Socon13 keynote speakers include Turner Sports VP of Marketing Jeffrey Miram, YEAH! BURGER Marketing and Communications Manager Ema Carr, Cox Media Group Social Media Manager Mathilde Piard, and The Fox Theatre E-Commerce and Social Media Manager Russell Suavé. With over 30 additional speakers, SoCon13 offers a broad range of professional experience.

“SoCon13 offers learning schedules for everyone from business owners, marketing professionals, and digital strategists to CEOs, journalists, and non-profiteer, with the freedom to network and attend working sessions outside your professional path,” SoCon13.com states.

Visions, the Student Art Guild, celebrated the opening of the 30th Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition on Thursday, Jan. 17.

The exhibit features approximately 50 student art pieces carefully selected by Juror Marcia Wood. Wood, executive director and owner of Marcia Wood Gallery, also chose the winners of the Director’s Awards, Chair’s Purchase Award, and honorary mentions.

“The request to act as juror for the 30th Annual Student Art Exhibition at Kennesaw State University came as a welcomed opportunity.” said Wood in a letter addressed to the exhibit.

Wood opened her gallery in 2004 and hosts a variety of artists in exhibitions.

The gallery, well known in Atlanta, represents notable contemporary art pieces and has included video, installation, digital media, sculpture, and photography pieces. Marcia Wood Gallery is located in historic downtown Catsleberry Hill and has been critically praised by Creative Loafing Atlanta and dozens of artists she has represented.

For the Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition, Wood selected 3D sculptures, paintings, photography, and prints to fill the walls of the Fine Arts Gallery. Absolution, an oil on canvas piece by Monroe D’antignac, was chosen as the first place Director’s Award. Cash awards were also given to second and third place and to the Chair’s Purchase. “The show prepares you for rejection,” said senior Visions member Jessica Medovich, “and it helps you find your voice as an artist. It’s a real opportunity to see what pieces work in the real world.”

Medovich entered five pieces into the art show and three were selected. As a senior, she has found her niche in the art world: printmaking. While her prints, including Introducing Mr. Biggles, did not receive any awards, Medovich was honored to be a part of the gallery.

“Marcia Brown is a big name and having her select my work is such a fantastic privilege,” said Medovich. “It’s also an honor to be in the School of Art and Design not just some art department. KSU is becoming a great place to be an artist.”

KSU announced the change from department to school in 2012 and the School of Art and Design now makes up more than half of the student population within the College of Arts according to Director Joe Thomas. The curriculum has evolved with the title and art students can be confidant that KSU is as competitive as other Georgia art programs.

Visions, created in 1983 by Roberta Griffin and Patrick Taylor, strives to raise awareness surrounding the visual arts among KSU students, faculty and staff. At 337 members, Visions is the longest active student art organization and aims to promote and inspire visual art. Visions provides students the unique opportunity “to publicly show their work with the goal of advancing students’ public recognition and bolstering art careers” according to Visions’ mission statement.

“Careers don’t start until we participate and this is the first level of participation,” said Visions Co-President Holly Lacour.

The Annual Juried Student Art Exhibit will run until Feb. 21, 2013 at the Fine Arts Gallery, located in the Joe Mack Wilson Building. Many pieces in the show are available for purchase to support participating artists and future museum programming.

The Student Government Association will change its constitution to include additional requirements to run for election. These new requirements call for prospective candidates to serve in SGA for a full semester before being allowed to run for an executive position.

SGA compared its requirements for election to those of Georgia Southern, Georgia State, University of West Georgia and the University of Georgia to get an idea of how other universities operate. Serving for a semester before election could better prepare candidates for their duties within the organization and expose them to the internal operations of SGA. However, this requirement could also have a negative side.

“Some candidates might be deterred from running [for an executive position] because of the number of years they have left at Kennesaw,” Academic Affairs Director Katherine Street said.

The amendment to the constitution was unanimously passed by SGA executive members and is awaiting approval from the Student Activities Board and Committee.

In other campus news, students are reminded to change their Net ID password before Jan. 21, 2013. If students fail to change their password before this date, they will no longer be able to login to the Net ID unless they completely reset their account.

Last year, the SGA administration pledged to serve more than 300 service hours. More than 150 volunteer hours in the Fall 2012 term helped SGA reach its goal. SGA will be assisted by Bernard McCrary as he takes to the position of assistant director of Student Involvement.

The Planning & Budget Advisory Committee found that for every 29.5 students on campus there is one teacher. Other school systems in Georgia average one teacher for every 24.1 students. KSU plans (you can’t maintain andw decrease) to decrease the ratio.