COSAM News Articles 2020 April Dean Giordano Shares Virtual Update with COSAM's Leadership Council Members

Dean Giordano Shares Virtual Update with COSAM's Leadership Council Members

Published: 04/14/2020

By: Maria Gebhardt

“This is a new experience for us all, but it is a great opportunity for us to improve how we stay connected with our Leadership Council members who live across the entire country,” explained Dean Nicholas J. Giordano of the College of Sciences and Mathematics (COSAM).

On Saturday, April 11, Dean Giordano gave Leadership Council members in COSAM an update through Zoom. Almost 50 people participated in this online online video presentation including more than 30 members of Leadership Council, plus department chairs and staff.

His presentation included information about student learning, faculty advancement, construction projects, COSAM’s strategic plan, COVID-19 response and development activities. Participants could easily ask questions through video or chat during the presentation or at the end.

Dean Giordano shared accomplishments about COSAM students and talked about core courses being offered in the new Auburn First program. He also discussed how the Plainsmen’s Prep program helps freshmen “polish their math skills” and will be criticially important as students are facing many challenges to graduate from high school and prepare for the rigorous coursework at Auburn in the fall.

“COSAM has had 10 faculty receive NSF CAREER awards over the last seven years, and these faculty truly are a great success for our college,” he added as he showcased three awards received by COSAM faculty this year.

He also shared that Professor Monika Raj is “the only Sloan Fellow in the entire state of Alabama” and discussed how COSAM faculty are engaged in impactful research that has more than doubled since 2013.

Dean Giordano discussed how COSAM has a new strategic plan that was mailed out to Leadership Council members in advance of this meeting. He mentioned how this planning process has helped bring together an array of ideas including new majors and minors, recruitment efforts and mentorship programs for continuous staff development.

He provided an overview of the work in the Office of Development and recapped this year’s Tiger Giving Day projects.

Dean Giordano then shared many of the immediate changes that had to take place for the online delivery of instruction.

“We have a heroic effort by faculty, staff and students in COSAM to ensure that our students receive a high-quality education and complete this semester in response to changes from COVID-19,” he said.

Leadership Council members had a chance to ask questions including information about the process for new minors and majors, dual enrollment, accellerated programs, mentoring information and construction on campus.

Leadership Council Member Audrey Goins Cormier ’74 commented, “Congratulations to COSAM on your ability to make all of this work.”

The Zoom meeting was recorded and is now available for viewing at https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=naJTFrcHkB0.

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