AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY ANNUAL GIVING REPORT 2018-2019 Dear Friends of Augusta University

2019 - 2020 AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY ANNUAL REPORT AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY ANNUAL GIVING REPORT 2018-2019 Dear Friends of Augusta University, Your generosity and support bolsters the success and growth of Augusta University (AU) and AU Health System. Your contributions enable us to offer boundless opportunities to our students, researchers, health care providers, patients and communities far and wide. As always, we are grateful to each of you. This brief report illuminates just how much of an impact your gifts have made this past fiscal year which ended June 30, 2020. As we express our appreciation to all of our supporters, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the unforeseen challenges we have all experienced during this time period. When we began fiscal year 2020 on July 1, 2019, no one could have predicted what challenges were lurking in the months ahead. Yet, we have been overwhelmed by the kindness demonstrated by each of you. Not only have we received generous donations from large corporations assisting with everything from building construction to COVID-19 research and testing, but all means of assistance in support of our students and frontline workers, who are all AU Heroes during these extraordinary times. Generous donations of meals, snacks, gift cards, personal protective equipment and much more have been received by grateful hearts here at Augusta University/AU Health. We have been at the forefront of the State of Georgia’s COVID-19 response, leading innovation every step of the way. We couldn’t have done it without our community’s commitment and eagerness to help. As you read the following pages, you will learn of donors who not only exemplify our tripartite mission of education, research and health care, and in doing so prioritize our patients and students, but also whose forward thinking and kindness will allow us to serve our community, patients and students for years to come. This year, in addition to spotlighting our many wonderful donors, we also take this opportunity to highlight some of the exciting programs, initiatives and future projects going on at AU. Additionally, within these pages you will find listed our loyal and dedicated foundation board members. Our partner foundations are essential to the progress of our university and health system. They work collectively to advance our mission of service, education and research. Augusta University and AU Health System looks forward to reaching even greater heights as we continue to enhance education, foster medical breakthroughs and better our community. Now, more than ever, we are all in this together. Kindest regards, Brooks A. Keel, PhD President, Augusta University Diversity and Teaching Data from the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES) estimates that since 2014, ethnic and racial minorities make up more than half of the student population in public schools across this nation, yet people of color represent about 20 percent of the teachers and only 2 percent are African-American men. Augusta University, along with the African-American Male Initiative (AAMI), is working to change that. College of Education Dean Dr. Judi Wilson has teamed up with Coach Clint Bryant, the Director of Athletics at Augusta University, to address the absence of racially diverse educators in both primary and secondary classrooms. “We have to make it a career that people want to do,” explained Bryant. “You don’t teach or coach because of the money; you do it because of the passion for making a difference in young people’s lives.” This is where AAMI can help. The University System of Georgia’s AAMI is a system wide initiative designed to increase the number of African-American males who complete their postsecondary education from any of the 26 USG institutions. Its mission is to provide an integrated program model of academic and social tools that support students around adopting a positive mindset to successfully complete classes, elevate their cumulative GPAs, matriculate through each academic level and graduate. “The AAMI is an initiative through the Board of Regents to help Georgia address the issue of closing academic equity gaps,” said director Jerry Oliver Jr. “At AU, the one-year retention rate for black men has steadily improved, which leads to a more diverse campus. On the flip side, we still have to address the retention rates with particular academic programs at our university.” The goal is to promote student success and improve graduation rates through social and academic networks. Through collaborating with university and community partners, AAMI strives to connect students with others to envision their future, to explore their passions, and to actively engage in their college experience. Studies show that teachers who instruct students of the same race are more likely to discipline equitably, to set high expectations and to recognize student achievement, according to the National Education Association’s 2014 study, “Time for a Change: Diversity in Teaching Revisited.” “Educators who are grounded in the day-to-day experiences of their students and communities bring to their work more favorable views of students of color, including more positive perceptions regarding their academic potential,” the study asserts. “They frequently teach with a greater level of social consciousness than do others, appear to be more committed to teaching students of color, more drawn to teaching in difficult-to-staff urban schools, and are more apt to persist in those settings.” In particular, African-American students who have an African-American teacher in elementary school are more likely to graduate high school and attend college, according to the article, “The Long-Run Impacts of Same-Race Teachers,” published in 2018 by the National Bureau of Economic Research. Across the country, initiatives have emerged to grow the ranks of Black male teachers. AU is fortunate to have such an initiative here and committed staff and faculty within the College of Education determined to increase the numbers. For more information, please visit: www.augusta.edu/aami/ or www.augusta.edu/education/ Dr. Wayne Lord Leading Innovation: Renovation Wind Ensemble Director Michael Katterjohn has been experimenting with the different sounds created by repositioning the recital hall’s curtains, Morgan said. Music can change lives. Dr. Wayne Lord is one example of just how of the Fine Arts Center true that statement is. An avid supporter of the arts in Augusta, Lord The Department of Music at Augusta University celebrated the “He has experimented with the positioning of his group in the room and will put the has been playing piano in the CSRA for most of his life. He began taking completion of a $3.5 million renovation of the Fine Arts Center with a percussion in the back of the room and pull the curtains around in such a way that piano lessons as a child, and at age 15, he was playing the church organ ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday, Feb. 24, 2020. it helps absorb and take away reverb,” Morgan said. “The wooden wall in the recital at Immanuel Baptist Church in North Augusta, SC. He went on to serve hall has panels that throw the sound out toward the audience and other panels that as the organist and choirmaster at Grace United Methodist Church in “It’s a huge change and the new recital hall is absolutely amazing,” said absorb the sound.” North Augusta for more than 30 years. Dr. Angela Morgan, chair of the music department and professor of violin. “Now, we have an incredible space with great acoustics where we The much needed renovations will allow more efficient use of the building and will But without the support of his parents and music teachers, Lord’s can actually record our students’ performances.” make scheduling student recitals much easier. Before the restructuring, student story might be very different. “My father completed eighth grade, my recitals had to be scheduled at the Maxwell Theatre, which presented challenges mother completed high school,” said Lord. “Both of them sacrificed and The Fine Arts Center’s renovation by Dickinson Architects of Augusta because there were just not enough available dates at the end of a semester. Now, supported me throughout their lives. They knew how important music was the first major overhaul the building had seen in more than a with seating for an audience of 135 people, the new recital hall allows the entire was to who I am as a person.” decade. By swapping the locations of the former recital space and the department much more freedom, Morgan said. classrooms, they were able to improve the function and capacity of Music wasn’t just a hobby, but a lifelong pursuit. Lord’s professional the building, while also enhancing the faculty studios for practice and life has been devoted to music and education. He earned his bachelor’s instruction. degree in music, piano performance, at Augusta University, in 1972. (Fun side-note: as a student, Lord performed in front of thousands as A specific emphasis was placed on improving the acoustics in the one of 16 back-up singers from AU for Barry Manilow). He later earned instructional and performance areas, which will be a tremendous a master’s degree in music education, an educational specialist degree “While a student at Augusta College as a piano performance major, Vola Jacobs was benefit for students and faculty in the performing arts. and a PhD in educational administration and supervision from the a major influence on my development as a musician and a person,” said Lord. “As a University of South Carolina. He was the Associate Dean for Faculty teacher, she pushed me and set expectations that seemed to me always a little beyond “The footprint of the building actually remained the same,” Morgan Research and Graduate Programs in the AU College of Education, and what I thought I could do at the piano.

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