Remler Awarded 2004 Gignilliat Professorship at AASU

Savannah, GA—February 6 , 2004—The Arthur M. Gignilliat, Jr., Professorship at Armstrong Atlantic State University has been awarded to English professor Nancy Remler of the Department of Languages, Literature, and Philosophy. The professorship will enable Remler to implement a series of courses and programs known as the Armstrong Social Action Project. The goal of the project is both to enhance teaching and learning at the university and to establish connections between AASU and the greater community.

The Gignilliat Professorship is endowed by the Savannah Electric & Power Company in honor of its past president and retired member of the Georgia Board of Regents, Arthur M. Gignilliat, Jr. The professorship is intended to "support Armstrong Atlantic's goal of maintaining a ‘tradition of excellence’ by providing the best educational and training experience for its students."

An associate professor of English who has taught at Armstrong since 1992, Remler is already at work on the first phase of her project, teaching a new course in professional communications. Throughout the spring term, several community professionals—including an engineer, a lawyer, a marketing executive, and a grant writer—will visit the class to discuss the nature of writing in their different fields.

The following professionals will visit Remler's professional communications class: Jason Beach, clerk to U.S. District Court Judge Hugh Lawson; Mary Ann Biel, vice president of corporate ethics and compliance, Memorial Health University Medical Center; Tim Conners, senior propulsion system design engineer, Gulfstream Aerospace; Skippy Davis, features reporter, Macon Telegraph & News; Annette Haywood-Carter, screen writer and professor, Savannah College Of Art and Design; Amy Hughes, vice president of government affairs, Memorial Health University Medical Center; Lee Hughes, president, Hughes Public Affairs; Phoenicia Puckett, director of development, Savannah Music Festival; Swann Seiler, manager of corporate communications, Savannah Electric and Power Company.

The second phase of Remler's project relates to her role as co-director of the Coastal Georgia Writing Project, which has implemented a volunteer tutoring program to assist children at the Moses Jackson Community Center. The Gignilliat Professorship will strengthen this program, allowing more education majors at Armstrong Atlantic to serve as tutors while also satisfying some of their degree requirements. Finally, the first two phases of Remler's project will be integrated this fall in a new version of the traditional freshman composition course. Her composition class will incorporate service learning instruction, thereby facilitating student writing as a tool for social action.

Bob Parham, head of the Department of Languages, Literature, and Philosophy at AASU, recommended Remler's proposal as one that "reaches to the heart of what we do on campus, while it carries us at the same time into the heart of the community." Remler, he notes, "is a committed professional whose leadership in the teaching and learning area of the university makes her not only prominent but a sure bet in the success of the project." Under the terms of the Gignilliat Professorship, valued at approximately $4,200, Remler will report to faculty on her achievements through various publications and at the AASU Teaching and Learning Symposium on April 2.