Vol. 39, No. 7, October 2002
In October, the Board of Regents strengthened its power to support the state's economic development through a significant policy revision impacting one of the System's core missions - public service.
The change adds language to an existing board policy identifying life-long education, economic development and service agreements with state and local agencies as key priorities that should be addressed by the Board of Regents. The new policy charges the University System of Georgia chancellor to "identify statewide needs and develop System wide initiatives" to meet public service responsibilities. This policy will support the System's efforts to broaden educational access, promote job growth, and use System resources to support state and local government programs and needs through a more coordinated approach.
"The world is moving to a knowledge-based economy and continuing education is becoming increasingly vital in the delivery of life-long learning," Annie Hunt Burriss, associate vice chancellor for Economic Development, told the regents in a presentation on the policy change delivered at the October board meeting. "Enhancing our public-service policy with this new emphasis will help us expand educational access to more Georgians."
The University System's continuing-education programs are well positioned to be flexible in shaping life-long learning programs and initiatives, Burriss said. Implementation of the new System-coordinated approach to lifelong learning and economic development will be administered through a new program called Georgia LEADS (Life-long Educa-tion and Economic Development Services).
According to Dr. David M. Morgan, who authored the Georgia LEADS report, a key benefit of the policy change is that enhanced leadership and coordination will be afforded to the System's wide variety of life-long education courses and offerings.
Under the plan, Fall 2003 is the target date for launching a state-wide marketing effort to announce life-long education projects and performance standards for the projects. ¶
[ contents ]
 |
| Georgia Southwestern State University President Michael L. Hanes (left) shows Gov. Roy E. Barnes (center) and State Rep. Jimmy Skipper (second from right) the Commons, a new park-like area in the center of the GSW campus funded by the Georgia Department of Transportation. Helping to conduct the tour was GSW Athletic Director Randolph Barksdale (right). |
Gov. Roy E. Barnes paid a visit to the campus of Georgia Southwestern State University while in Americus on Sept. 23 to announce that Sumter County's tax digest is about to receive a shot in the arm.
The governor had just come from announcing that the computer-software support firm STI Knowledge, Inc, is moving into a 26,000 square foot facility in Sumter County and expects to employ 150 people within 18 months of its start-up. Barnes said that an agreement between Georgia Southwestern and South Georgia Technical College to jointly work on meeting the company's training and educational needs "is a first for Georgia." The Board of Regents' Intellectual Capital Partnership Program (ICAPP) will assist in the delivery of customized courses for STI employees through GSW. The Department of Technical and Adult Education will do the same with its QuickStart program via the technical college.
"President Hanes is pioneering an economic-development partnership between ICAPP and QuickStart that will result in the seamless delivery of an educated workforce for STI," said Chancellor Thomas C. Meredith. "Gov. Barnes has strongly advocated the need for collaboration among our state's educational agencies. The University System is pleased and proud to partner with the Department of Technical and Adult Education to train rural Georgians for high-paying, knowledge-based jobs in their own communities. We hope this will be the first of many such partnerships." ¶
[ contents ]
| News Digest |
 |
| Chancellor Thomas C. Meredith's tour of all 34 campuses in the University System was in full swing when he took time during a visit to Columbus State University on Oct. 1 to engage in a brief question-and-answer session with student leaders. During the final month of the tour, Meredith visited the campuses of Abraham Baldwin, Augusta State, Clayton State, Columbus State, Dalton State, Darton College, East Georgia College, Floyd College, Georgia College and State University, Georgia Southwestern, Middle Georgia College, Macon State, Medical College of Georgia, the State University of West Georgia and Valdosta State. The chancellor's campus visits have been concurrent with the Knowledge is Power Tour, a series of luncheons for business leaders highlighting the University System's economic-development initiatives. ¶ |
Summit on Health Care at Darton
Darton College joined forces with the Southwest Georgia Cancer Coalition, Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital and the magazine Georgia Trend to sponsor a Rural Health Care Summit, on Oct. 2 in Albany. The event attracted approximately 150 health-care professionals, as well as business and community leaders.
CCSU Children's Choir Debuts CD
The Spivey Hall Children's Choir at Clayton State College and University recently released a CD of its music, featuring the works of contemporary American composers. Titled "Homeland," the CD offers a diverse collection of choral arrangements, ranging from biblical scriptures sung in Latin to familiar pieces such as "Georgia on My Mind" and "Over the Rain-bow." The 100-member choir, with children ranging in age from 10 to 17 years, is directed by Martha Shaw. For more information or to purchase the $15 CD, call 770-961-3683.
Record Gift for CSU
A record gift of $25 million to Columbus State University will help the university create a complete fine and performing-arts campus in Uptown Columbus. Half of the funds received from the Bradley-Turner Foundation is pledged to moving CSU's art and theater departments to this area, where CSU's presence already is highly visible due to the relocation of the Schwob School of Music and the construction of the CSU Coca-Cola Space Science Center.
Making the '40 Under 40' List
Georgia Trend's annual "40 Under 40" list of high-achieving young professionals this year includes two University System faculty members involved in cutting-edge research. Dr. Karen Cornell is a surgeon and assistant professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia whose re-search is in oncology. Dr. Dionne Hoskins is a biologist and research professor at Savannah State University who works as a liaison for the National Oceanic and Atmo-spheric Administration and specializes in benthic (bottom-of-the-sea) ecology.
Carpet Institute Bonds with DSC
Dalton State College recently made arrangements with the Dalton-based Carpet and Rug Institute to assume administrative responsibility for the flooring trade association's Seal of Approval (SOA) Program. Flooring businesses whose employees successfully complete the program in carpet cleaning and/or installation are able to display the institute's SOA, signifying to consumers that the business has undergone an extensive credentialing process. Under the agreement, Dalton State now handles applications for businesses applying for the seal, processes renewals, administers and grades the written exams, maintains a database of applicants and SOA bearers and performs other administrative functions. The institute continues to set the criteria for obtaining the SOA and remains the seal-granting entity.s Students at UWG
Tech Gains Paper Institute
The Institute of Paper Science and Technology in Atlanta has merged with Georgia Tech and will become one of Tech's four interdisciplinary research institutes next July. James Ferris, president of the institute, called the merger with Georgia Tech "a logical extension of our already-close relationship," noting that the institute will continue to provide the technology the paper industry needs to maintain its competitive posture.
Pushing Privatization
The Board of Regents recently initiated a dialog with University System campus officials on standardizing - as much as possible, given the diversity of campus situations and master plans - the process of partnering with private industry to build and operate facilities such as student housing. Vice Chancellor for Facilities Linda Daniels led a lively discussion on Sept. 18 with regents, presidents and facilities officers on the pros and cons of formalizing the privatization pro-cess in light of lessons learned from previous experiences by the campuses. Another meeting is scheduled for Nov. 19, in conjunction with the November board meeting.
NEH Grants Go to Three in USG
Three USG faculty members were among 20 scholars nationwide recently awarded grants by the National Endow-ment for the Humanities: Dr. B. Keith Murphy, associate professor of English at Fort Valley State University, received $24,000 to study comic strips that appeared in African-American newspapers from the 1820s through the 1960s. Dr. Christine Gallant, professor of English at Georgia State University, received $24,000 to study Keats and romantic Celti-cism. Ann Salter, head of the Georgia Tech Library archives, received a $2,800 preservation and access grant for her project, "Preservation Assessment of a Collection Important to the Study of the History of Textile Manufac-ture in the Southeastern United States."
KSU, UGA Up for Award
Two of the three finalists for the 2002 Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Partnership Award for Campus-Community Collaboration involve University System institutions. Kennesaw State University is a partner in the Cobb Micro-Enterprise Council, which helps struggling women and minorities to attain long-term self-sufficiency through entrepreneurship and small-business development. The University of Georgia Extension Service is part of the Community Child-Care Partner-ship, which works to create accessible, affordable, quality child care for Spanish-speaking families along the Buford Highway corridor. The finalists were among 31 campus-community partnerships nominated for the award, which is administered by Georgia State University. The winner will be announced on Nov. 13 at a ceremony to be attended by President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn.
Help for Nursing Education
Two USG institutions soon will receive grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to help improve nursing education and practices and to increase diversity within the profession. Clayton College and State University will receive a Nursing Workforce Diversity Grant totaling more than $265,000, and Georgia State University will receive a Basic Nurse Education and Practice Grant of more than $180,000. This funding compliments the $4.55 million Health Professionals Initiative that has enabled 13 USG campuses to form partnerships with local health-care providers to in-crease the number of licensed health-care professionals in Georgia by more than 500 over the next two years.
Honors Students at UWG Shine
For the third time in five years, the National Collegiate Honors Council has accepted more research proposals from students in the State University of West Georgia's Honors College than any other college or university participating in its annual meeting. Many large research institutions participate in the Honors Council and only about 10 percent of the proposals submitted are accepted. ¶
[ contents ]
Georgia is still one of the few states with two institutions ranked among the "Top 20 Public National Universities in the United States" in U.S. News & World Report's 2003 edition of "America's Best Colleges." Georgia Tech moved up in this year's rankings from No. 10 to No. 9. The University of Georgia remained No. 18 on the list, but was fourth among public national universities in the magazine's ranking of "Great Schools at Great Prices."
A similar "Top 100 Values" list just released by Kiplinger's magazine put the University of Georgia at No. 6 and Georgia Tech at No. 11. North Georgia College and State University also ranked in the Kiplinger's survey.
Meanwhile, the magazine Black Issues in Higher Education recently reported that Georgia State University awarded more bachelor's degrees to African-American students last year than any other traditionally white institution in the nation. The magazine's report on the "Top 100 Minority Degree Producers" during the 2000-2001 academic year also included Georgia Southern University, which was No. 28 on a list that included both traditionally white and historically black institutions. Georgia Tech also scored high with African-Americans, ranking No. 1 in the nation in the number of engineering master's and doctoral degrees awarded to black students and No. 2 in the number of engineering bachelor's degrees earned by black students.
[ contents ]
A scientist from the Medical College of Georgia recently made headlines around the world as the lead investigator of a surprising study indicating that young children frequently exposed to cats and dogs have a significantly reduced chance of developing common allergies.
This finding, published in the Aug. 28 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, contradicts what doctors have been telling parents for years, and startled the researchers as well.
"Allergists have been trained for generations that dogs and cats in the house are bad because they increase the risk of you becoming allergic to them; we know that before you be-come allergic to something, you have to be repeatedly exposed to it," said Dr. Dennis R. Ownby, chief of MCG's Section of Allergy and Immunology. But when he and other doctors followed a group of 474 healthy babies from birth to about age seven, comparing those exposed during infancy to two or more dogs or cats to those who were not exposed, they found that children exposed to two or more in-door pets were half as likely to develop common allergies.
"The data didn't look the way it was supposed to; as a matter of fact, it was very strongly the opposite of what we expected to find," said Ownby, who came to MCG in 1998 from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and actually began the study of 474 babies there as a senior staff physician. "This study is very significant - it contributes to the mounting evidence that the things allergists have believed for years and parents have lived by are wrong."
Ownby appeared on ABC, CBS and NBC after the study was published. His findings also have been covered by CNN, the Associated Press, United Press International, Reuters, the BBC, a number of radio networks, Science Magazine, USA Today and most major newspapers.
The study team theorizes that exposure to dogs and cats early in life leads to lower risks of allergies because children living with these animals are probably exposed to higher levels of endotoxins, the breakdown toxins of Gram-negative bacteria commonly found in the animals' mouths.
"The bottom line is that maybe part of the reason we have so many children with allergies and asthma is that we live too clean a life," Ownby said.
"What happens when kids play with cats or dogs? The animals lick them," he explained. "The lick is transferring a lot of Gram-negative bacteria, and that may be changing the way the child's immune system responds in a way that helps protect against allergies."
Ownby said studies in southern Germany and Switzerland have supported his work by showing that city-dwelling children have higher rates of allergies than the children of farmers, who often have frequent exposure to animals. ¶
 |
The friendly licks delivered by curious dogs and cats may be at the heart of the surprising results obtained in a study by MCG's Dr. Dennis R. Ownby. |
[ contents ]
In line with Chancellor Thomas C. Meredith's emphasis on enhancing the University System's role in the economic development of Georgia, Georgia Southern University opened its new School of Economic Develop-ment in time for Fall 2002.
The school will focus on improving the economy of Southeast Georgia, especially that of its rural communities. The undergraduate degree in regional economic development is the only program of its kind in Georgia and one of only a handful in the nation centering on regional development.
"If you plotted them on a map, you'd see most certified economic development specialists in Georgia are concentrated in Atlanta and other metropolitan areas," said the school's director, Ben Thompson. "We hope to be able to assist economic developers in the rural communities and counties." Degree candidates study business, public policy, health care, water resources, tourism, transportation and other issues.
Housed in GSU's College of Busi-ness Administration, the new school also includes a number of the college's outreach centers and bureaus - the Small Business Development Center, the Bureau of Business Research and Economic Development, the Center for Management Development, the Coastal Rivers Water Planning and Policy Center, and the Office of External Relations. ¶
[ contents ]
| BOARD OF REGENTS | OFFICERS | ||||
|
Joe Frank Harris James D. Yancey Hugh C. Carter, Jr. Connie Cater
William H. Cleveland, M.D.
Michael J. Coles Hilton H. Howell, Jr.
John Hunt |
Donald M. Leebern, Jr.
Allene H. Magill Elridge W. McMillan Martin W. NeSmith
Wanda Yancey Rodwell J. Timothy Shelnut Glenn S. White Joel O. Wooten, Jr. |
Thomas C. Meredith Gail S. Weber
William R. Bowes
|
|||
Last modified: November 1, 2002 | Leave a Comment
©2002 University System of Georgia Board of Regents