Support Stories

Facade of the Brenau University Ivester College of Heath Sciences entrance at the Downtown Center

Ivester gift elevates psychology to a school at Brenau University

The Lynn J. Darby School of Psychology and Adolescent Counseling is the newest addition to Brenau University’s Ivester College of Health Sciences made possible through a generous gift of Doug and Kay Ivester. The naming honors a lifelong friend of both Doug and Kay, going back to their days working together at Ernst and Ernst, and is in recognition of Lynn’s tireless work as the president of the Melvin Douglas and Victoria Kay Ivester Foundation.

Brenau Assistant Professor of Psychology Dr. Melanie Covert.

Assistant professor providing COVID-19 mental health assistance

Dr. Melanie Covert, assistant professor of psychology in Brenau’s Lynn J. Darby School of Psychology and Adolescent Counseling, volunteers as a mental health professional staffing the 24/7 free Georgia COVID-19 Emotional Support Line at 866-399-8938.

Woman stands in front of chalkboard with Reboot Jackson information on it.

Psychology senior reboots Jackson County

Jennifer Langston, a senior psychology major in Brenau’s Lynn J. Darby School of Psychology and Adolescent Counseling, serves as the executive director of Reboot Jackson, a community-based organization in Georgia that provides an array of support to people including military personnel seeking recovery from mental health and substance use disorders.

Georgia Army National Guard Spc. Markeyvia Talley, a sophomore marketing major at Brenau, decontaminates a room at a nursing home. (Photo courtesy of Markeyvia Talley)

Sophomore marketing major and National Guard specialist cleans up COVID-19

Georgia Army National Guard Spc. Markeyvia Talley is a sophomore marketing major working to assist those affected by COVID-19. Talley, along with 13 others, goes into buildings such as nursing homes and residences to decontaminate everything inside, including bedrooms.

Georgia Army National Guard Sgt. Quantez Harper, left, a junior interior design major at Brenau, assists at Albany's Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital. (Photo courtesy of Quantez Harper)

Brenau junior interior design student called to military duty fighting virus

Georgia Army National Guard Sgt. Quantez Harper is a junior interior design major who was deployed to Kosovo in 2011 and Afghanistan in 2014 and 2019. When Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp activated medical personnel to assist at Albany’s Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, a COVID-19 hotspot, Harper says he felt compelled to go.

Amy Malcom

Triple-Tiger is here to serve commmunity

Assistant Professor Amy Malcom, family nurse practitioner program coordinator in Brenau’s Mary Inez Grindle School of Nursing, is herself a family nurse practitioner. She works in a busy rural practice in Madison, Georgia, that has seen some positive COVID-19 cases.

Nurses stand in front of a sign reading "AVITA"

Nursing students help those coming home and quarantined

Tenkela Williams is part of a group of students in the Mary Inez Grindle School of Nursing working with Hope Ripples, a nonprofit organization that provides help for those affected by COVID-19 — particularly patients who have been sent home and are quarantined.

Left to right: Amaka Ezigbo (August ABSN graduate), Carysa Mattlin, Angie Myers (adjunct nursing faculty), Kristine Gressly (May ABSN graduate)

Labor and Delivery in a time of COVID-19

Carysa Mattlin, assistant professor in Mary Inez Grindle School of Nursing, works as a labor and delivery nurse at an Atlanta area hospital. She never knows what she’s going to walk into when she goes to work. “These women may have COVID-19 and be asymptomatic, as may their spouses. We cannot maintain a 6-foot distance …

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