Founded originally as Gainesville Junior College in March 1964, the college was the result of visionary community leaders who sought to fill a need for accessible, quality higher education for Northeast Georgians. While a campus was in development, the college initially held classes at the Gainesville Civic Center and First Baptist Church.

In 1966, Gainesville Junior College moved to its permanent campus. With an aim to prepare students for the local workforce or to transfer on to other senior institutions, Gainesville Junior College experienced high demand from the outset. It promoted an educational experience that included academics, athletics, student activities, and public service.

Drawing students primarily from the region surrounding Lake Lanier, the college's logo incorporated an anchor symbol and blue and gold colors. The college's athletic teams competed as The Lakers until the 1985-86 academic year, when intercollegiate athletics were discontinued due to lack of spectator support and a reallocation of institutional resources.

In 1987, the University System of Georgia Board of Regents authorized the removal of "Junior" or "Community" from the two names of two-year institutions to better reflect the quality of the educational experiences students in those colleges received. Gainesville Junior College became Gainesville College.

In 1998, the college adopted a new logo that replaced the anchor previously used to represent the college with a symbolic bell tower that greeted students as they entered campus. The college's colors, too, changed from blue and gold to green.

In 2003, the college expanded to include the Oconee Campus in Watkinsville, Ga., where enrollment grew quickly.

In 2005, the institution's name changed to Gainesville State College, reflecting the growth of four-year degree programs within the college.

The college's historic seal incorporates the State of Georgia seal, an anchor symbolizing the college's first mascot – The Lakers, and the lake in the background symbolizing the Lanier Land service area.

The dividend schedule below includes dividend amounts, payment dates and ex-dividend dates for Avaya Holdings Corp. Avaya Holdings Corp issues dividends to shareholders from excess cash the company generates. Most companies pay dividends on a quarterly basis, but dividends may also be paid monthly, annually or at irregular intervals.

Pearl Harbor survivors, from left, Harry Chandler, Ken Stevens, Herb Elfring and Ira "Ike" Schab salute while the National Anthem is played during the 82nd Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023, at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. Mengshin Lin/AP hide caption

The UC giant, which is filing for bankruptcy for the second time in six years, listed in its filing unsecured claims valued in millions from the likes of Verint Americas, Microsoft and solution provider giant SHI International. Avaya’s CEO says the company is poised for a ‘transformation.’

Struggling unified communications giant Avaya Holdings Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday in federal court in Texas.

The filing follows months of speculation of a bankruptcy declaration following Avaya’s 2022 cloud subscription accounting problems that led to substantial earnings and revenue target misses.

Durham, N.C.-based Avaya said in a press release that “these actions will not impact the company’s customers, channel and strategic partners, suppliers, vendors or employees.”

[RELATED: Avaya Bankruptcy Filing: 5 Things To Know]

In its bankruptcy court filing, Avaya lists total assets of between $1 billion and $10 billion and total liabilities of between $1 billion and $10 billion. The company lists its number of creditors as being between 25,001 and 50,000.

The firm in the court filing lists the creditors with the largest unsecured claims include Verint Americas in the amount of $22.93 million; Microsoft for $9.01 million; Wistron Corp. for $8.9 million; and solution provider giant SHI International for $7.71 million.

Avaya previously filed for bankruptcy in 2017.

Avaya’s stretch of financial difficulties began in May when the company reported that it had missed its revenue target and posted a considerable earnings miss with revenue that declined 20 percent during the company’s third-quarter 2022, which ended June 30, 2022. The company then made the move to replace Jim Chirico, the company’s CEO since 2018. Alan Masarek was brought on in August as president and CEO after serving as Vonage’s CEO for six years.

“I joined Avaya to help unlock the power of its iconic brand, global customer footprint, massive partner ecosystem, large-scale communications deployments and outstanding team,” Masarek said in a statement published on Tuesday. “Strengthening Avaya’s capital structure is a critical step to fully realize their transformation, and they are excited to move ahead as a well-capitalized company with one of the strongest balance sheets in their industry that includes substantial cash to invest in their own success.”

In late December, Avaya said its stock could be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange because the average closing price of the its common stock was less than $1 over a consecutive 30 trading-day period.

Completing the financial restructuring will reduce the company’s total debt by more than 75 percent, from approximately $3.4 billion today to approximately $800 million, Avaya said. Additionally, Avaya said it has secured committed financing of approximately $780 million.

The financial restructuring will deliver the company improved financial flexibility to boost up its investment in communications products, solutions and services for customers, including the Avaya Experience Platform, its cloud-based Contact Center offering, Avaya said.

Avaya’s strategy includes a multistep process of shifting its portfolio and customers entirely to cloud—whether it’s private, multitenant or somewhere in between. It will also include a “cultural revitalization” that will allow Avaya to bring in the right talent for the work ahead, Masarek told CRN in an interview when he joined the company.

The company said it expects this financial restructuring to be completed within 60 to 90 days.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP is serving as legal counsel to Avaya, Evercore Group L.L.C. is serving as financial advisor and AlixPartners LLP is serving as restructuring advisor.

Lou D'Ambrosio, the dynamic chief executive of Avaya, announced Tuesday that he'll be stepping down from his post "to address a serious medical issue." His departure will be effective immediately.

In D'Ambrosio's absence, former Cisco Systems stalwart Charles "Charlie" Giancarlo will assume D'Ambrosio's duties until a successor is found. Avaya said its board will immediately launch a search to find a full-time replacement for D'Ambrosio using executive search firm HeidrickStruggles.

"It has been a true privilege to serve the customers and team of Avaya," D'Ambrosio said in a statement. "I have been blessed to lead a company that has clear technological leadership, a wonderful customer franchise, and the most dedicated team in the industry. I will be passionately rooting for Avaya and proudly watching the company thrive."

D'Ambrosio served as Avaya's president and CEO for two of his six years with the company and was responsible for Avaya's overall strategy, direction and operations. He was instrumental in Avaya's move to become a private company in October 2007 in an $8.3 billion deal with technology investment firms Silver Lake and TPG.

Before taking over as CEO, D'Ambrosio was president of global sales and marketing for Avaya, overseeing the communications company's $5 billion revenue stream. Prior to that, D'Ambrosio led the P&L for Avaya's $2 billion Global Services business unit, comprising 7,000 professionals across the full life cycle of services, including network consulting, integration, maintenance and managed services.

"For almost six years I've had the opportunity to be part of a remarkable company and team," D'Ambrosio wrote in a letter to Avaya employees dated Tuesday. "Avaya has become such a large part of who I am-"it's in my heart; it's in my bones. So it is with a very heavy heart that I tell you that I need to step down as CEO to address a serious medical issue. I will fight it with everything I have and I intend to beat it."

D'Ambrosio's exit and illness sent shock waves through the industry, with solution providers and industry analysts calling his stepping down a surprise and the circumstances surrounding it jarring.

"For me, it's more of a personal thing," said Neil Stanton, president and CEO of ConsultEdge, a Whippany, N.J.-based solution provider and Avaya partner. "You never want to see someone step down like that."

Stanton said D'Ambrosio took the bull by the horns and helped transform Avaya into a strong contender in the communications and VoIP market while also strengthening its channel.

"He's done a great job, everybody thought so," Stanton said. "It's a shame, but I don't think it's going to change their business."

Stanton said D'Ambrosio "looked tired" the last few times he saw him and noted that D'Ambrosio stepping down was the right move, considering his health problems.

Stanton credited D'Ambrosio for taking the channel in a new direction.

"His getting Avaya direct and the channel to work as a single unit really worked toward simplifying how Avaya does business and makes it easy for their clients."

Scott Davis, executive director of Xeta Technologies, a Broken Arrow, Okla.-based solution provider and Avaya partner, said he and his team have "a great deal of respect for Lou and Avaya and wish him well. Our thoughts and well wishes go out to Lou."

Davis said he's been pleased with his relationship with Basking Ridge, N.J.-based Avaya and the direction D'Ambrosio took the company in.

"We have a real respect for Avaya's landscape and their go-to-market strategy," Davis said. "We're consistently impressed with Avaya. Their go-to-market strategy is sound for unified communications and their contact center initiative is strong."

Industry analyst and Yankee Group Senior Vice President Zeus Kerravala called D'Ambrosio "an outstanding CEO" for Avaya.

"He brought a level of competitiveness to Avaya that it never had before," Kerravala said. "He helped Avaya shed the image that it was a stodgy old telecom vendor. He was much more aggressive with marketing and made it a global brand."

NEXT: Giancarlo to take the helm at Avaya.

And despite D'Ambrosio stepping down, solution providers said Avaya's move to have Giancarlo fill the position in the interim shows that the company can triumph over adversity and illustrates its ability to adapt when unexpected situations arise.

"This is about as good as you can do under the circumstances," Davis said. "We're really impressed with the way they're handling it. To have someone of Charlie's capacity able to fill in, that speaks volumes to their preparation. Charlie's resume speaks for itself. He single-handedly reconstructed Ethernet switching and Cisco's channel. I can't imagine they'd find someone better than that."

Stanton agreed, noting that putting someone like Giancarlo in place to take the helm at Avaya in the interim is a solid move.

"Avaya needs someone like Lou or Charlie. I liked Lou's salesmanship and strategic thinking. They need someone who's going to continue that," he said. "I would have no issue with [Giancarlo] taking over full time; coming from Cisco he really knows the industry. If he was in line to be CEO of Cisco, he's doing something right."

Giancarlo, who was picked by many to succeed John Chambers as CEO of Cisco, resigned from his post as executive vice president and chief development officer for the San Jose, Calif.-based networking powerhouse in December and took a managing director position at Silver Lake, a Silicon Valley technology investment firm and one of the two firms that partnered to acquire Avaya in 2007. Giancarlo had been with Cisco for 14 years and, at the time of his departure, was seen as second in command to Chambers.

Kerravala said Giancarlo and D'Ambrosio's permanent replacement will be charged with keeping alive the aggressive culture that D'Ambrosio started.

"That aggressiveness starts at the CEO, so Lou's aggressive presence there will be missed," he said. "But Charlie certainly knows the space. If you're going to replace Lou, it's going to be hard to find a better replacement than Charlie."

In the letter to employees, D'Ambrosio wrote: "Charlie Giancarlo will serve full time as Avaya's CEO until a successor is named. Charlie, who was recently executive vice president and chief development officer at Cisco, is a gifted executive and knows their space well. During his 14-year Cisco career, Charlie led many of the company's key business and technology initiatives. His customer focus, development savvy and sharp business instincts will be great assets to their company."

Avaya would not comment further on D'Ambrosio's departure or his illness. In a statement, Dave Roux, Silver Lake co-founder and non-executive chairman of Avaya, thanked D'Ambrosio for his work and said D'Ambrosio plans to stay aboard in an advisory role.

"Lou has been a guiding force at Avaya during his six-year tenure, the last two as CEO," said Roux. "He has shaped a compelling strategy, built a strong team, and led the company through important technology transitions to market-share leadership. They cannot thank Lou enough for his tireless leadership and inspiration, and they know he will attack this personal challenge with the same winning spirit and determination he has brought to the toughest business challenges."

Xeta's Davis said as upsetting as D'Ambrosio stepping down is, D'Ambrosio has to look out for his health and focus on getting well. He said he's confident Avaya will continue to make strides.

"We're very excited about Avaya," he said. "It's been a good year for us with Avaya, and they expect that to continue."

The Department of History is offering two $5,000 scholarships to deserving students who transfer from another college into UAB as history majors. Applicants should demonstrate academic promise and a commitment to the study of History.

To apply, send your college transcript, a one-page description of why you are interested in studying history, and some of your career aspirations are to Dr. Walter Ward at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..