Vol. 44, No. 18 September 3, 2019 whistle.gatech.edu A NEW Tech Square Phase III to CHAPTER Include Scheller Tower BEGINS DENISE WARD INSTITUTE COMMUNICATIONS The next phase of Georgia Tech’s Technology Square project is moving forward with the recent announcement of Scheller Tower — a new building for the Ernest Scheller Jr. College of Business in Tech Square Phase III, expected to open by the end of 2022. Roberta and Ernest Scheller Jr., IM 1952, made a generous philanthropic commitment in support of this next phase of Ernest Scheller Jr. the initiative. “Scheller Tower will become the new home for our MBA and Executive Education programs, and it paves the way for Scheller College of Business at Georgia Tech to continue its momentum and success as a leading business school of the 21st century,” said Maryam Alavi, dean and Stephen P. Zelnak Chair of Scheller College. “We appreciate the unwavering support from the Schellers, and we look forward to Rendering Scheller Tower’s opening in 2022.” The next phase of Technology Square will take Last spring, Georgia Tech received approval place along the north side of Fifth Street. from the Board of Regents, the state legislature, and Gov. Brian Kemp to provide state funding for the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial for the architectural design of Tech Square and Systems Engineering, as well as for other Phase III to begin this fall. Pending full project programming. Photo by Rob Felt funding and approval by the Board of Regents Tech Square opened in 2003. One of the area’s Georgia Tech’s 12th president, Ángel Cabrera (M.S. PSY 1993, Ph.D. and the governor, construction could begin as guiding principles is to foster a better connec- PSY 1995), begins his tenure today. Follow along at news.gatech. early as the summer of 2020 and could conclude tion between the Institute and the business edu for activities throughout his first day and weeks as he gets by the end of 2022. community. Today, it is a thriving innovation acquainted with his new role. Coverage will be ongoing. To hear from Cabrera in his own words, follow along on his blog at president. Tech Square Phase III will be located on the ecosystem thanks to a network of students, gatech.edu/blog, or attend his first Institute Address on Thursday, northwest corner of West Peachtree Street and faculty, researchers, startup entrepreneurs, and Sept. 5, at 11 a.m. at the Ferst Center for the Arts. Fifth Street and will include an additional tower global corporations. Tech’s Liberal Arts Stride Boldly Ahead Under Royster’s Leadership REBECCA KEANE and Technology. A leading Memories project until she IVAN ALLEN COLLEGE scholar at the intersections of retires in August 2020. OF LIBERAL ARTS rhetorical, literacy, women’s, From the outset in 2010, and cultural studies, she will Royster worked to sharpen and Jacqueline Jones Royster, remain on faculty in the School refine the identities and roles dean of the Ivan Allen College of Literature, Media, and of liberal arts at Georgia Tech. of Liberal Arts, concluded nine Communication, completing She championed possibilities years of leadership Aug. 31, research and continuing to for holistic innovation and Photo by Rob Felt closing her term as the Ivan work with undergraduate Royster speaks at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. campus lecture Allen Jr. Chair in Liberal Arts interns on her Building see ROYSTER, page 2 event in 2014. The Poetry of Waffles Take the Midtown IN THIS ISSUE NEWS Georgia Tech Professor Karen Walk Challenge Head was recently appointed The Midtown Alliance is Welcoming Tech’s Trailblazers BRIEFS Waffle House Poet Laureate encouraging those in the | 3 — and even has the name tag neighborhood to walk Recent Faculty and Staff to prove it. Learn how she’s and earn prizes from Achievements | 3 combining waffles and poetry Sept. 9–13. Learn more and participate Hidden Georgia Tech: in the classroom and around the state this fall: in the challenge at: Surplus Property | 4 c.gatech.edu/waffles c.gatech.edu/midtownwalk PAGE 2 • September 3, 2019 whistle.gatech.edu • THE WHISTLE ROYSTER, from page 1 EVENTS problem-solving, enabled by working within the humanities at the nexus of social sciences, WORKSHOPS AND engineering, computing, science, and medicine, as well as at the TRAINING convergence of policy arenas and Sept. 9 the liberal arts. The End Suicide initiative hosts a In remarks during the farewell Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) celebration he hosted to honor Training from 10 a.m. to noon Dean Royster on August 27, in Room 117, Smithgall Student Georgia Tech Provost Rafael Bras Services (Flag) Building. Additional said, “Jackie, for all of us, its been trainings will take place on: • Sept. 10, 9 to 10 a.m. a wonderful journey together. (Room 256, Skiles Building) The College and its schools are • Sept. 11, 2 to 4 p.m. standing high. Unquestionably, • Sept. 25, 10 a.m. to noon we are far better off than we Register to attend at: were nine years ago. We are endsuicide.gatech.edu on the map, we are competing Sept. 9 among the best, and we are in Human Resources hosts a Be Well a great position to continue. session on Planning Your Georgia We appreciate your dedication Tech Retirement from noon to to excellence, and your convic- 1 p.m. in Room 320, Student tion that what we’re doing Center. Register to attend at: is important. You have set a hr.gatech.edu/bewell standard. On behalf of all of us Photos by Zee Doehling and Rebecca Keane Sept. 24 at Georgia Tech, thank you very (Above) Rafael L. Bras, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs and the K. Harrison Brown The Library hosts a Photoshop for much.” Family Chair, presents Royster with a gift at a farewell celebration Aug. 27. (Below) Atlanta City Councilmember Beginners class from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Royster nurtured a collec- Andre Dickens, a Tech graduate and former staff member, presents Royster with a proclamation from the City of Atlanta for her contributions to the city during her time as dean of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. in Room 2130, Crosland Tower. tive spirit built around priorities library.gatech.edu grounded in the core values of to advance the College’s trajectory humanistic inquiry, respectful of growth in all areas, from the Sept. 25 and inclusive collaboration, and support of top-tier research and The LGBTQIA Resource Center the idea of socially accountable policymaking to undergraduate hosts a Level Up Allyship training from 9 to 10:30 a.m. in Room 319, innovation that considers the and graduate education. Student Center. Learn more and impact of science and technology Deliberate attention to diversity register at: on humans and the environments and inclusion helped to increase lgbtqia.gatech.edu in which we function. the number of underrepresented “Jackie brought a wonderful minorities among faculty, staff, Sept. 25 humanity to Ivan Allen College and students, and helped to Human Resources hosts a Be Well through initiatives such as Africa session on Wills, Estates, and advance new programmatic areas, Inheritance Planning from Atlanta 2014, the Westside such as Black Media Studies, 11 a.m. to noon in Room 320, Communities Alliance (WCA), Global Development Studies, and Student Center. Register at: and the Leadership and Multifaith a more coherent presentation of hr.gatech.edu/bewell Program (LAMP),” said John the College’s strengths in studies Tone, professor of history and of race and gender. Oct. 1 interim dean of the College. “In Royster established a Dean’s Human Resources hosts a Be Well addition, while the College has session on Leaves of Absence Scholarship Program to fund five from noon to 1 p.m. in Room 321, always taken great pride in the to six incoming undergraduates Student Center. Register at: Ivan Allen name and legacy of each year. She continued the hr.gatech.edu/bewell fighting for civil rights, it is not funding of Dean’s fellowships for a coincidence that curricular graduate students and instituted initiatives such as the minor in a substantial faculty research social justice saw the light of day support program. SEMINARS AND on Jackie’s watch. So much good happened under Dean Royster, Forging New Paths LECTURES and the College will miss her wise Another distinction for Royster leadership very much.” Sept. 27 was that she was the first African The Global Climate Action Through Royster’s leader- American academic dean at Symposium brings together experts ship and support, in 2015, the Georgia Tech. As she recalls, to showcase climate change College exceeded the $35 million many of her peers expressed and a focus on getting work done intersection between needing to engagement by local student fundraising goal within Campaign surprise at her decision to take on that seemed to inform the way remake our world after the Civil activists, scientists and engineers, Georgia Tech. a leadership role at a technology- that Georgia Tech chose to do War and needing to be very aware business and policy experts, and Philanthropic investments centric university like Georgia business.” of the world in which we were artists. The event is free and will take place from 9 a.m. to funded four new endowed profes- Tech. However, this doubt As a scholar who studies social making things in years to come. 6 p.m. at The Kendeda Building sorships, one new endowed chair, was countered, she says, by a change, she takes a long view of The evolution in our thinking for Innovative Sustainable Design.