After-school play can lead to better grades, test scores
Participating in programs after school can lead to higher student achievement, according to research by Walt Thompson, executive director of Georgia State’s Atlanta After-School All-Stars Program. Thompson found that students who participate in the after-school program have higher test scores in all three categories of the Georgia Criterion Referenced Competency Test, better attendance rates and higher GPAs, sometimes as much as a letter grade. Georgia State’s program, part of a national initiative, currently provides 1,500 at-risk students in eight middle schools in Atlanta with tutoring, recreation, technology instruction and club activities. Georgia State would like to expand the six-year-old program into all middle schools in the future. Community members are noticing the impact of the After-School All-Stars Program as well. It recently received the “Regional Excellence Award” from the Civic League for Regional Atlanta, one of four awards given by the non-profit to individuals, organizations or initiatives that create a better Atlanta region. For more information, contact Liz Babiarz at (404) 413-1356 or lbabiarz@gsu.edu.

Book reveals importance of salons
For black women, salons play a crucial role in developing professionally and personally, writes Adia Harvey, a Georgia State University assistant professor of sociology, in a book released this week. In Doing Business with Beauty: Black Women, Hair Salons and the Racial Enclave Economy, published by Rowman & Littlefield Inc., Harvey writes that salons are one of the few settings that develop entrepreneurship among black women. For more information, contact Van Jensen at (404) 413-1357 or vjensen@gsu.edu.

Study examines teen smoking, birth weight
Babies born to moms who smoke tend to weigh less at birth than babies born to non-smokers and run the risk of future health problems. But babies born to teen moms who smoke weigh only slightly less than those born to adults who smoke, according to Georgia State associate economics professor Mary Beth Walker, despite a trend of low birth weight among babies born to teens overall. Using data on all Georgia births from 1994-2002, Walker, along with Erdal Tekin and Sally Wallace, also of the economics department, found that teens, on average, gave birth to babies 93 percent of the weight of those born to adult mothers. The results of the study suggest to Walker that other factors are at work. “For both teens and adults, smoking during pregnancy apparently also acts as a signal of other behavior that seems to have deleterious effects on the infant’s birth weight,” Walker says. This “signaling effect” surprisingly seems to be stronger in adults than in teens, Walker says, though it’s not clear why. To speak with Walker, contact Michael Davis at (404) 413-1361 or mdavis6@gsu.edu.

HAPPENINGS AT GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY

Former Supreme Court Justice speaks at Georgia State
Former Associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor will deliver the College of Law’s Henry J. Miller Distinguished lecture from noon to 1:15 p.m. March 11 in the State Ballroom of the Georgia State University Student Center, 44 Courtland St. For more information, visit http://law.gsu.edu/Miller_Lecture/.

Elie Wiesel to speak at Cultural Competency Conference
Holocaust survivor, author, political activist and professor Elie Wiesel will be the featured speaker at Georgia State’s third bi-annual Cultural Competency Conference at 6 p.m. March 27 in the Sports Arena. Wiesel will discuss, “Building a Moral Society: the Urgency of Hope.” An advocate for human rights throughout the world, Wiesel has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. In 1960, Wiesel published his first book, Night, a memoir of his experiences in the concentration camps and has since authored more than 50 books. He is an Andrew W. Mellow Professor in Humanities at Boston University.  For more information, contact Liz Babiarz at (404) 413-1356 or lbabiarz@gsu.edu. For tickets, contact the Rialto Box Office at (404) 413-9849.

Georgia State’s undergraduates to display their research
Undergraduate students from all departments at Georgia State University will be presenting their original research in the second annual undergraduate research conference March 14. Prizes will be awarded to the top presenters. Presentations will be held all day at the Student Center starting at 9 a.m. For more information, contact Van Jensen at 404-413-1357 or vjensen@gsu.edu.

Celebrating the Gullah culture
Learn more about one of the most authentic African-American cultures, the Gullahs, at a panel discussion presented this month by Georgia State’s Office of Educational Opportunity and TRIO Programs. The panel discussion, which will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 24 in the Student Center Speakers Auditorium, will feature Queen Quet, chieftess of the Gullah-Geechee Nation, who has lead the charge to preserve the community’s land and culture. Other panelists include Sallie Ann Robinson, a former resident of Daufuskie Island, S.C., and the author of two Gullah cookbooks, and Akinyele Umoja, associate professor of African-American studies at Georgia State. A reception featuring Gullah foods will follow the discussion in the Speakers Lobby. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Liz Babiarz at (404) 413-1356 or lbabiarz@gsu.edu

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