Local developer receives City of Heroes award // The Albany Herald

Albany Police Department Officer Travis Goodson, known for his national #hugacopchangetheworld campaign and for giving awards to people doing good work in the community, presented his second City of Heroes award to developer Pace Burt Jr. After coming across the website of Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a nonprofit based in the Midwest that builds bunk beds for children in need, Burt said he decided to bring the idea to Albany.

“(Sleep in Heavenly Peace’s) whole story was just about how children actually sleep on the floor and how getting a child up off the floor helps them with their dignity and their health and just overall well-being,” the developer said. “And you (look at) Albany with a 30-something, 40 percent poverty level that you obviously don’t need to look too far to realize you had that problem here.”

Worried about the price of assembling and delivering bunk beds, Burt said he turned to Robert Brooks, the CEO of Albany-based Brooks Furniture, for assistance.

“I told him what I wanted to do,” Burt said. “He called back and said, ‘I can get you a really nice bunk bed, mattress and everything, for $350.’ So I said, ‘I want 100 of them,’ and he was willing to set them up and deliver them for free, which is huge.”

Burt added that he funded the project for a year. He added that he reached out to several other organizations, and Girls Inc. and Boys & Girls Clubs of Albany expressed interest in helping with the project. He said he has since turned over most of the operations to Boys & Girls Clubs of Albany, which has renamed the program “Sweet Dreams.”

Read the full story here, from The Albany Herald. 

The Flint River Trails system and the impact it will have on Albany, Dougherty County and Southwest Georgia by Carlton Fletcher for The Albany Herald

PART I:

Trails group: “We’re through talking” // July 21, 2018

Albany and Dougherty County government officials have over recent years been at odds over issues that affect both. And members of the community have often expressed their displeasure with both city and county groups.

But the feeling of unity, of commonality of purpose, was palpable at the downtown Convention and Visitors Bureau on Friday as some of the heaviest of heavy hitters from local government and of community stakeholders gathered to announce a five-year plan to build out the Flint River Trails system.

The group also announced the formation of a Friends of the Flint River Trails group that, according to Friends member and Dougherty County Attorney Spencer Lee, has established a goal of helping find the funding needed to accommodate the five-year build-out plan.

“This is not a pig in a poke anymore,” Lee said near the end of Friday’s meeting. “We’ve been talking about doing this for more than 20 years. We’re through talking. You can call this our jumping-off point.”

Among the presenters at Friday’s public announcement/news conference were Albany Mayor Dorothy Hubbard, Dougherty County Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas, Friends of the Flint River Trails President Lonnie Wormley, Albany/Dougherty Planning Services Director — and long-time trail advocate — Paul Forgey, South Georgia Rails to Trails President Bo Johnson, Albany City Manager Sharon Subadan, Albany State University interim President Marion Fedrick, Albany Area Chamber of Commerce President and University System Regent Barbara Rivera Holmes, interim County Administrator Mike McCoy, Dougherty County Engineer Jeremy Brown and Chehaw Executive Director Don Meeks.

Each spoke of specific elements of the trail system and the effect it will have on the community and the region.

“This is a puzzle that has many parts and has required time, planning and resources to make it come together,” Hubbard said. “We are here today because many people have worked to bring these parts together to benefit the future of our city, our county and our region.”

Cohilas too spoke of the unity that had been required for the Flint River Trails picture to come into focus.

“Too long our community has lived divided,” Cohilas said. “I’m proud today to be a part of a plan that literally connects us. I’m proud that this plan takes us through areas that had become blighted and areas that were devastated by natural disasters. This truly is a project for all of Albany and Dougherty County.”

Over the course of the event, presenters outlined the disparate elements of the trail system that, when completed, will stretch from Radium Springs and Putney in southern Dougherty County to Chehaw park at the northern end of the county. The trail system, whose hub sits downtown and extends in all directions, will encompass waterways, various parks in the community, Albany State University, the Paul Eames Sports Complex, Chehaw, health care facilities in Albany and Lee County, and stretch westward from downtown Albany to Sasser, 13.6 miles away.

In all, the trail system’s nine segments will incorporate all or parts of 1,560 acres of greenspace along the Flint River; walking trails along land that once was the Radium Springs Golf Course; and the 13-plus-mile rail trail that runs from downtown Albany, through Lee County, into Terrell County and finally terminates in Sasser. That small community has already secured a $100,000 grant to construct a trailhead at the terminus, and Dougherty County has been granted $200,000 for a similar structure at Radium Springs.

Johnson said, ironically, that South Georgia Rails to Trails was formed 20 years ago, in 1998, in an effort to make happen what is now taking place.

“I want to commend the leadership of the communities and agencies involved for having the vision to see the benefits this trail system will have for our entire community and region,” Johnson said. “Our trail emanates downtown, but it encompasses two neighboring counties in our MSA. And, I can tell you those folks are on board. The people in Sasser can’t wait to get started.

“You look at what just this one part of the trail encompasses: through the farmland of Terrell County, out to that Oakland development in Lee County that is exploding, past the new Lee hospital, bringing in Phoebe North and connecting to downtown. We with South Georgia Rails to Trails are quite proud to have gotten this conversation started. We think we’re kind of the catalysts for this, and we’re proud of that.”

Money, the assemblage agreed, will be the primary factor moving forward. In addition to the $300,000 in trailhead grants, the University System Board of Regents has pledged $750,000 as part of the $1.75 million project to connect Albany State with the trail system. Dougherty County has earmarked the other $1 million in SPLOST funds to complete that project.

The city of Albany, as part of its agreement in purchasing the Albany-to-Sasser rail trail for utility uses, will spend an as-yet undetermined sum to build a 12-foot-wide asphalt walking trail on the 13 miles of the railway. City officials estimated the cost of that trail at around a million dollars five years ago.

“Frankly, I think those estimates were low,” Subadan said Friday. “I’m reluctant right now to commit to a figure, and, of course, the talk of return-on-investment for utility uses covering the city’s cost of building the trail is based on long-term usage. But we feel that we have a fiscal plan in place to ensure that the city meets its commitment to build the trail.”

Fedrick said the ASU-to-downtown and ASU-to-Radium Springs segments of the trail system will at last allow for the long-term goal of connecting the university with other parts of the community.

“This is but one effort to make that happen, but it’s a big one,” the ASU president said. “I think all of us share the idea that we want our students to be part of this community, not just part of the college.”

–  –  –

PART II:

Flint River Trails System flows in all directions from downtown Albany hub: Albany officials believe trail system will provide economic development, qualify of life opportunities // July 22, 2018

Only one Albany, only one Albany State

Art Dunning, Hank Huckaby discuss Albany State University-Darton State College merger

Via: Terry Lewis, Albany Herald

ALBANY — The Georgia Board of Regents created perhaps the biggest controversy to hit higher education in Albany Tuesday morning when it voted unanimously to consolidate Albany State University and Darton State College under the umbrella of Albany State.

On Thursday, University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby and Albany State President Art Dunning sat down with The Herald to answer questions and concerns about the decision.

Huckaby said the merger had been under consideration for several years, but the tipping point came after he got a look at the University System of Georgia’s Fall enrollment report which showed ASU down 10.7 percent and Darton down 2.7 from the previous year.

“We’ve monitored enrollment patterns and we have a funding formula in place, and the two schools were not growing, not earning more money. But it was not just enrollment problems. We look at things like the program cuts and knew we had to turn that around,” Huckaby said. “There was some discussion of folding four institutions (ASU, Darton, Georgia Southwestern and Bainbridge) into one. But this merger, with the close proximity of the two campuses, made sense.”

Dunning said the “new” ASU will be able to offer a broader array of programs to a more diverse group of students, despite the university’s HBCU (Historically Black College and University) designation.

“The new ASU, as it always has been, will be an inviting place for every person in southwest Georgia and the state of Georgia. So the (HBCU) designation isn’t going to change that,” Dunning said. “As a larger institution we are going to ratchet up and enhance the sort of academic offerings that lead directly to gainful employment. We will have one of the most diverse campuses in the the University System of Georgia. That is the intent.

“We are going to look at academic programs, offerings and look at community engagement and economic development. This broader array of academic programs will allow us to do that.

Dunning added that the response from ASU alumni has been generally positive.

“I talked to a number of alumni at the (ASU- Fort Valley State) football game in Columbus, and they are very much on board.

We’re talking about ‘one Albany’ right now, and people are excited,” Dunning said.

“I think the way this has been framed is the right way, the right way to address the needs of this congressional district. People are respectful of both institutions’ past, but they’re excited about the new university’s future.”

Huckaby said that another factor in the consolidation was the USG’s need to “optimize the resources available to us.”

“Believe it or not, but we spend a lot of time in Atlanta talking about problems in Southwest Georgia … education, the economy … and what we can do about it,” Huckaby said. “We think this merger is part of that solution. We have 30 schools in the university system. Last year, 18 had increased enrollment and 12 had declining enrollment. Unfortunately, a lot of the declines were in this region.

The Chancellor added that falling numbers at ASU are not just a problem with Georgia’s HBCUs, but it’s also a nationwide trend.

“When you look at our enrollment data of African-American students systemwide, we fall close to around 100,000 students. Only about 10 to 20 percent of African-Americans go to HBCUs,” Huckaby said. “They can go anywhere they want to go, and that’s what’s happening. That is some of the reason for the decline in enrollment at Albany State and Fort Valley. Art is right about the diversity of the campus. When we started the consolidations our goal was not to save money on the bottom line. We wanted to be able to invest more money on academic programs, and that is what we’ve done in every case.

“We want our HBCUs to thrive and to be as strong academically as any other school in our system.”

As far as Darton’s role as a two-year school which produces associate degree graduates along with certificates, Huckaby does not see a change in that mission. He added that tuition for associate degree programs would remain lower than those pursuing baccalaureate degrees.

Huckaby said 20-member teams from each campus will be formed in about two weeks to assess the needs of the combined schools and make recommendations to the Regents. He added that the committees would first define the new university’s mission before looking over “800 to 900” decision points.

“Ideally, the 20-member panels from each school will have a plan put together by September or October, and we could get final SACS (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) approval by next January,” he said.

Dunning added that signature programs — ones which attract students — will play a crucial role in making the merger work.

“Students today are looking for signature programs. We must determine what programs the new ASU will be known for,” Dunning said. “Supply chain logistics is important, but we also want to emphasize the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) programs. And in order for our community to have a well-trained work force, we need for adults to come back to school.”

Huckaby said he hopes to have an interim president in place at Darton within the next two weeks.

ASU and Darton to Consolidate

Via: University System of Georgia

Atlanta — November 10, 2015

Albany State University (ASU) and Darton State College (DSC) will consolidate to form one institution under a new dynamic vision for public higher education. Today, the Board of Regents approved a proposal from Chancellor Hank Huckaby to consolidate the two institutions to increase education attainment levels and transform how the University System impacts southwest Georgia. Today’s action marks the fourth round of consolidation within the University System.

The new institution will be named Albany State University, and the Board named Albany State Interim President Art Dunning as the permanent president of the new institution to lead this bold new effort.

“The consolidation of Albany State University and Darton State College is a historic milestone for these institutions, our University System, the Albany community and our state,” said Chairman Neil Pruitt. “We are creating an institution of nearly 9,000 students, which would be the largest institution of higher education in Southwest Georgia. We have the opportunity to transform how we serve the community and the region.”

“The consolidated institution, Albany State University, will continue to serve the HBCU mission and build on its mission and that of Darton State to serve students, the community and region,” said Chancellor Hank Huckaby. “We respect the passion the community, students and alumni hold for these institutions. The new Albany State University will blend the strengths and values of each institution to strengthen the community and region more deliberately.”

The decision to consolidate the two institutions, whose combined enrollment this fall is nearly 9,000 students, follows the six guiding principles for consolidation approved by the board in Nov. 2011: http://www.usg.edu/news/release/regents_approve_principles_for_consolidation_of_institutions.

An implementation team with representatives from both institutions will soon be formed and charged with the responsibility to work out the many details associated with consolidating the two universities. A website will be created and dedicated to providing information and updates about the consolidation to both campuses and the Albany community.

The University System, Albany State and Darton State will hold campus and community listening sessions in the coming months to seek and hear input on ways to best design the new institution to serve Albany, the region and the state.

Albany State University, a state university in the University System of Georgia, fosters the growth and development of Southwest Georgia and the state through teaching/learning, research, creative expression and public service. Through its teaching, research and service, and collaboration with other institutions, the University anticipates and responds to the needs of its constituents; and enhances the quality of life of its public through advocacy of educational, cultural, artistic and social development in the region. Both traditional and non-traditional students make up the more than 3,000 students who attend Albany State. The university offers more than 30 undergraduate degree programs, the Board of Regents’ engineering transfer program, a dual degree program in engineering with Georgia Tech and six advanced degrees.

Darton State College is a state college in the University System of Georgia. Its principal mission is to provide educational programs, services, and opportunities in southwest Georgia. Over 5,400 traditional and non-traditional students attend Darton State College. The college offers a challenging array of associate-degree programs and limited bachelor’s degree programs as well as online degrees. As the nursing and allied health education center for southwest Georgia, Darton offers 13 allied health programs to serve the needs of the health-care industry in the region.

Albany State University Homecoming 2015

Albany State University Homecoming Week 2015, happening October 11-17 in Albany, Georgia. Go Rams!

Albany State named best HBCU in Georgia

Via Terry Lewis, Albany Herald

ALBANY — U.S. News & World Report has released this year’s list of top ranked colleges and universities, including ranking Albany State University as the No. 1 public Historically Black College and University in Georgia for the second year.

It also lists ASU among the nation’s top HBCUs. ASU made the cut at No. 13 among all public HBCUs in the nation.

“We provide an excellent education at Albany State University, an education that prepares our students to compete on a global level,” said Interim President Art Dunning. “ We are delighted that the work of our faculty, staff and students is being recognized on a national level; we are working diligently to provide even more opportunities for student success.”

According to the rankings, ASU pulled ahead of Georgia’s public HBCUs — Fort Valley State University and Savannah State University. The rankings are based on graduation and retention rates, peer assessments, student-to- faculty ratio, admission test scores and the strength of the faculty; alumni giving was also considered.

Paul Bryant, associate provost for Enrollment Management, credits ASU’s small class sizes, among other advantages, for the ranking placement.

ASU also ranks among the five best Georgia colleges offering nurse practitioner programs, according to NurseJournal.org. The ASU nursing department is listed as a top choice for the website’s 2015 ranking of America’s Best Nursing Schools and Colleges.

“The Albany State experience is not only remarkably educational, but, also professionally fulfilling and enjoyable,” Bryant said. “We encourage all students to take full advantage of what Albany State has to offer.”

Bobby McKinney’s service pays debt to Albany, Dougherty County

Exports keep Albany factories thriving

Via Albany Dougherty Economic Development Commission, sourced from Global Atlanta.

ALBANY, Ga. – An aircraft manufacturer teaches maintenance to a visitor from Cameroon. A chemical firm affixes Portuguese labels to Brazil-bound tubs. Across town, posters at a health products factory pitch their soothing powers in German.

All of these stories were playing out during a recent Global Atlanta tour of Albany with Next Generation Manufacturing, the southwest Georgia city better known for its fields than factories.

Here, MillerCoors beer is brewed, Mars chocolate is mixed and paper products are produced for consumer giant Procter & Gamble. But southwest Georgia has seen some factories flee overseas, and its host of smaller manufacturers are now learning the duality of the global economy with which local farmers of pines, pecans and peanuts have long been acquainted. On one hand, international integration brings more customers. On the other, it means increased competition.

Exports have become the lifeblood of Thrush Aircraft Inc., a company that could be considered new relative to its long history. In 2003, investors acquired the Albany factory and assets of the defunct Ayres Corp., which had made multiple models of Thrush’s agricultural spraying aircraft in a 227,000-square-foot building next to the Albany airport.

The firm’s renaissance has led to 180 current jobs, and plans are under way to bring 100 more over the next few years with the addition of a production line backed by a $200,000 job-creation grant from the Albany Job Investment Fund, a city program.

The city has buyers all over the world to thank.

“Eighty percent of our business is outside the United States, so exporting is everything,” said Payne Hughes, Thrush’s president, who in an interview highlighted efforts to diversify the company’s product mix.

While its planes have traditionally been used to apply fertilizers or pesticides across wide swaths of farmland, they can do much more than cropdusting (a practice the industry now prefers to call “aerial application”).

Thrush has designed a new gate-box attachment to help douse forest fires, giving owners a newfound versatility that could help justify the cost of a plane, which can run from about $700,000 to $1 million. It’s also building planes purposed for military surveillance, a product that caught the eye of the United Arab Emirates. The Middle Eastern nation ordered 24 of what some have called “militarized crop-dusters.” After being built in Albany, they’re shipped to IOMAX in North Carolina to be turned into Archangels, outfitted with assets like precision optics and missile systems.

“They’ve got more electronics in a plane than you can shake a stick at,” said Mr. Hughes, who added that they monitor borders with more flexibility and less upfront investment than unmanned aerial vehicles, also called drones.

Of course, cropdusting hasn’t gone away, especially as farms grow bigger and become more mechanized around the world. Spraying is banned in Europe, but it’s common on the banana farms of Central America and in the sugar cane and soybean fields of Brazil, a burgeoning market where Thrush has sent planes painted with green and yellow of the South American country’s flag.

“The agricultural industry is going very high-tech, and as it does get more high-tech, our products will get more and more high-tech,” he said. The firm doesn’t disclose revenues, but Mr. Hughes said they’ve doubled over the last five years.

China is also getting into the act: In July 2013, 20 Thrush planes were purchased by a state-owned company in the northeastern city of Harbin as part of a $55.6 million package that included U.S.-made tractors, combines and helicopters.

Overcoming Hurdles

But Thrush and others have found that reaching abroad isn’t always easy, and one problem is financing the orders when they come in.

Thrush’s China deal was backed by the Export-Import Bank of the United States, which provides credit to foreign buyers of U.S. goods, insures transactions and guarantees export loans by private banks and companies. The bank has been the subject of heated debate in Washington over the last year. At the end of June, Congress let its charter expire. It’s still limping along while awaiting a reauthorization vote, servicing existing loans without the ability to extend any new credit or guarantees. Some senators have said a highway bill coming up for a vote at the end of July would be a logical place to tack on Ex-Im for a vote.

A tell-it-like-it-is Georgia conservative, Mr. Hughes doesn’t seem like one to back an institution some influential Republicans have derided as a conduit for corporate welfare. He says he’s all for less government but that Ex-Im has plugged a gap in the private sector, insuring deals in places like Kenya, where Thrush first used Ex-Im in 2010. Buyers in such markets don’t have the same capital sources, and private banks and financiers can’t provide insurance for orders over $1 million.

If that weren’t enough, Ex-Im simply matches what other countries are already doing, he said.

“If we don’t do it somebody else will,” Mr. Hughes said.

Another Albany exporter, SASCO Chemical, takes a similar stance on the bank.

“Whether you fundamentally agree with the program or not, the U.S. cannot be the only country without this program. There are currently 67-ish other countries with the same program that U.S. manufacturers compete against every day. One thing we cannot have in the current times is the government taking tools away that makes us competitive,” said Marc Skalla, president of SASCO.

SASCO has been lauded for its use of state and federal resources to boost global trade, which the company says has supported growth at home. SASCO has a research center in Macon, a global sales center in Atlanta and an expanding manufacturing base in Albany.

SASCO’s main product is PolyCoat, a chemical used to keep rubber from sticking to machines used in tire manufacturing. In 2011, the Georgia Department of Economic Development helped introduce the company to the Mexican market, leading to a huge increase in sales there. Last year, SASCO received the President’s E Award for Exports from the U.S. Commerce Department. The current director of sales, Ed Juline, was recruited from a position Mexico.

Now, about 10 percent of the company’s sales go to places like Brazil, South Africa and Central America, and its export proportion is growing despite international headwinds, Mr. Skalla said.

Even before Ex-Im’s expiration, the company was hit by the dollar’s appreciation against both the euro and Brazilian real, which made SASCO’s products more expensive for buyers and gave a relative cost advantage to its main competitor, a European firm.

Meanwhile, SASCO was investing in boosting competitiveness at home. It launched its own trucking arm to gain more control over logistics, and it’s now finishing out a 40,000-square-foot factory in Albany, just a few streets over from its current Pine Avenue complex. That facility will support two new product categories: colorants for mulch and an anti-adhesive agent used in engineered wood production.

“We are always innovating at home in a search for continued diversification,” Mr. Skalla said.

Arguing for ‘Made in the USA’ 

While SASCO is an independent, family-owned firm, some other local manufacturers have had to prove themselves in a broader corporate context.

International pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer Inc. operates under the same 200-acre roof as Procter & Gamble’s massive Albany facility, but the two plants are separated by a wall representing the corporate lineage of the ThermaCare line of heat wraps.

Pfizer inherited the product when it acquired Wyeth, which had bought it from P&G. ThermaCare represents more than $100 million in annual sales for Pfizer’s consumer health care unit, and Albany is the only place in the world ThermaCare is made.

Jim Donovan, site leader in Albany, said ThermaCare is now available in 25 countries, and outside the saturated U.S. is where it’s is seeing the most growth. New releases of menstrual and flex-use wraps in Germany are shattering forecasts. Demand continues to build in international markets with recent launches in Russia, and multiple Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries are set to see ThermaCare introduced this year.

But that international success cuts both ways: The more sales move abroad, the more the factory has to prove to company executives there is no better “central hub” for production than Albany. In the face of global competition, employees understand how important it is to keep things efficient at a factory that cranks out 50 million wraps per year, Mr. Donovan said.

“Theres’s a significant amount of engagement to ensure everyone puts in their efforts to ensure the site remains competitive,” he said, noting accolades the plant has won within the Pfizer system for employee engagement. “Everybody knows that there’s a constant external threat.”

Pfizer is a prime example of how global brands can compete from Albany, says Barbara Rivera Holmes, vice president of the Albany-Dougherty Economic Development Commission and interim president and CEO of the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce.

“Aside from being relevant to the consumer, industries need to be innovative, efficient and profitable, and from Albany, they can be. Low overall costs of doing business, partnered with a talent pool from which to draw and the infrastructure to move product, allows Albany industries to compete with their corporate peers and with other industries,” she told Global Atlanta.

The community is also getting its 15 biggest manufacturers to talk to each other through an industry roundtable where they gather each month to share challenges and best practices. The sessions also allow them to speak with one voice to economic development community.

“It’s an incredible program in that it harnesses the scale of industry to say, collectively, ‘This is what we need’ or ‘This is how we can give back,’” Ms. Holmes said.

As for exports, the community connects its companies with resources at the state level: The Georgia Department of Economic Development operates 11 trade and investment offices in 10 countries worldwide.

ASU chemistry program gains accreditation

Via Albany CEO

The Albany State University chemistry program received three-year certification by the American Chemical Society’s Committee on Professional Training (CPT) for excellence in chemistry education.

The accreditation, the department’s first by the committee, validates the Albany State University Bachelor of Science in Chemistry degree program as one that provides quality academic and training opportunities for students.

“This has been a long process, but one that the chemistry faculty has pursued rigorously because we know that we have a stellar chemistry program,” said Louise Wrensford, Ph.D., chemistry professor, interim vice provost for Office of Research and Sponsored Programs and dean for the ASU Graduate School. “With this certification, we hope to attract more students who are serious about a career in the field of chemistry.”

The CPT-granted accreditation is a result of the department’s strong academic program, research initiatives, active faculty, graduates success, and the state-of-the-art equipment and resources used  to prepare graduates with the knowledge and skills needed to be competitive in chemistry and related careers, according to Wrensford.

“This is a great accomplishment that will benefit the chemistry students at Albany State University. It is a strong indicator that the chemistry program has offered the national level of quality in teaching and research,” said Seong Seo, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry.

All chemistry faculty members are engaged in research that includes mentoring undergraduate students. Most faculty members have received federal funding to support their research.

“Chemistry faculty members have brought in more than $10 million in grants as principal investigators and co-principal investigators over a 10-year period,” Wrensford said.

More than 85 percent of ASU chemistry graduates go on to careers in the field or to graduate and professional schools, according to the department’s 2010 through 2012 graduate assessments and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools assessment.