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Campus Review
April 1, 2013
Clayton State University announced the
finalists for the 2013 Alice Smith Faculty
Award.
This year’s nominees are: from the
College of Arts & Sciences, Dr. Susan
Copeland and Dr. Erica Gannon; from the
College of Information and Mathematical
Sciences, Dr. Kelli Nipper; from the
College of Health, Dina Swearngin; and
from the College of Business, Dr. James
Keebler.
Clayton State’s Alice J. Smith Awards, for
both faculty and staff, will be presented at
Clayton State’s Faculty/Staff Awards
Ceremony on Apr. 23 from 2 p.m. to 4
p.m. in Spivey Hall. An annual event
since 1995, the Smith Awards are present-
ed to the faculty member and staff mem-
ber ranked most outstanding as deter-
mined by committees of their peers. The
two, $1000 awards were established by
local philanthropist Joseph Smith in honor
of his wife, Alice. The winners of both
categories will be announced at the Apr.
23 ceremony.
Copeland, who enjoys the camaraderie
among the faculty and staff, is an Associate
Professor of English. She has been teaching
full time since 2002 but started her journey
at Clayton State in 1994 part-time. She
received her doctorate degree from The
Catholic University of American in
Washington, D.C. in 2000. She also holds
full time graduate faculty status.
“In all these years I especially have
enjoyed the camaraderie in my depart-
ment, and I find at Clayton State a sense
of interconnected community among fac-
ulty and staff across disciplines and col-
leges. In fact, when we went through our
last SACS campus visit in 2004, one of
the major points that the visiting
observers made was that there was an
extraordinary air of friendliness and colle-
giality. I think that remains true,” express-
es Copeland.
She has two sons and a daughter-in-law
that she is immensely proud of and lives
in McDonough with her canine children.
She loves to write and dabble in photogra-
phy. Copeland is a Distinguished Fellow
of the International Society for Exploring
Teaching and Learning and a Permanent
Member of the Board of Regents’ Institute
of Higher Education.
She explains that she greatly appreciates
the diversity of our student population, for
they bring broad ranges of experience
from which we all learn.
“Because there are so many great faculty
members across this campus who deserve
recognition for their dedication and skill
in our profession, I am all the more grati-
fied to stand for this award a second
time,” says Copeland who was also a
finalist in 2010.
Gannon and her husband of 15 years and
seven-year-old son live in Newnan, Ga.
Currently she is an Associate Professor of
Psychology and has been a member of the
psychology department at Clayton State
for 11 years. She obtained her Ph.D. in
Counseling Psychology in 2002 from
Auburn University. This is her second
nomination.
Family and travel are in important part of
Gannon’s life. She and her family travel
often. They love to travel in “Vincent Van
Go” their vintage Volkswagen camper
named by her son. They have visited a
number of state parks in Georgia and
Florida since purchasing the van last year.
They have two dogs and two cats and def-
initely consider them an important part of
their family.
She enjoys seeing her students become
more aware of how the principles and the-
ories of psychology apply to their every-
day lives. She notes appreciates her col-
leagues in the Psychology department and
feels fortunate to work with such a colle-
gial and interesting group of people.
“Being nominated for the Smith Award
means a great deal to me, as I see teaching
as my number one priority. Therefore,
being recognized for that is very gratify-
ing, and I appreciate the fact that Clayton
State has a mechanism for doing so—it
emphasizes the importance that is placed
on teaching at our university,” says
Gannon.
Nipper, a 1995 graduate from Clayton
State, since 2004 has served her universi-
ty as an associate professor of
Mathematics. She obtained her doctorate
from the University of Georgia. She cur-
Clayton State Announces
Alice Smith Faculty Award Nominees
By Erin Fender, Marketing and Communications
Dr. Susan Copeland
Dr. Erica Gannon
Dr. James Keebler
Dr. Kelly Nipper
Dina Swearngin
Smith Faculty, cont’d. p. 11