Georgia State Report
Lenora Jackson, GASFAA President

The GASFAA Fall conference will be take place October 16-17. We are very excited about the new location for our conference this year, which will be held at the Renaissance PineIsle Resort at Lake Lanier Islands. Our conference theme for this year is “Fishin’ for Financial Aid.” Our Vice President for Programs, Jenelle Handcox, and her committee have been working hard to ensure that we not only receive invaluable information that we can share with our offices, but that we have a good time while we are there. There are some very catchy titles for the break out sessions such as “Become a big fish in a little pond,” which will be presented by our SASFAA President-elect, Janet Sain. A few of the other catchy titles that are sure to peek the interest of the attendees are “I smell something FISHy,” “Untangling those NSLDS lines,” and “Get FISHy.”

Our Transitional Board meeting took place June 26-27. We are pleased to announce that we have seven members of GASFAA as part of the Executive Board joining the board for the first time, as well as two new committees were added to the board. One new committee is the Diversity Committee chaired by Tere Coll Harris, Emory University, and the other is the Project Development Committee chaired by Carole Jones, Georgia Student Finance Commission.

GASFAA is pleased to announce that our Web site will soon have a new look as ATAC, our new Web designer, finalizes the construction of it.

During our spring conference, May 2003, the very first recipient of our Memorial Scholarship, in the amount of $500, was awarded to Augusta State University where Willene Holmes is the Director.

October has been designated as Georgia Default Prevention Month. Debbie Wiggins, the Default Task Force Chair, and others who helped promote a statewide Default Prevention Chat Day, had a great response to their efforts. They fielded over 40 calls about loan issues during the on-line chat day. Debbie, who is also chair of GASFAA’s Community Action Committee along with her committee are planning an event at the fall conference called, “Christmas in October.” This event is planned as a part of our efforts to give back to the community.

We will be gathering new/lightly used books and toys for a local Atlanta shelter.

We are very saddened by the loss of Joanne Putnam, our beloved colleague who passed away June 7. This came as a shock to all of us because we had all just been together at our spring conference on May 28-30. Joanne had worked at Young Harris College as the Financial Aid Director for 18 years. Joanne will certainly be missed by all of us.

Congratulations to:

• Stephen Langston, promoted to Associate VP for Enrollment Management
• Jay Sirmans, promoted to Regional Director for BankOne
• Brenda Duval, FA Counselor, Gainesville Col.
• Dominic Coles, FA Counselor, Spelman College
• Teresa Sehenuk, FA Counselor, Agnes Scott
• Wendell Vonier, FA Director, Truett McConnell College
• Sylvia Jones, FA Director, Wesleyan College
• Lisa Lowery, Assistant Director, Emory Univ.
• Misty Harvey, Armstrong Atlantic State Univ., 6 lb. 4 oz., bouncy baby boy

On the move:

• Jerrie Nuewitt, retired, Dir. of FA Savannah State University
• Paralee Beck, retired, Counselor, Spelman Col.
• Angela Bryant, moved to Louisiana as Associate Dean for Financial Aid, Baton Rouge CC
• Tamara Kline, former SSP Assistant Manager, new position as Regional Account Executive, Educaid/Wachovia
• Bob Gregory, former Dir. of FA at Truett McConnell College, now Dir. at Reinhardt Col.
• Linda Casey, former Dir. of FA, Bainbridge College has accepted a new position with SunTrust/Nelnet, Marketing Team Alabama/Georgia

Wedding congratulations to:

• Jacqui Frasier Banks, Spelman College, May 24
• Sarah Ergle Baumhoff, Georgia Student Finance Commission, May 16
• Tonya Garfield Cannon, Emory Univ., July 26

Our condolences to:

• Marie Mons, Georgia Tech University, on the passing of her mother.