at Southern Crescent Sexual Assault
Center (SCSAC) and has served the posi-
tion since February 2012. Immediately
after her graduation in 2008, she started
working at SCSAC as a crisis responder.
“The courses and professors at Clayton
State that prepared me for crisis interven-
tion and working with culturally diverse
clients have made the most impact in my
career,” states Wooten.
Wooten quickly moved up the ladder at
SCSAC, becoming the community out-
reach coordinator in 2009, then preven-
tion educator in 2010. From there, she
became the mentor program assistant
coordinator at Forest Park Street School.
In 2012, while serving as SCSAC’s pro-
gram services coordinator, she worked 10
hours a week as the graduate research
assistant for the Department of
Psychology, and later held the position of
training coordinator at Georgia Network
to End Sexual Assault until February
2013.
“Providing prevention programming has
become my passion. I love working with
teenagers, talking with them, and provid-
ing them with techniques and coping
methods to navigate through the often
confusing years of adolescence,” states
Wooten. She claims that she owes her
love for education and prevention pro-
gramming to Dr. Eric Bridges who, “has
been my mentor for six years, assisting
me with my professional development
and always providing me with encourage-
ment.”
In the last semester of Wooten’s under-
grad program, she began begging
Psychology Department Chair Dr. Donna
McCarty to start a graduate program. She
claims that when she heard of the pro-
gram’s announcement, she was hesitant to
apply because she had begun working
full-time and did not want to stifle her
career. After reading the description of the
program, however, she immediately knew
it was the appropriate fit for her career
goals of working with youth.
“All of the psychology department staff
are responsible for molding me into the
professional that I have become. I could
not have asked for better undergraduate
professors,” praises Wooten. She knows
she made the right decision in returning to
Clayton State for
her
master’s
because,
“the
same professors
that had such an
impact on me dur-
ing my undergrad
have continued to
mold me and
enhance
my
growth today.”
After completing her master’s thesis and
graduating on May 4, 2013, Wooten
dreams of attaining her Ph.D. in either
public health or community psychology.
She is interested in creating evidence-
based curriculums regarding sexual risk
behaviors reduction and sexual violence
prevention for under privileged and at-
risk youth.
“Ultimately I would like to run a juvenile
detention center, planning and implement-
ing educational programming for effec-
tive and efficient rehabilitation,” states
Wooten.
Christie Wooten
Loch Shop, cont’d. p. 30