UGA's Griffin Campus hosts open house for prospective students on April 12

Prospective students interested in learning more about the University of Georgia’s academic offerings in Griffin are invited to attend the spring open house that will be held on April 12 from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Griffin Campus Student Learning Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Academic affairs staff, including advisers and faculty, will be on hand to provide information and answer questions about the educational opportunities available at the Griffin Campus. The undergraduate programs, first offered in Griffin in 2005, are degree-completion programs for transfer students or those seeking a second bachelor’s degree. Eight undergraduate majors are now offered, plus graduate programs in agricultural leadership and mathematics education.

The open house also will feature campus tours, information about student affairs, and student club displays. Current UGA students will be in attendance to talk about their campus experiences.

For more information about the open house, contact the Office of Academic Affairs at the Griffin Campus at 770/412-4400 or email griffin@uga.edu.

For more information about the degree programs offered at UGA’s Griffin Campus, see http://www.uga.edu/griffin.

-----
Community News You Can Use
Click to read MORE news:
www.GeorgiaFrontPage.com
Twitter: @gafrontpage & @TheGATable @HookedonHistory
www.ArtsAcrossGeorgia.com
Twitter: @artsacrossga, @softnblue, @RimbomboAAG @FayetteFP

UGA College of Veterinary Medicine to host first VetCAMP in summer 2011

Twelve 11th and 12th grade students will be selected from a national applicant pool to participate in the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine’s first VetCAMP, a nine-day program aimed at helping students experience veterinary medicine as a potential career path.

VetCAMP, or Veterinary Career Aptitude and Mentoring Program, will offer participants opportunities for observation and participation in the various services in the UGA Veterinary Teaching Hospital, the Poultry Diagnostic and Research Center, and the college’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories.Camp attendees also will go on field trips to the Atlanta Zoo and Georgia Aquarium for behind-the-scenes tours of each facility.

“We started VetCAMP as a way to expose young people to all of the opportunities available to them in a career in Veterinary Medicine,” said Dr. K. Paige Carmichael, the college’s associate dean for academic affairs. “Through VetCAMP, we hope to broaden the students’ perception of veterinary medicine while increasing their interest in the sciences.”

The students will learn about requirements for admission to the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine, research opportunities, study abroad opportunities, the college’s veterinary curriculum and underserved specialties in the field of veterinary medicine.

VetCAMP will be held Saturday, July 9 through Sunday, July 17.The students will be housed on the UGA campus.The $500 fee includes lodging, meals, instruction and social activities.Scholarships or financial assistance are available to students with demonstrated need.

Students who wish to be considered for the program must complete a registration packet that includes a registration form, a teacher/counselor recommendation form and an essay.The packet may be downloaded from the VetCAMP website at www.vet.uga.edu/GO/camp.

For more information about the program, contact Lakecia Pettway at lpettway@uga.edu or 706/542-8411, or visit the program’s website.

The UGA College of Veterinary Medicine, founded in 1946, is dedicated to training future veterinarians, to conducting research related to animal and human diseases, and to providing veterinary services for animals and their owners.Research efforts are aimed at enhancing the quality of life for animals and people, improving the productivity of poultry and livestock, and preserving a healthy interface between wildlife and people in the environment they share.The college enrolls 102 students each fall out of more than 560 who apply.For more information, see www.vet.uga.edu.

The current UGA College of Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital, built in 1979, serves more than 18,000 patients per year in one of the smallest teaching hospitals in the United States.The college is currently working to raise $15 million toward building a new Veterinary Medical Learning Center, which will include a new teaching hospital as well as classrooms and laboratories that will allow for the education of more veterinarians.The goal is to increase enrollment to 150 when the Veterinary Medical Learning Center is built.For more information, see http://www.vet.uga.edu/giving/campaign.php.

-----
Community News You Can Use
Click to read MORE news:
www.GeorgiaFrontPage.com
Twitter: @gafrontpage & @TheGATable @HookedonHistory
www.ArtsAcrossGeorgia.com
Twitter: @artsacrossga, @softnblue, @RimbomboAAG @FayetteFP

UGA 8th in Kiplinger’s annual best value ranking

The University of Georgia is eighth in the latest ranking of the nation’s best values in public higher education by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine.

The 2011 ranking marks the eighth consecutive year UGA has ranked among the magazine’s top 10 values. The university has been in the magazine’s top 20 every year since the magazine began publishing its best value rankings in 1998.

The rankings appear in Kiplinger’s February 2011 issue and online at www.kiplinger.com/tools/colleges. The magazine takes data on more than 500 public institutions and sorts the schools based on quality measures such as the admission rate, test scores of incoming freshmen and graduation rates. To create the list of 100 top values, the magazine then factors in cost data such as tuition, fees and financial aid to come up with a list of institutions that “deliver a stellar education at an affordable price.”

“Schools like these on the Kiplinger 100 list prove graduates can enter the workforce with a great education—and without a huge cloud of debt,” said Kiplinger’s Editor Janet Bodnar.

The magazine notes the average debt at graduation for UGA students is $14,766, the third lowest among top 10 schools. The magazine calculates total annual in-state cost for UGA students at $18,226 and total annual cost for out-of-state students at $36,436. For out-of-state students, the university ranks 19th on the list of 100 best values.

Two other University System of Georgia institutions are in the magazine’s top 100 for in-state students—Georgia Institute of Technology, ranked 16th, and Georgia College and State University, ranked 100th.

The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill tops the magazine’s list for the 10th time. Other institutions in this year’s top 10 are: the University of Florida (2nd), University of Virginia (3rd), College of William and Mary (4th), University of Maryland, College Park (5th), State University of New York at Binghamton (6th), SUNY Geneseo (7th), University of Wisconsin-Madison (9th) and University of Washington (10th).

-----
Community News You Can Use
Click to read MORE news:
www.GeorgiaFrontPage.com
Twitter: @gafrontpage & @TheGATable @HookedonHistory
www.ArtsAcrossGeorgia.com
Twitter: @artsacrossga, @softnblue, @RimbomboAAG @FayetteFP

UGA to mark 50th anniversary of desegregation in 2011

The University of Georgia will mark the 50th anniversary of its desegregation with a series of events starting on Jan. 9—the date in 1961 when Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter (now Hunter-Gault) became the first African Americans to register for classes—and continuing for 50 days through Feb. 28, the end of Black History Month.

Hunter-Gault will return to campus for a kick-off reception on Jan. 9 that also will include the family of the late Hamilton Holmes and Mary Frances Early, who transferred to UGA as a graduate student in the summer of 1961 and the next year became the first African American to earn a degree when she received her master’s in music education.Holmes and Hunter-Gault graduated in 1963.

The reception, which is free and open to the public, will be from 6-8 p.m. in the Grand Hall of the Tate Student Center.

On Jan. 10, Hunter-Gault will deliver a 50th anniversary lecture at 3 p.m. in Mahler Auditorium of the Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel.Overflow seating will be available in Masters Hall, with a live video feed.

A panel discussion of the legal issues involved in the university’s desegregation will follow in Masters Hall at 5 p.m. Participants will include Horace Ward, who first challenged UGA’s discriminatory admissions policies after being denied admission to the School of Law in 1950, and Robert Benham, who earned a law degree from UGA in 1970 and later became the first African-American chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court.Ward, who served on Holmes and Hunter’s legal team, was appointed a U.S. District Judge in 1979 and is currently a Senior District Judge.

At 8 p.m., the premiere campus screening of a documentary on Donald Hollowell, who led the legal team that secured admission for Holmes and Hunter, will be held in Masters Hall.The documentary was produced by Maurice Daniels, dean of the School of Social Work, and Derrick Alridge, director of the Institute for African American Studies.

Hunter-Gault also will participate in a conversation with students in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, from which she earned her degree, on Jan. 11.The event will be recorded.The Grady College is promoting a college-wide read of her 1992 memoir In My Place prior to her return to campus.

Also on Jan. 11, noted poet, author and activist Sonia Sanchez will participate in a dialogue moderated by Valerie Boyd, the Charlayne Hunter-Gault Writer-in-Residence in the Grady College, and featuring poet Reginald McKnight, who holds the Hamilton Holmes Professorship in English.The event is at 2 p.m. in the Grand Hall of the Tate Student Center with a reception and book-signing following.

Another panel discussion is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. that day in 101 Miller Learning Center with UGA faculty authors Maurice Daniels, who wrote a biography of Horace Ward; Robert Pratt, who chronicled UGA’s desegregation in We Shall Not Be Moved; and Thomas Dyer, who included a chapter on the event in his bicentennial history of UGA.Joining them will be Robert Cohen, professor of history and social studies at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, who also has written about UGA’s desegregation.

The week concludes with the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Breakfast with Mary Frances Early as the speaker. Co-sponsored by the university, the Athens-Clarke County Government and the Clarke County School District, the event will be at 7:30 a.m. Jan. 14 in the Grand Hall of the Tate Student Center.Advance reservations are needed and should be made through the Office of Institutional Diversity (706/583-8195).

Early also will visit with students at J.J. Harris Elementary Charter School on Jan. 13 for an event sponsored by UGA’s College of Education and the Institute for African American Studies.

Additional details about these and the many other events planned throughout January and February are available on the 50th anniversary of desegregation website (desegregation.uga.edu), which also includes historical information as well as “milestones and achievements” of the past 50 years.

“We really want to encourage the campus community and the local community to participate in this landmark occasion,” said Cheryl Dozier, associate provost for institutional diversity, who co-chairs the planning committee with Derrick Alridge. “There are so many ways to do so and we are excited to see the creativity being shown by UGA departments and student groups in finding ways to celebrate the courage of Hamilton Holmes, Charlayne Hunter-Gault and Mary Frances Early, as well as those who supported them and those who have followed in their footsteps.”

-----
Community News You Can Use
Click to read MORE news:
www.GeorgiaFrontPage.com
Twitter: @gafrontpage & @TheGATable @HookedonHistory
www.ArtsAcrossGeorgia.com
Twitter: @artsacrossga, @softnblue, @RimbomboAAG
www.FayetteFrontPage.com
Twitter: @FayetteFP

UGA promotes Northrop Grumman Scholarships for high schools for the 2011 TEAMS competition

First-time participating high schools have an opportunity to earn one of three Northrop Grumman Scholarships to cover registration fees for their teams to compete in the Junior Engineering Technical Society’s 2011 TEAMS competition to be hosted by the University of Georgia on February 23.
For the past two years, several teams of high school students from across Georgia have participated in the daylong competition at UGA. New participants can earn a scholarship to cover the $125 registration fee by registering and meeting a set of criteria.

“TEAMS, or Tests of Engineering, Aptitude, Mathematics and Science, brings math and science to life for students, fostering creativity, critical thinking, teamwork and problem solving,” said John Mativo, an assistant professor in the College of Education’s department of workforce education, leadership and social foundations, and a member of the UGA Faculty of Engineering, who is co-directing the competition.

The competition features high school students (grades 9-12) participating in teams of four to eight members, using real-world applications of math and science to solve some of today’s greatest engineering challenges. The TEAMS 2011 theme is “Smarter Energy. Cleaner Planet.” There are two parts: a 90-minute, 80 multiple choice question session and a 90-minute, open-ended, four-question session.

First-time participating teams seeking one of the Northrop Gruman Scholarships are required to register for the competition through the JETS-TEAMS website: www.jets.org/teams/and indicate that UGA is the team’s host. On the day of competition, the team’s school will be reimbursed the registration fee if it meets the criteria below and was notified as one of the three finalists.

1.This is the first time the school’s team has participated in the competition (new school).

2.The team is a new club in its respective school, such as Engineering/Science Club.

3.The distance the team traveled to UGA.

To earn a scholarship, teams must write a paragraph of approximately 500 words on why they should be considered for the Northrop Grumman Scholarship. Applications should be emailed to: Dr. John M Mativo at jmativo@uga.edu by Jan. 10, 2011.Selected teams will be notified by Jan. 20.

“The competition benefits students by showing them why math and science matter in the real world,” said Mativo. “Its academic rigor challenges students with new topics and new ideas. In addition, participants receive inside information about college scholarship and can win great prizes.”

Last year, participating teams—from Northside High School; Gwinnett School of Math, Science and Technology; The Academy of Richmond County; Cross Creek High School; Hephzibah High School; and Grayson High School—brought 64 students for competition.

Mativo is co-directing the competition with Chi Thai, an associate professor in the department of biological and agricultural engineering, and member of the faculty of engineering; and assisted by Nancy Vandergrift, a program coordinator with the UGA Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics initiative.

More than 14,000 students across the country participate annually in TEAMS competitions. Questions are aligned with national education standards. UGA is one of two sites hosting the competition in Georgia. The other site is the Atlanta University Center.

TEAMS competition site sponsors include: Harvard University, Itasca Community College, National Education Partnership Alliance, Shell and Starbucks.

More information about TEAMS, the UGA College of Education and Northrop Grumman is available at the following websites: www.jets.org/teams/, www.coe.uga.edu/ and www.northropgrumman.com/.

-----
Community News You Can Use
Click to read MORE news:
www.GeorgiaFrontPage.com
Twitter: @gafrontpage & @TheGATable @HookedonHistory
www.ArtsAcrossGeorgia.com
Twitter: @artsacrossga, @softnblue, @RimbomboAAG
www.FayetteFrontPage.com
Twitter: @FayetteFP

160 high school students attend ‘Vet School for a Day’ at UGA College of Veterinary Medicine

Some 280 people, including 160 high school students from throughout Georgia, visited the University of Georgia campus on Wednesday to attend the sixth annual Vet School for a Day, held at the College of Veterinary Medicine.

The day began with a keynote address from Dr. Nina Marano (DVM ’84), who is chief of the Quarantine and Border Health Services Branch for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Preparedness, Detection, and Control of Infectious Diseases. The division is charged with preventing and controlling the introduction of communicable diseases into U.S. borders. Marano, who also practices companion animal medicine, told students about the wide variety of careers available to people who attain a veterinary degree, and emphasized the important role veterinarians play in protecting public health by helping to maintain a healthy food supply and by monitoring diseases in wildlife.

In addition, the students toured the college’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital, lunched with a panel of veterinary students to learn about their interests in veterinary medicine, and heard from a panel of faculty and staff who represented the many specialties in veterinary medicine. Students also learned about the high standards for admission to the college, and what they should study to be prepared for veterinary school.

“This event has grown exponentially since we first started it, from a group of 30 students and high school counselors to almost 300,” said Dr. K. Paige Carmichael, the college’s associate dean for academic affairs. “There were many great questions asked and the overwhelming feedback was that this had been a wonderful experience. The college welcomes the opportunity to showcase our profession to interested high school students and looks forward to seeing many of these bright young minds come through our doors in four years time.”

“Vet School for a Day” is sponsored by the David Forehand Foundation, created in memory of alumnus Dr. David Forehand (DVM ’76). Next year’s event will be held in September; the date will be announced in the spring.

The UGA College of Veterinary Medicine, founded in 1946, is dedicated to training future veterinarians, to conducting research related to animal diseases, and to providing veterinary services for animals and their owners. Research efforts are aimed at enhancing the quality of life for animals and people, improving the productivity of poultry and livestock, and preserving a healthy interface between wildlife and people in the environment they share. The college enrolls 102 students each fall out of more than 550 who apply. For more information, see http://www.vet.uga.edu/.

The current UGA College of Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital, built in 1979, serves more than 18,000 patients per year in one of the smallest teaching hospitals in the United States. The college is currently working to raise $15 million toward building a new Veterinary Medical Learning Center, which will include a new teaching hospital as well as classrooms and laboratories that will allow for the education of more veterinarians. The goal is to increase enrollment to 150 when the Veterinary Medical Learning Center is built. http://www.vet.uga.edu/giving/campaign.php.

-----
Community News You Can Use
Click to read MORE news:
www.GeorgiaFrontPage.com
Twitter: @gafrontpage & @TheGATable @HookedonHistory
www.ArtsAcrossGeorgia.com
Twitter: @artsacrossga, @softnblue, @RimbomboAAG
www.FayetteFrontPage.com
Twitter: @FayetteFP

Newly Revised Concepts in Clinical Pharmacokinetics Web-Based Continuing Education Course Offered by the University of Georgia

/PRNewswire/ -- The newly revised Concepts in Clinical Pharmacokinetics, a web-based continuing education course, is available from the University of Georgia. Developed in cooperation with the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, and the University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education and College of Pharmacy, the new Online Course is a continuing pharmacy education course on the fundamental principles of absorption, distribution, metabolism, and the elimination of drugs by the human body as well as clinical application, including case studies of commonly dosed drugs.

The new Concepts in Clinical Pharmacokinetics course is designed for clinical or health-system pharmacists, community pharmacists, consultant and compound pharmacists, matriculating professional pharmacy students and participants enrolled in a PharmD program, as well as others already working in the pharmaceutical industry.

"If you're looking to further your knowledge of pharmacokinetics or you're employed by a pharmacy school requiring a solution for matriculating professional students, then our course might be your solution," says Pamela Bracken, Department Head of Special Projects and Curriculum Development at the University of Georgia. "Our continuing education course, led by two of the textbook authors and online course facilitators, Dr. William Spruill and Dr. William Wade, is designed to help professionals and pharmacy students improve their knowledge of fundamental pharmacokinetic concepts."

Concepts in Clinical Pharmacokinetics course options include:

* Option 1: Application-Based, Web-Based Continuing Education Course
* Option 2: Practiced-Based Activity Certificate
* Option 3: Practice-Based Activity Certificate for Advanced Practitioners
* Option 4: Online Course for Pharmacy Schools


The new Concepts in Clinical Pharmacokinetics is a self-paced, self-study, online continuing pharmacy education program offering Interactive media to enhance a participant's learning experience. The comprehensive, state-of-the-art curriculum is divided into eleven modules and five Cases that include:

1. Introduction to Pharmacokinetics
2. Basic Pharmacokinetics
3. Half-life, Elimination Rate Constant and AUC
4. Intravenous Bolus Administration, Multiple Drug Administration, and Steady-State Average Concentrations
5. Relationships of Pharmacokinetic Parameters and Intravenous Intermittent and Continuous Infusions
6. Two-Compartment Models
7. Biopharmaceutics: Absorption
8. Drug Distribution and Protein Binding
9. Drug Elimination Processes
10. Nonlinear Processes
11. Pharmacokinetic Variation and Model Independent Relationships


Five Cases (Available in Option #2 and Option #3)

1. Aminoglycosides
2. Vancomycin
3. Theophylline
4. Phenytoin
5. Digoxin


The new course, based on the bestselling textbook of the same title, Concepts in Clinical Pharmacokinetics, 5th Edition, presented by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, is rich in multimedia elements that expand on the text and stimulate learning.

For more information on this program, visit www.georgiacenter.uga.edu/pharmacokinetics , or call Pam Bracken at +1-706-542-3537 or e-mail at Pam.Bracken@georgiacenter.uga.edu .

The University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education is a unit of the University of Georgia's Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach. The Georgia Center provides innovative lifelong learning opportunities through its continuing education programs. For more information, go to www.georgiacenter.uga.edu/ppd .

-----
Community News You Can Use
Click to read MORE news:
www.GeorgiaFrontPage.com
Twitter: @gafrontpage & @TheGATable @HookedonHistory
www.ArtsAcrossGeorgia.com
Twitter: @artsacrossga, @softnblue, @RimbomboAAG
www.FayetteFrontPage.com
Twitter: @FayetteFP

Waycross College and the University of Georgia form partnership

Waycross College students who wish to one day attend the University of Georgia now have a clear academic path to follow. The institutions recently signed two agreements that will ease the transfer of WC students into the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Agriscience and environmental systems degrees

The agreements establish formal options for students who earn an Associate of Science degree from WC to transfer directly into the UGA CAES Agricultural Education or Agriscience and Environmental Systems majors. Both majors are offered on the UGA campus in Tifton, Ga., just 70 miles west of Waycross. A student must complete the associate degree with a grade point average of 2.8 or higher.
Mark Van Den Hende, WC vice president for academic affairs, sees the new transfer agreements as another way for WC to fulfill its mission.

“Partnerships with other University System of Georgia institutions, like the University of Georgia, make attending Waycross College extraordinary,” he said. “Since our goal is to get students ready to transfer to a four-year college, partnerships streamline the process and guarantee that it fulfills our student-centered mission.”

Waycross graduates can stay in south Georgia for UGA degree

WC President David Palmer is pleased that WC graduates now have the opportunity to earn a UGA degree while staying close to home.

“Everyone agrees that the University of Georgia is one of our national flagship academic universities,” Palmer said. “While many of our graduates over the past 34 years have gone on from Waycross College to their junior and senior years in Athens, now we are directly linked to UGA. Students can earn a UGA four-year degree with only two years in Waycross and two years in Tifton – barely 75 miles from home. What an opportunity!”

UGA administrators are equally excited about the new venture.

“This agreement gives students as well as advisors a roadmap to follow,” said Joe West, assistant dean on the UGA Tifton campus. “If they follow that roadmap, take the proper courses and maintain standards, they will find a smooth transition to the University of Georgia Tifton campus. We are excited about this partnership with Waycross College as we reach out to our sister institutions in south Georgia by providing access to the University of Georgia.”

"We wanted to work with local community colleges to create a pathway from their program to ours,” said Joe Broder, CAES associate dean for academic affairs. “We want students to finish their Waycross degree, then come to Tifton. This way they're ready to be successful at UGA, and it’s a win-win for Waycross and UGA.”

Article by Jessica Green of the University of Georgia and Taylor Hereford of Waycross College.

-----
Community News You Can Use
Click to read MORE news:
www.GeorgiaFrontPage.com
Twitter: @gafrontpage & @TheGATable @HookedonHistory
www.ArtsAcrossGeorgia.com
Twitter: @artsacrossga, @softnblue, @RimbomboAAG
www.FayetteFrontPage.com
Twitter: @FayetteFP

UGA places in two categories in new Kaplan/'Newsweek' college rankings

The University of Georgia made two top 25 lists in the fall 2010 “Finding the Right College for You” guide released this week by Kaplan and Newsweek.

Earning the 20th spot on the “Most Desirable Large Schools” list and 24th place on the “Stocked with Jocks” list, UGA is one of only a few universities or colleges with more than one rating in the new guide, which seeks to address the real-life concerns that prospective college students have when selecting a school.

To rank large schools, or those with more than 10,000 students, the Newsweek/Kaplan team considered test scores, endowment, student-to-faulty ratio, retention and climate and the quality of the facilities to gauge desirability.

The “Stocked with Jocks” list ranks the best schools for athletes, according to the group’s website. To rank schools, the Newsweek/Kaplan team considered the percentage of students serving on varsity teams, the number of varsity and intramural sports offered on the campus and the amountof money spent on athletics compared to instruction.

The “Finding the Right College for You” guide debuted its college rankings this year, in categories not traditionally found in similar publications. Each of the categories is meant to guide high school students and their parents as they select the right college by covering all the aspects of undergraduate life.

For more information on the rankings, see www.kaplancollegeguide.com.

-----
Community News You Can Use
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Follow us on Twitter:  @GAFrontPage

Dedication marks inaugural day of classes of MCG/UGA Medical Partnership

Forty aspiring physicians began their education in Athens August 9 as part of the inaugural class of the Medical College of Georgia/University of Georgia Medical Partnership.

“This was a pretty clear decision for me when you look at the per capita number of doctors (in Georgia),” said Governor Sonny Perdue, who gave the keynote address at a dedication ceremony to mark the historic partnership. “The fact is that we were importing medical talent not only from around the nation, but from around the world, to serve our citizens in Georgia. And while we love that people like to come to our state, we felt like we needed to grow more of our own.”

The inaugural class of the four-year medical education program consists of 40 MCG students who will study basic science and clinical skills in a program that mirrors the curriculum of the Augusta campus. Like other speakers at the dedication ceremony, University System of Georgia Chancellor Errol B. Davis Jr. praised Perdue and the General Assembly for supporting the expansion of public medical education in Georgia.

“It’s important to note that they did this in the midst of this economic downturn,” Davis said. “Their commitment expanding medical education and providing more doctors for the people of the state has not wavered.”

MCG President Dr. Ricardo Azziz and UGA President Michael F. Adams both emphasized how the partnership leverages the strengths of the state’s only public medical school and its largest and most comprehensive research university.

“Only through collaboration will we succeed in addressing the growing health needs of our state, our nation, and our world,” Azziz said. “Only through collaboration will we generate the cutting edge discoveries that will transform the way we care for our people.”

“It has taken a lot of people coming together to make this possible,” Adams said. “The development of a health sciences campus and the admission of the first class of medical students have been among the most important developments, I believe, in my time here at the university.”

MCG/UGA Medical Partnership student Justin Brooten of Atlanta addressed the audience at the dedication ceremony on behalf of students and noted that members of the inaugural class have studied in numerous fields, including biology, languages, economics and psychology, and have wide-ranging medical interests as well. “One word which characterizes our shared pursuit,” he said, “is passion – a passion to learn, a passion to care, and a passion to contribute.”

He added that the partnership will increase opportunities for students to engage in interdisciplinary studies and that the smaller class sizes in Athens will facilitate student/faculty interaction.

The partnership is part of an overall plan to increase the MCG School of Medicine's class size from 190 to 300 students by 2020 to help meet the need for physicians in a state that ranks in the top 10 in both population and population growth, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“There are counties in Georgia that don’t have any physicians at all, and those shortages need to be addressed,” said Dr. Douglas Miller, dean of the MCG School of Medicine and MCG senior vice president for health affairs. “A public university and a partnership such as this is ideally positioned to lead a response to health care disparities.”

The students will be educated in the Interim Medical Partnership Building, a historic building that was originally constructed in 1857 as the Athens Cotton and Wool Factory and has since been renovated to provide a state-of-the-art learning environment. In 2012, the partnership is scheduled to move to a 58-acre campus in Athens currently occupied by the Navy Supply Corps School. The new campus will be known as the UGA Health Sciences Campus and will house the UGA College of Public Health and other health-related programs.

“UGA will become a much stronger research university with the inclusion of medical education,” said UGA Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Jere Morehead, “and today’s dedication of the Interim Medical Partnership Building is a precursor of greater things that will come in improving health care for the people of Georgia.”

The first graduates of the partnership will graduate in 2014 and can begin practicing, depending on the chosen specialty, in 2017 after completion of postgraduate education. By 2020, the partnership is expected to educate 60 students per year in Athens, for a total of 240 students for the four-year program. In addition to helping educate more physicians, the MCG/UGA Medical Partnership opens up new possibilities for collaborative research into diseases that disproportionately affect Georgians, such as diabetes, obesity and stroke.

“We have been given the opportunity to influence the health of the state of Georgia,” Campus Dean Dr. Barbara Schuster said. “May we have the strength and presence of mind to seize this unique opportunity.”

-----
Community News You Can Use
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Follow us on Twitter:  @GAFrontPage

Registration begins Aug. 11 for UGA's 'Vet School for a Day'

Registration opens Aug. 11 for the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine’s sixth annual Vet School for a Day.The program will be held Sept. 29.It brings high school students from throughout Georgia to the university’s Athens campus to learn more about careers in veterinary medicine.

The program is held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and includes a tour of the teaching hospital, a panel discussion by faculty veterinarians in a variety of specialties, and the opportunity for the high school students to meet veterinary student leaders. Students also will learn about the high standards for admission to the college, and what they need to study to be prepared for veterinary school.

“Through this program, we hope to encourage students interested in science to pursue one of the variety of careers available in veterinary medicine, especially in underserved areas such as food animal medicine,” said Paige Carmichael, associate dean for academic affairs.

All students must be accompanied by an adult chaperone (parent, counselor or teacher).Students attend for free, but to help offset the cost for food there is a $15 per person fee for each chaperone; the fee is payable on the day of the event.School guidance counselors will be notified by email once registration opens.

“Vet School for a Day” is sponsored by the David Forehand Foundation, created in memory of alumnus Dr. David Forehand (DVM, class of 1976).More information about the event can be found at http://www.vet.uga.edu/academic/events/vs4ad.php.

-----
Community News You Can Use
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Follow us on Twitter:  @GAFrontPage

UGA receives $700,000 National Science Foundation grant to create new Professional Science Master’s program in biomanufacturing; first of its kind at UGA

The University of Georgia has been awarded federal stimulus funding to launch an innovative new program that will help meet the workforce needs of Georgia’s growing biotechnology industry.
The three-year, $700,000 grant from the National Science Foundation will create a new Professional Science Master’s program in biomanufacturing and bioprocessing that capitalizes on UGA’s academic strengths, facilities and industry ties. Only 21 of 210 universities were selected to receive the highly competitive award.

“The focus of a PSM is different from the traditional undergraduate, master’s or doctoral degree,” said Timothy Davies, co-director of the program at UGA and a research scientist in biochemistry and molecular biology.“It allows individuals to pursue advanced scientific training in a particular sector of industry while developing a strong foundation in business practices. It equips students with the skills that industry requires.”

“This new PSM program is an exciting first at UGA, providing a more direct connection between graduate training and workforce development, in an area of intense need in this country,” said David Lee, vice president for research. “This is a prime example of a new trend in workforce-directed academic/industrial/government partnerships.”

The degree program is awaiting final approval from the University Council Executive Committee and the University System of Georgia Board of Regents. It will seek official recognition as a PSM program from the Council of Graduate Schools.

Approximately 200 PSM programs across the U.S. now respond to the national need for a stronger scientific workforce to enhance the nation’s competitiveness, said Davies.

The eight to 10 students in the new program will focus their studies in one of three areas of biomanufacturing—biofuel/biochemical, industrial/environmental or pharmaceutical—in either a large company or small firm setting.

Participating faculty represent UGA’s Terry College of Business, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, College of Pharmacy, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, Bioenergy Systems Research Initiative and Faculty of Engineering. The interdisciplinary nature of PSM faculty “demonstrates the central importance of biomanufacturing to all aspects of biotechnology,” said Davies.

The biomanufacturing training facilities at UGA are unique in the Southeast and state-of-the-art for industry, said Davies.

“Typically, the Bioexpression and Fermentation Facility and its equipment are available only to researchers and industry clients,” he said. “Students trained at UGA’s PSM program could potentially go straight to work at DuPont Danisco’s new biofuel facility in Tennessee or at a veterinary pharmaceutical company like Merial.”

The university’s strong industry links will enhance students’ experiences through seminars and guest lectures, lab-based case studies and internship opportunities. Committed industry partners include Merial; industrial enzyme producer Novozymes; biopharmaceutical firm Inhibitex, Inc.; and technology providers DCI-Biolaffite, Innovative Controls and Smartflow Technologies.

The GeorgiaDepartment of Economic Development’s Centers for Innovation and Georgia Bio, the state’s leading biotechnology trade organization, also have signed on to provide industry contacts and expertise. The Georgia BioBusiness Center, UGA’s own technology incubator, will foster links between students and regional start-up companies.

The NSF funds will be used to support recruitment and fellowships for students in the new master’s program. Additional support for the program is being provided by UGA’s Office of the Vice President for Research, Graduate School, department of biochemistry and molecular biology and Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute, which will serve as the degree program’s administrative home.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Follow us on Twitter:  @GAFrontPage

University of Georgia hosts symposium celebrating 225th anniversary of its founding

The University of Georgia will celebrate the 225th anniversary of its founding with a two-day symposium April 22-23. Themed “Honoring the Past; Looking to the Future,” the symposium features experts leading lectures and discussions on the university’s history and the future of higher education. The celebration also includes an art exhibition and musical performance. It coincides with an alumni awards luncheon and the rededication of the Fine Arts Theatre.

“The University of Georgia is proud to hold the distinction as the nation’s first chartered public institution of higher learning,” said UGA President Michael F. Adams. “For 225 years, UGA has served the people of this state through teaching, research and service. Today, UGA stands as the state’s most comprehensive and diverse institution of higher learning. We look forward to celebrating the rich history of this place and the role UGA can and will play in the future prosperity of Georgia.”

The first day of the symposium will focus on the university’s history. The event officially begins April 22 with a keynote address at 9 a.m. by John R. Thelin, University Research Professor at the University of Kentucky. Thelin, whose teaching and research interests focus on the history of higher education and public policy, will speak on “Alma Mater, Lost and Found: The History of the University of Georgia in National Perspective” in Room 150 of the Miller Learning Center, where all presentations will take place unless otherwise noted.

Following Thelin’s remarks, UGA faculty members will speak. At 10:15 a.m., James C. Cobb, B. Phinizy Spalding Distinguished Professor of History, will discuss the baby boomer generation in college. James C. Hearn, a professor at the Institute of Higher Education, will give the response and commentary. Nash Boney, history professor emeritus, will give a presentation on “Historical Images of the University of Georgia” at 11:15 a.m.

After a lunch break, UGA faculty members will lead discussions on race and gender at the university. Robert A. Pratt, professor and chair of the history department will speak about Mary Frances Early and UGA’s desegregation at 1:30 p.m. Sharon Y. Nickols, the Janette M. Barber Distinguished Professor in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, will give a presentation on the admission of women to UGA. Undergraduate students will take part in a panel response, which will be moderated by Derrick Alridge, director of the Institute of African American Studies.

At 3 p.m. the evolution of campus plans, landscapes and preservation efforts will be the featured. Presentations will be made by Danny Sniff, associate vice president for facilities planning; John C. Waters, a professor in the School of Environmental Design; and Dexter Adams, director of the grounds department in the Physical Plant.

At the same time “Intercollegiate Athletics at UGA” will be discussed in 350 Miller Learning Center. J. Douglas Toma, an associate professor in the Institute of Higher Education, will speak about UGA athletics in a national context. Welch Suggs, assistant to the president, will moderate a panel discussion with former student athletes on Title IX and athletics at UGA.

A reception and concert from 4:30-6 p.m. at the Tate Student Center Alumni Plaza will end the day’s activities. Student ensembles from the Hugh Hodgson School of Music will perform pieces related to UGA, including ones written especially for UGA and songs traditionally heard at sporting events and academic ceremonies.

The theme for April 23 events is “UGA, Still Making History: Looking to the Future.”

At 9 a.m. Stephen R. Portch, chancellor emeritus of the University System of Georgia, will speak on “The Future of Higher Education.”

A panel discussion on “The Future of Teaching, Research and Service at the University of Georgia” will take place at 10:15 a.m. Panel members include Laura Dunn Jolly, interim vice president for instruction and dean of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences; David C. Lee, vice president for research; and Arthur N. Dunning, former vice president for public service and outreach.

At 11:30 a.m. UGA President Michael F. Adams will give closing remarks.

The UGA Alumni Association will hold its annual awards luncheon at noon in the Grand Hall of the Tate Student Center. Honorees include former UGA provost Arnett C. Mace Jr.; Atlanta businessman John F. McMullan; the Thomson-based Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc.; and the family of Savannah businessman Craig Barrow III.

The symposium will close with the 3 p.m. rededication of the theater. Built in the late 1930s, the structure was modernized to include more restrooms and handicap accessible facilities, more theater seats and better acoustics. The project also restored the original ticket booth, coat check and the theater’s ornamental plaster ceiling.

An art exhibition also celebrating the university’s 225th anniversary is on display at the Visual Arts Building until April 30. University of Georgia Turns 225 includes objects that reflect the history and current state of UGA. Works by Lamar Dodd, George Cooke, Charles Frederick Naegele, Howard Thomas and current students and professors are on display.

“The symposium has a really wonderful mix of people: students, professors, alumni and guests,” said Tom Dyer, professor emeritus and chair of the planning committee. “It should produce a really interesting program.”

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Follow us on Twitter:  @GAFrontPage

"Early-action" applicants to University of Georgia receive admissions decisions

For some 6,000 high school seniors, the holidays will be off to a happy start when they learn they have been offered early admission to the University of Georgia.

Those who applied for “early-action” admission to UGA will learn their status when decision letters arrive by mail starting next week. But those who don’t want to wait can get the news online the evening of Dec. 11 by using the password-protected status check on the admissions office Web site, www.admissions.uga.edu.

The admissions office received some 10,600 early-action applications this year.Many of the applicants not offered admission at this point will learn that a final decision has not yet been made.They are asked to submit additional information by the regular-decision deadline of Jan. 15.

“We always try to stress to early-action applicants that if their admission decision was deferred, they still have a chance to be part of the incoming freshman class,” said Nancy McDuff, associate vice president for admissions and enrollment management.“Last year, we admitted about half of the students who were initially deferred and then completed part II of the application by the regular-decision deadline of Jan. 15.”

UGA initiated a non-binding early-action program in 2003.Those applying for early-action submit applications by an Oct. 15 deadline and learn in December that they were admitted, denied or deferred.Early-action decisions are made strictly on academic criteria.

McDuff believes that more students this year decided to wait to apply until the regular-decision deadline in order to have additional factors considered, such as high school activities and volunteer work. “For some students, that’s a good decision,” she said.

This year’s early-action applicant pool is again academically stronger and more diverse than the previous year, continuing a trend of the past few years, according to McDuff. Nearly 23 percent of the students applying for early-action identified themselves as being from an ethnic or racial minority group. More than 750early-action applications, representing over seven percent of the total pool, were received from African Americans.The number of early-action applications from Hispanic students totaled more than 400 students, an increase from last year.

Due to the increase in the academic quality of the applicants, about 300 more early-action students are being offered admission this year than last.McDuff predicted that the admissions office will receive between 17,000 and 18,000 total applications for the incoming class, with a target enrollment of 4,800 new first-year students entering this summer or fall and another 200 in spring 2011.Typically, about half the students offered admission go on to enroll at UGA, a comparable yield to other selective universities.

“The odds of being offered admission are always driven by how strong a student looks relative to the rest of the applicant pool,” McDuff said. “The first offers of admission are extended to students with the strongest academic records, but the most important factors in the regular-decision process are also academic—in particular grade point average and the rigor of the courses that the students have taken relative to what is available in their school. However, regular-decision applications and applications from students deferred from the early-action program are given a holistic review that includes other factors that tell us about students’ talents and activities outside the classroom.”

The students who applied early this year are academically quite strong, McDuff said. Those offered admission at this point have an average academic GPA mid-range of 3.84-4.08, an SAT mid-range of 1240-1390 (with a mean SAT writing score of 654) or a mean ACT range of 28-32. UGA requires students to submit writing scores for their ACT and SAT tests and those scores are an integral part of the selection process, McDuff said.

Those students admitted through early action also took an average of six Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate classes.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page

New fellowship program draws STEM majors to teaching in public schools

Ten recent graduates or professionals in mathematics and science have returned to classes at the University of Georgia this fall to become future math and science teachers in Georgia’s public schools, thanks to a new scholarship program in the UGA College of Education, funded by nearly $1 million in federal grants.

The Noyce Fellows program provides scholarships and stipends for science, technology, engineering and mathematics majors and professionals to attain a teaching certificate or a graduate education degree in exchange for a two-year commitment to teach in a high-needs public school in Georgia.

The program, based in the college’s department of mathematics and science education, was originally funded by a four-year, $750,000 National Science Foundation grant which will support three cohorts of 10 fellows each to complete teacher certification and a Masters of Arts in Teaching degree.

Now, the NSF has awarded the department an additional $150,000 to support four more scholars per cohort, thanks to funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Those four fellows will be added in January to the original 10 who began the program this fall. A second cohort will start in summer or fall 2010 and a third will begin in summer or fall 2011.

“The program is helping us attract highly qualified individuals to teacher careers in science and mathematics to overcome the teaching shortage in these critical fields,” said Denise Mewborn, principal investigator and head of the department of mathematics and science education. “Many of these individuals are giving up lucrative jobs to change careers, so the support the fellowship provides is essential.”

The fellows, who range from recent college graduates to those with years in the workplace, have found themselves drawn to the world of teaching.

Courtney Boehlke, a fellow in this year’s cohort, worked for nine years as a research technician and coordinator for a large lab in UGA’s cell biology department.

“I recently took a good look at what I felt was the most rewarding part of my job,” said Boehlke, who earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from UGA. “I enjoyed my role as a teacher most. I find my greatest fulfillment in sharing my knowledge with others and seeing their faces when they understand a difficult concept. It is my hope that my career change will allow me to move out of the lab and to pass on my passion for science and learning to future generations of scientists.”

After tutoring college students in mathematics for five years, Priscilla Alexander, a recent graduate of Paine College in Augusta, changed her career plans because she recognized a need for more qualified math teachers in high school classrooms.

“I earned my undergraduate degree in mathematics and planned to pursue a Ph.D. in mathematics, but I decided that mathematics education would be more conducive to my career goals,” said Alexander. “Most of all, I want to make a change when it comes to educating future mathematicians.”

Jamie York began to question her career goals after three years as an engineer. She took a strategic approach by researching potential careers and talking with more than 30 people in the teaching field.

“My desire is for a career that has a lasting impact, not simply a bottom line,” said York, who has a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Georgia Tech. “I also have a growing desire to work with youth, specifically those at risk. Having spent time volunteering with tutoring programs, at-risk youth mentoring programs, and high school discipleship groups, this desire has only continued to grow over the years. Finding a career path that integrated both my passion and my skill set was exactly what I was looking for.”

The fellowship provides financial support, including tuition, fees and a stipend of $4,000 to cover living expenses and books, for gaining certification to teach secondary mathematics or science as well as a graduate degree in those fields.The fellows will proceed through a carefully structured four-semester (summer-fall-spring-summer) program designed to help them develop subject matter knowledge for teaching and implement that knowledge in diverse school settings.

The Robert Noyce Scholarship program has funded four similar fellowship programs in Georgia at Clark Atlanta, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, and Kennesaw State universities.There are about 250 of these programs across the nation, ranging from $60,000 to $1.8 million.

For more information on the Noyce Fellowship Program at UGA, see www.coe.uga.edu/mse/nsf_info.html.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page

Design showcase at University of Georgia Gwinnett Campus highlights students' multimedia projects

Graduate students in the learning, design and technology program at the University of Georgia Gwinnett Campus will present a Studio Showcase highlighting their multimedia projects at 5:30 p.m. on Dec.1.The showcase will be held in room 165 of the UGA Gwinnett Campus, located at 2530 Sever Road in Lawrenceville. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend.

The showcase will be co-sponsored by the Atlanta chapter of the International Society for Performance Improvement and will feature individual instructional technology projects covering a wide range of topics, as well as a joint volunteer service project for the National Gardening Association.

The heart of the learning, design and technology curriculum is an innovative learning community called The Studio, which meets on Tuesday evenings at the UGA Gwinnett Campus.The Studio involves students in multiple course levels creating various multimedia projects together in a shared learning space. The Studio courses provide an ongoing face-to-face anchor in a graduate curriculum where approximately half of the courses are conducted online.

Students in the two-year graduate degree program also are encouraged to pursue
professional networking opportunities, whether with K-12 education organizations or with business and industry groups more oriented toward training and performance, such as the co-sponsoring International Society for Performance Improvement (http://ispi-atlanta.org).

In addition to working on their professional knowledge and skills, members of The Studio community are also required to donate 10 hours of service to a non-profit organization where they can apply their technology expertise. This semester’s service project was conducted in collaboration with the National Gardening Association, a non-profit group devoted to education through working with plants. The NGA has two Web sites: one for everyone to learn more about plants (http://assoc.garden.org/) and the other targeted at people who teach kids (http://www.kidsgardening.com/).

The NGA previously did not have web-based play and learn experiences for children. Under the direction of UGA learning, design and technology program graduate Jennifer Lortz, the 29 students in The Studio each donated 10 hours of service to create the play and learn Web technology. Four different web-based activities were created. They can be used by the NGA to reach children and help foster greater interest in gardening and the care of plants. These four projects will be highlighted, along with other student multimedia projects, at the Studio Showcase.

For more information about the instructional design and development graduate degree offered at the UGA Gwinnett Campus, see http://www.coe.uga.edu/epit/idd or call Lloyd Rieber at 706/542-3986.

For more information on the UGA Gwinnett Campus and other programs offered there, see http://www.uga.edu/gwinnett/.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page

How students view time influences dropout rate

In the struggle to keep students from dropping out of school, UGA researchers are finding that how a student views time and rewards play key roles in why some students quit on their educations.

“It is so well known that it is a cliché: To get a good job, you need a good education,” said Jeff Jordan, a University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences professor. “Yet, more than one-third of children do not graduate from high school.”

For the 2007-2008 school year, Georgia’s dropout rate was 22 percent, or 18,960 students. Of those, 8,711 were removed for lack of attendance, 6,078 dropped out because of other adult education, 1,406 were expelled, and 1,330 dropped out for unknown reasons, according to a chart provided by the Georgia Department of Education.

The rate is slightly lower than the previous year, but Georgia still ranks in the bottom five for dropouts nationally.

It’s about time

Jordan has studied Spalding County eighth-graders since 2005, along with researchers from Georgia State University and Georgia Tech. He’s collected data on 1,300 students. He’s trying to figure out their time preferences, something he calls student discount rates.

Time – specifically how a student views the future – is one of the key reasons some students drop out.

Jordan and his colleagues chose to study eighth-graders because “most kids finish elementary school still engaged,” he said. “It’s that time in middle school that those who drop out become disengaged.”

“What research is showing is that we lose kids earlier than we thought we did. They are often present physically, but not present emotionally – they are not engaged,” said Sharon Gibson, a UGA Cooperative Extension multicultural specialist.

In Georgia, students can drop out when they’re 16. The average eighth-grader is between 13 and 15 years old.

The how

Jordan, an agricultural economist, uses money to study how long students are willing to wait. In 2008, the group surveyed eighth-graders at all four Spalding County middle schools to see whether they would rather have the money now or if they would be willing to wait for a few months for more.

In each of the classes they studied, they gave three students gift cards in the amount they chose – $49 for students who indicated they wanted the money now and up to $98 if they were willing to wait longer for more.

The results

The research shows that black boys have significantly larger discount rates than any other demographic group, a finding that may indicate these students have a different view of the future, he said. “They tend to view positive outcomes as less likely and negative as more likely.”

According to Gibson, “if all you’ve seen is negative, negative, negative, and all you hear is negative, negative, negative, then the expectation is that of ‘when is the other shoe going to fall?’”

Kids who live in high-stress environments often find it difficult to believe something good could happen to them, even when it’s happening, she said.

Jordan also found that discount rates predict the likelihood that a student will have above-average disciplinary referrals. And his research has found something else – reward-based reinforcement isn’t necessarily the best way to get kids engaged in school.

“All the research that has been done on these kinds of incentive systems shows that they make things worse,” he said. “‘Good’ kids get the rewards, and the kids who aren’t getting good grades and are falling behind aren’t (getting rewards). The way our system is set up, it makes the gap between high- and low-achieving kids widen.”

In part because of his research, the four middle schools now have a new incentive-based system in place. These incentives have shorter time periods between rewards and more sequential rewards.

Digging deeper

This past summer, Jordan started looking at fourth-graders and kindergarteners. He’s trying to pinpoint when students lose interest in school. That age could vary depending on the child.

Gibson is closely following Jordan’s research and hoping that her outreach efforts will benefit from his findings. Through a USDA Children, Youth, and Families at Risk Sustainable Community Projects grant, she focuses on rural communities to engage and empower youth to “be the change they want to see in the world,” she said.

The project she’s currently working on, called UGA Cooperative Extension Teens As Planners, offers teens opportunities to increase their employability. This is done by helping them improve their workplace, life and technological skills as well as giving them opportunities for civic engagement and service-learning.

“We all need to know we are valued and that we have something positive to contribute,” Gibson said. “Youths are no exception. They need to know that their voices are heard and that their community expects them to contribute and appreciates their contribution.”

By Stephanie Schupska
University of Georgia

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.artsacrossgeorgia.com
Arts Across Georgia

Follow on Twitter: @GAFrontPage

UGA once again breaks record with enrollment of 34,885

Spurred by growth in several colleges and schools, the University of Georgia has its largest student body in history this fall with an enrollment of 34,885. The fall semester enrollment is up 705 students (two percent) above last fall when the enrollment topped 34,000 for the first time, with several newer colleges, schools and programs recording enrollment growth of 12 percent or more.

The Faculty of Engineering saw the biggest enrollment increase this fall with a 192.3 percent growth from 39 students in 2008 to 114 students this year. This increase is due in part to the first time acceptance of freshmen into the engineering program.

The College of Public Health saw a 50.8 percent enrollment increase with the addition of 157 students.

The Odum School of Ecology and the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources also saw significant growth with enrollment increases of 27 percent and 22 percent respectively.

The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences saw a 12.7 percent growth with the addition of 189 students over last year’s enrollment of 1,483.

Total enrollment includes 33,826 students on UGA’s main campus in Athens, up two percent from last year, and 953 students at the university’s extended campuses in Gwinnett County, Tifton, Griffin and Buckhead in Atlanta—a one percent increase from last fall. An additional 106 students are enrolled in independent study.

On the main campus in Athens, undergraduate enrollment totals 25,913, up by 712 over last year, and graduate enrollment decreased by 15 students to a total of 6,309. Enrollment in the professional schools of law, pharmacy and veterinary medicine increased by 51 students to a total of 1,604.

“The demand for enrollment at UGA continues to grow given the quality of our educational programs. I am particularly pleased to see growth in many of our new and existing programs,” said Arnett C. Mace, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “I commend the deans, faculty and staff of these units for the recruitment of these outstanding students to their programs and to UGA.”

Of the total 34,885 enrollment, 8,132 students had never attended UGA before including 4,332 first-time freshmen who enrolled this fall. Combined with 320 first-time freshmen who enrolled this summer, the total count of first-time freshmen for summer and fall is 4,652.

Of the first-time freshmen who enrolled this fall, 363 had earned enough academic credit through joint-enrollment or advanced placement programs to be classified as sophomores, and 10 had enough credit to be classified as juniors.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.artsacrossgeorgia.com
Arts Across Georgia

UGA family researchers receive $5.9 million grant

University of Georgia researchers have been awarded a five-year, $5.9 million Core Center of Excellence grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to address the ways genetic predispositions combine with family and community environments to forecast drug use, drug abuse and risky sexual behavior among children, adolescents and young adults.

The principal investigator is Gene H. Brody, Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Child and Family Development in the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences and director of the Center for Family Research. Co-principal investigators are Steven R.H. Beach, director of the UGA Institute for Behavioral Research and Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology, and Steven M. Kogan, assistant professor of child and family development.

The CCOE will bring together a team of molecular and statistical geneticists, genetic epidemiologists and scientists specializing in prevention, public health and human development. Participating researchers are at the University of Georgia, Emory University, Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Iowa.

The grant will allow Brody and his fellow researchers to build on longitudinal, epidemiological research that dates back more than two decades. In that original research, Brody and his colleagues identified young people who were at risk for engaging in drug use, drug abuse, and risky sexual behavior. They also identified specific parenting practices and community characteristics that served to minimize the incidence of young people’s engagement in risky behavior.

Recently, Brody and his colleagues have begun to study the role genes play in the development of these risky behaviors. This research has begun to identify candidate genes that forecast increases in substance use and behavior problems among youth, as well as ways in which participation in prevention programs can override genetic risks.

The ultimate goal of the Center of Excellence, Brody said, “is to increase the efficacy of prevention programs by developing a better understanding of how genes and social environments interact to influence youths’ initiation and escalation of substance use and risky behaviors.”

More information on the UGA Center for Family Research is available at http://www.cfr.uga.edu/.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.artsacrossgeorgia.com
Arts Across Georgia

UGA’s Terry College of Business to offer continuing education courses in Project Management Certification with instructional partner Advanced Strategi

The University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business will offer a strategic Project Management Certificate in Leadership, Planning and Execution at the Terry Executive Education Center in Atlanta, beginning in October.

The nine-day, three-course executive program offers managers the opportunity to learn how to consistently initiate, plan and execute major projects with the potential to transform how their companies do business.

Terry’s Office of Executive Programs is teaming with Advanced Strategies Inc. to teach managers how to achieve better results in areas such as day-to-day leadership, business accountability, dynamic planning, strategic alignment, critical thinking and focused execution.

“We are delighted to be working with a top organization like Advanced Strategies,” said Charlie Squires, director of executive programs at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business. “Our institution is seeing increased demand for project management courses, as individuals face strong competition for fewer available jobs, and companies struggle to do more with less and still make a profit. Through this partnership we are able to combine the best of both worlds – the latest in theory and best practices – to deliver real-world value.”

The three courses are:
· Project Management: Initiation and Launch, which covers defining expected outcomes, aligning with strategic goals and dealing with people and politics;
· Project Management: Planning, which covers process visualization, effective scheduling and commitment of resources;
· Project Management: Execution, which covers project oversight, managing risk and leading vs. managing.

Courses will be offered Oct. 6-8, Nov. 3-5 and Dec. 8-10. The Initiation and Launch course and the Planning course can also be taken independently.

With offices in Atlanta and St. Paul, Minn., Advanced Strategies is a PMI Endorsed Global Education Provider and ensures that each course aligns with PMI knowledge areas. Participants must earn 63 contact hours and 6.3 Continuing Education Units to earn Project Management Certification.

The faculty who will be teaching in the program have considerable experience leading projects for Fortune 500 companies and large government agencies. Edward L. Wynn, who is a certified Project Management Professional, has been with Advanced Strategies for 15 years and has managed many successful IT projects. Karen Windham, who joined Advance Strategies in 1990, has 25 years of information management and project management experience.

The cost for the program is $1,995 per course or $5,500 if purchasing all three courses in advance. Any organization registering two or more participants receives a 10 percent discount.

For complete course descriptions or to register, go to the Executive Program’s Project Management Web site. All classes will be held at the Terry Executive Education Center in the Buckhead district of Atlanta, located in the One Live Oak Building, 3475 Lenox Road. For more information, call toll-free 1-866-238-0756 or executive_programs@terry.uga.edu.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page