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the College of Arts & Sciences

The College of Arts and Sciences provides a wide array of exciting majors, minors, and individual courses offered by ten departments and four interdisciplinary programs housed in the College. In addition, the College is responsible for a substantial portion of the general education component for all undergraduates at Valdosta State.

Through the Core Curriculum, the College helps to provide students with the academic foundation upon which they will build successful lives and careers. That foundation includes a mastery of strong communication and critical thinking skills, the development of quantitative reasoning, a thorough understanding of the historical and cultural heritage of world civilization, an appreciation of a diverse and multicultural society, and a solid grounding in the natural sciences. In working toward this end, the College of Arts and Sciences is dedicated to educating students to meet the challenges of an ever-changing, complex society and to value the strengths of the past as well as the opportunities of the future.

outstanding alumni by department
2012-2013

Dean Connie Richards introducing this year's A&S Alumni Award Winners

Last Thursday, October 18, 2012, Valdosta State University’s College of Arts and Sciences celebrated its Outstanding Alumni Dinner. Ten alumni were honored, each chosen from the respective program from which they graduated. Those honored were:


The College of Arts & Sciences has chosen as our distinguished alumnus for 2012 John C. Robbins (B.A. PHIL '82) who is a nationally known criminal defense lawyer who practices in Birmingham, Alabama.


Tim Lee Wright graduated from VSU in 1999 with a “well-designed” Bachelor of Arts Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies. Using his rigorous preparation in three academic disciplines (AFAM Studies, History and Philosophy), Tim Lee has taken the opportunity to pursue his passion as a playwright that began at VSU.	Since his graduation, he has continued to develop his craft, teaching drama at a local high school in Brunswick, GA and writing over 30 plays with historical, social, and political themes that often transcend race. Lee's goal is "to bring everyone to the theatre to experience the human condition expressed through meaningful words coming to life on stage from a perspective that does not isolate any one group, but opens the beauty of theatre to everyone." Tim Lee is the proprietor and founder of Real Drama Theater in Macon, GA.

Dr. Chiang originally enrolled at Georgia Tech and spent a year there working toward a degree in Aerospace Engineering. His mother spoke very little English and when his father developed kidney cancer, he moved back to Valdosta to study Biology at Valdosta State College. He was so excited by his coursework in Biology that he followed the advice of his mentor, the chair of the department, Dr. Wayne Faircloth and pursued a career in medicine. Dr. Chiang attended the Medical College of Georgia. After graduating in 1976, he interned and did his first residency in General Surgery at Memorial Medical Center in Savannah, Georgia. He is certified by the American Board of Urology and is licensed to practice in Georgia, Ohio, and California.

Jason Miczek, a 2001 B.A. in English, is a freelance photographer living in Charlotte, North Carolina. His photography has appeared in The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Time, USA Today, and The Chicago Tribune. Prior to becoming a freelance photographer, he was a staff photographer for the Tifton Gazette, Dothan Eagle, Panama City News-Herald, and the Charlotte Observer. His work has been recognized by such organizations as the Society of Newspaper Design, the North Carolina Press Association, and the Florida Press Club

.Janice Lowe graduated from VSU with a B.S. degree in Mathematics, a B.S degree in Computer Science, and a M.Ed. in Mathematics Education. She has taught at both the high school and college levels for more than 30 years, 28 of those years at VSU. She has won STAR teacher awards; helped found the VSU chapter of Alpha Sigma Alpha Sorority; was a charter member for the math honor society Pi Mu Epsilon; and served as president of the Brooks County Genealogy Society. She presently serves as a board member for the V-State Club for VSU Athletics.	Dr. Sandra Walker graduated from Valdosta State College with a BA and class honors in Spanish and French in 1969. She then pursued her M.A. and Ph. D degrees at Emory University. Dr. Walker taught at Tift College from 1973-1985, serving as Dean of Students from 1982-85. In 1985, she returned to Valdosta State as a member of faculty where she became a much respected and admired Department Head from 1989-2000. She has served on numerous USG task forces involving language instruction and internationalization and was named Professor of the Year by the Foreign Language Association of Georgia in 2001.

Navarro Moore received his B.A. in Political Science at VSU in 2006 and his M. A. in International Affairs from Florida State University in 2009. During his undergraduate years, he interned at the U.S. Embassy in Suva, Fiji. While at Florida State, he interned at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand and also in Washington, D.C. His graduate studies were funded by a Pickering Fellowship granted by the U.S. Department of State. Between 2006 and 2009, Navarro worked in the U.S. House of Representatives and also at the Federal Election Commission. He joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 2009 and began work as a diplomat. He served in his first posting in San Salvador, El Salvador from 2009-2012. He recently began his second posting in the Political Section of the U.S. Embassy in Canberra, Australia. He is living in Australia with his wife and three children	Vernon Keenan received his Bachelor of Science Degree from Valdosta State College in 1972. In addition, he is a graduate of the 117th Session of the FBI National Academy (May, 1979 - June, 1979). In 1997, Keenan graduated from the Georgia Chiefs of Police Command College with a Master's Degree in Public Administration from Columbus State University. Vernon Keenan has received the numerous awards: A Hero of Open Government Award (July 2005) Atlanta Journal-Constitution; CIT Leadership Award (February 2006) Georgia Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness; 2008 Outstanding Georgia Police Chief of the Year - Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police. He has been married since 1972 to Joan Thomas Keenan from St. Mary's, Georgia. They live in Cherokee County and have two sons, Mack and Jackson.