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College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

National Advisory Board

CLASS National Advisory Board, established in 2003, is a distinguished group of alumni and friends of the college that were appointed by the President of Georgia Southern University, Dr. Bruce Grube. These individuals sit as an advisory board to the Dean of the College to discuss and advise on matters that impact the development and growth of the college and its departments. Advisory in nature, the board plays an important role in bringing an external perspective on matters of planning and development for the college. The College is dedicated to preparing students to meet the challenges of an ever-evolving and diverse world, and the college advisory board is uniquely situated to assist the college in fulfilling this goal.
	Lonice Barret Lonice C. Barrett is a native of Perry, Georgia. He graduated from Georgia Southern University in 1965 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Recreation Administration. He received a Masters Degree in Education with Parks & Recreation emphasis in 1977 from Georgia State University. He retired from State Government in November, 2006, after a career that spanned more than 36 years, most of which was served with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. When he retired, he was a member of Governor Sonny Perdue’s Executive Staff. Mr. Barrett was appointed as Director of Implementation for the Commission for a New Georgia by Governor Sonny Perdue on July 22, 2004. In this capacity, he directed the state’s implementation of the Commission’s recommendations. The Commission for a New Georgia was created in June 2003 as a part of Governor Perdue’s desire to improve the culture of state government. The Commission is an innovative public-private partnership formed to create breakthrough ideas to help Georgia become a better-managed state and to envision Georgia’s strategic future. Prior to this appointment Mr. Barrett served as Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) since May 1995. He served the State of Georgia and DNR since 1970 in a variety of other positions including Deputy Commissioner and Director of State Parks. He formerly served as Director of Recreation for the City of Statesboro, and as Program Director for the Augusta, Georgia YMCA. Barrett is married to the former Carol Hicks of Decatur, a retired Dekalb County schoolteacher. They have a daughter, Jenny, a son, Scott, and three grandsons, Tyler, Benjamin and Wesley. He is a member of Wieuca Road Baptist Church. His hobbies are fishing, golf, lighthouses, travelling and photography. The Barretts reside in Dunwoody.
	Lee Berger Bernard Price Institute of Palaeontology When Lee Berger accepted the National Geographic Society’s first $100,000 Research and Exploration Prize in 1997, he was also coming into his own as the heir-apparent of the mantle once worn by famed anthropologist Louis Leakey. The prize was established to recognize a single individual who epitomizes the qualities inherent in the Society’s goal to increase and diffuse geographic knowledge. Dr. Berger directs paleoanthropological searches for fossil traces in South Africa. His research is prominently featured in an NGS interactive website to attract young explorers into the field. His discovery of the oldest known fossil footprints of an anatomically modern human–dates at 117,000 years–places him in elite company. Dr. Berger graduated from Georgia Southern in 1989 with a degree in anthropology; he credits his years at Georgia Southern and the professors who taught him for influencing his growth and development. The multi-disciplinary focus of the curriculum and the field experience gained while an undergraduate student were instrumental in helping him chart the course of his life’s work. He now works as a paleontologist based at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa.
	Chris Clark Executive Director, Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority Chris Clark is the executive director of the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority (GEFA). GEFA serves as the state bank by providing financing for water and sewer infrastructure projects, reservoirs, weatherization, state fuel tanks, recycling and solid waste projects. GEFA is home to Conserve Georgia, the Governor’s Energy Challenge 2020, the Georgia Land Conservation Program, the State Energy Office and Georgia’s Energy Innovation Center. Clark is a member of Georgia Water Council and the Georgia Drought Command. Additionally, he is Governor Sonny Perdue’s proxy on the Southern Growth Policy Board and represents Georgia as a commissioner on the Southeast Compact Commission for Low-Level Radioactive Waste. Clark is an advisory board member for the University of Georgia’s College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, a graduate of Georgia’s first executive leadership program and serves as vice president of the Georgia Economic Developers Association (GEDA) board of directors. Clark was previously the deputy commissioner for global commerce at the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD), the marketing arm of the state of Georgia. During his tenure, the state recorded record years with more than 40,000 new jobs and more than $8 billion in new investment. Clark also supervised Georgia’s eleven international offices. Prior positions include president & CEO of the Fayette County Development Authority in metro Atlanta, and president & CEO of the Hawkinsville-Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce and Development Association. A native of Fitzgerald, Ga., Clark earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgia Southern University and received a master’s degree in public administration from Georgia College and State University. In 2000, Georgia College and State University named him the “Recent Alumni of the Year,” and in 2006, Georgia Trend Magazine named him to its annual “40 Under 40” list of state leaders. He is a member of the 2008 Leadership Georgia class. Clark, his wife Tiffany and son Christian reside near Peachtree City in Fayette County, Georgia and attend Dogwood Baptist Church.
	Sara Fountain Executive Director, Leadership DeKalb, Inc. Ms. Fountain is employed as Executive Director of Leadership DeKalb, Inc. a community leadership program that offers leadership training to adults and high school students. Ms. Fountain has been involved with community advocacy and quality of life issues for over three decades. Her primary personal interests are in sustainable and environmentally responsible growth, environmental health issues, and education. Ms. Fountain is a member of the DeKalb Homeless Advisory Council and a founding board member of the DeKalb Literacy Council. She serves on the Public Safety and Municipal Authority of DeKalb County and she recently ended a six-year term on the DeKalb Community Relations Commission. She is a founder of ProActive DeKalb, a non-partisan policy group, and a graduate of the 1992 class of Leadership DeKalb. She is also a 2004 graduate of the Regional Leadership Institute. Prior to joining the national advisory board of the College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences, she served for ten years on the advisory council of the College of Business Administration at Georgia Southern University. Ms. Fountain maintains active memberships in the Community Leadership Association, the Regional Atlanta Civic League, Atlanta Press Club (recipient of Distinguished Service Award), Decatur Rotary, Sierra Club, Georgia Conservancy, Georgia Organics, Southface Energy Institute, the Briarcliff Woods Civic Association (Board of Directors since 1995). She is a member of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in downtown Atlanta. During her career, she has worked in account services for five advertising agencies, directing full-service and project advertising campaigns for financial institutions, real estate consortia, resort hotels, office/retail/hotel complexes, high-tech software systems suppliers, The Coca-Cola Company, the Resolution Trust Corporation, DeKalb Convention and Visitors Bureau, professional service firms and non-profit organizations. She has received over 40 national, regional and local awards of recognition including the prestigious “Addy” for her work in creating publications and advertising campaigns. She was also formerly Director of Public Relations and Public Affairs for Agnes Scott College and an assistant editor at the Savannah Evening Press where she began her professional career.
	Susan Grosse Huelsewiesche Gallery Director and Co-owner of Gallery 33 West Susan Grosse Huelsewiesche has lived in Statesboro with her family for 27 years. She earned a BFA from Georgia Southern University. Susan and her husband Ludger own Farmer Automatic, Inc. Susan has shared her time and love for the arts to help bring the arts into her hometown. With the development of the Averitt Center for the Arts, she accepted the task of bringing in art exhibits to entertain and teach. During this time she saw a need for more avenues for exhibiting fine art. Susan collaborated with Greg Carter in opening Gallery West 33. Between 2003 and 2005 she co-chaired the Committee for the Visual Arts of the Averitt Center for the Arts. Since 2004 she has been a member of the Advisory Committee for the Grassroots Arts Program for the Georgia Council for the Arts. The GCA is a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
	Jody Hunter Senior Director, Benefits, Koch Business Solutions Jody Hunter serves as Senior Director, Benefits for Koch Business Solutions, LP (KBS). KBS provides accounting, human resources, tax and technology services to all thirteen of Koch Industries major business including Georgia-Pacific, Invista, Flint Hill Resources, ChemTech, Koch Supply and Trading, Koch Pipeline and Koch Ranching. In his role, Jody oversees the strategic direction of retirement and health and welfare programs including its medical, dental, life, disability programs, defined contribution and benefit pension plans for all of Koch Industries, the largest privately held company in the United States. Before transferring to KBS in 2009, Jody served as senior director of benefits for Georgia Pacific for 10 years. Prior to joining GP, he served as benefits administrator for AGL Resources, the parent company of Atlanta Gas Light Company. Jody also served as a staff member of the Atlanta Healthcare Alliance, a business medicine health care coalition, based in Atlanta. He began his career in health planning and data analysis with the Southeast Georgia Health Systems Agency and also served as Director, Georgia Center for Health Statistics in the Georgia Department of Public Health. Jody received a Masters in Public Administration from Georgia Southern University in 1978. Jody has also served as an adjunct faculty member at the Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University where he taught strategic management. He recently served on the Governor’s Commission for a New Georgia, Health and Welfare Benefits. He currently services on the Board of Advisors for the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at Georgia Southern University as well as customer advisory boards for CVS/Caremark, Thomson/Reuters (Medstat), United Health Care and Anthem BCBS. Jody is a native of Savannah, GA and currently lives in Atlanta. He is married and has one son. In his spare time, Jody enjoys traveling, flying, and fly fishing.
	Rose Mae Millikan Retired Professor, Math Department Rose Mae Millikan received her Ed.S. in math education and B.F.A. in painting from Georgia Southern University. She attended the Savannah College of Art and Design. Later, she received her M.Ed. in math and science education and a B.A. in chemistry from the University of Arkansas. Millikan began her career as a mathematics teacher at Fayetteville High School in Fayetteville, Arkansas. After teaching for several years in Arkansas, Millikan returned to Georgia. She taught at several high schools in the area, including the Screven County Academy, where she was also Head Mistress. Millikan continued her career as instructor of architecture at the Savannah College of Art and Design and finally returned to Georgia Southern as a professor of mathematics. Millikan has owned and operated several businesses in Georgia, including the Cracker Barrel Newspaper, American Insurors, Inc., American Real Estate, Inc., and Valhalla Plantation. Millikan is committed to her work and to serving her community. She has endowed two academic scholarships at Georgia Southern, serves as a board member for Ogeechee Home Health Care and Ogeechee Area Hospice, and continues to be professionally active through the Georgia Foundation of Science and the Georgia Academy of Science.
	Jennifer Abshire Patterson CEO of Abshire Public Relations Jennifer Abshire Patterson is the Founder/CEO of Abshire Public Relations in Savannah, Georgia. Raised in Marietta, Georgia, Jennifer earned her BS in Communications from Georgia Southern University in 1988. She began her career in Savannah’s non-profit sector and in 1992 became the Executive Director of Savannah's Olympic Committee, an extension of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. Immediately after the 1996 Olympics, Jennifer founded Abshire and Associates, which later became Abshire Public Relations. Abshire Public Relations provides resource development, strategic planning, corporate/special events and the creation and implementation of long-range public relations/marketing programs for a diverse group of clients. Jennifer is a graduate and past program chair for Leadership Georgia and Leadership Savannah and serves on the board of Savannah Technical College Foundation, the Savannah Economic Development Authority Advisory Board, as well as Georgia Southern University’s CLASS National Advisory Board. She was recognized as one of Georgia Trend Magazine's Top "40 Under 40" Business Leaders for 1999, as well as one of The South Magazine’s 2006 “Stars of the South” and 2009 “Savannah Power Players”. Jennifer is married to John Patterson and has two children. They reside in the Isle of Hope area of Savannah, Georgia.
	Mark Wetherington Director, Filson Historical Society Mark Wetherington was born in Tifton, Georgia and grew up in Milan. He attended public schools in Telfair and Dodge counties. From 1968 – 1972 he served in the U.S. Navy. He received the B.A. and Master’s degrees in history at Georgia Southern and earned a Ph.D. in history in1985 at the University of Tennessee. Since 1983 he has been actively involved in the management of historical societies in Tennessee, South Carolina, and Kentucky. He served as director of the East Tennessee Historical Society, 1986- 1989, South Carolina Historical Society in Charleston,1989 - 1993, and The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky, from 1993 to the present. He has spent thirty years researching and writing about the history of South Georgia. His first book THE NEW SOUTH COMES TO WIREGRASS GEORGIA, 1860 – 1910 won the American Historical Association’s Herbert Feis book award in 1995. His second book, PLAIN FOLK’S FIGHT: THE CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION IN PINEY WOODS GEORGIA, was published in 2005. He has also served as an adjunct history professor at the University of Tennessee and the University of Louisville.