North Georgia establishes nursing program at North Metro Tech

	EDUCATION PARTNERS: NGCSU’s newest nursing students, along with faculty members and administrators from NGCSU and new education partner North Metro Technical College, look on as NMTC President Steve Dougherty (left), NGCSU President David Potter (center) and NGCSU Nursing department head Toni Barnett make the educational agreement final.

DAHLONEGA – North Georgia College & State University enrolled its first group of nursing students this semester at a new location in metro Atlanta.

NGCSU administrators visited the North Metro Technical College Acworth campus on Aug. 24 to meet with nursing students. A memorandum of understanding for the program allows the nurses-in-training to complete their North Georgia education on the Acworth campus. 

The 40 NGCSU students, seeking their associate’s degrees in nursing, are part of the NGCSU Department of Nursing’s ongoing efforts to meet the state’s demand for qualified healthcare professionals.

“This is a great chance for us to serve the region,” said NGCSU President David Potter.

“The nursing arrangement is a good cross collaboration that we want to do more of to perpetuate our mission as an institution of higher education. Our nursing program is really community-centered and they go where the need is.”

North Georgia offers undergraduate and graduate nursing degrees on the university’s main campus in Dahlonega.

President David L. Potter shares vision for North Georgia’s future

	President David Potter

DAHLONEGA – Starting his first full academic year as president of North Georgia College & State University, Dr. David L. Potter greeted the university workforce at an Aug. 10 convocation, sharing with the employees his vision for the coming school year and beyond. Potter joined NGCSU as the institution’s 16th president on Jan. 1, 2005.

More than 400 faculty and staff members attended the event, which included presentations that outlined new and continuing initiatives at the university. The initiatives involve a Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, educating influential citizens, leadership for regional development and modeling leadership principles within the university.

“I believe our goal should be to attain national standing as a university of academic excellence distinguished by our uniqueness,” said Potter. “Achieving that goal will require understanding our strengths and limitations as well as a clear strategy to guide us.

More than 400 faculty and staff members attended the event.

“The quest for national leadership in teaching and learning is timely because higher education is on the cusp of a new era,” said Potter. “Colleges and universities must change teaching and learning theories and practices if they are to sustain their primacy in the advancement of human knowledge.”

A complete transcript of NGCSU President David Potter’s convocation speech is online at www.ngcsu.edu/news.

North Georgia will start its academic year Aug. 16. A new student convocation event at the university will welcome back students on Aug. 15 at 4 p.m. in the Memorial Hall Gym with a free outdoor picnic after the convocation.

North Georgia College & State University is a public, co-educational, comprehensive university, as well as the Military College of Georgia – one of only six senior military colleges in the nation. North Georgia is currently engaged in a major initiative, "A Legacy of Leadership," and offers the only minor in leadership among public universities in the state. NGCSU is ranked by Consumers Digest as the fifth Best Value in public higher education in America and is included in the second tier of Master’s Degree-Granting Universities in the South by U.S.News & World Reports’ Best Colleges. The university, founded in 1873 in Dahlonega, offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in more than 50 academic and professional fields.

Library & Technology Center design funds approved

DAHLONEGA – The University System of Georgia’s capital outlay funds for this fiscal year include $2 million in design funds for a new Library & Technology Center at North Georgia College & State University. The Architecture Group in Atlanta is designing the new three-story, 105,000 square foot building, said Gerald Lord, NGCSU associate vice president for Business & Finance.

The project, located in the vicinity of the university tennis courts, will be an instructional and academic support center, combining library, classroom and computer lab facilities.

The building will serve students and the local community as an access point to alternative learning technologies, providing for technology-enhanced learning and emerging trends in distance- and distributed-learning technology.

“The Library & Technology Center will take more of a modern approach in the services that are offered,” said Lord. “It will provide more space and technology than we have today.”

Lord said a coffee shop and food services will possibly be included. With the likelihood of extended operation times for the center, students may be able to come and enjoy conveniences at the building when the rest of campus is otherwise closed.

“The center will be designed and built to allow computer labs and other resources to remain open for extended hours,” said Lord. He emphasized that many of the decisions are still in the planning stages.

The Board of Regents requested that the total construction cost of the facility, approximately $22 million, be funded. It received the governor’s and legislature’s recommendation but was not included in the final state budget.

A total of four USG projects received facility design funding for fiscal year 2006, totaling $7 million.

Professor Parker honored by North Georgia

DAHLONEGA – A plaque at the entrance to a 62-acre tract of land owned by North Georgia College & State University will recognize the contributions made by biology Professor James Parker during his 30 years of teaching at North Georgia.
 

Dr. James Parker

Since Hurricane Creek flows through the property and into the Etowah River, Parker called the area “The Hurricane Creek Biological Station and Wildlife Conservation Area,” a name it retains today. The site, managed as a wildlife conservation area and used by the Department of Biology as an outdoor laboratory, has been Parker’s major project over the past 6 years.

“Dr. Jim Parker has been an integral component of North Georgia for 30 years,” said Vice President for Academic Affairs Linda Roberts-Betsch, who said that Parker has been named Professor Emeritus since his retirement.

“His colleagues in biology, as well as his many students, other faculty and administrators of the university will miss his presence on campus and his many contributions to North Georgia,” Roberts-Betsch said. “We want to recognize his extraordinary service by placing a plaque in his honor at Hurricane Creek, so that future generations of students, faculty and researchers will know of his contributions to this great outdoor laboratory.”

To develop the isolated component of the Pine Valley property off of Highway 9, Parker obtained funding from two grants with the department of Natural Resources, several grants through the School of Health and Natural Sciences, and from university funds. In addition, a number of community businesses provided discounts for materials and equipment. Parker and his wildlife biology classes provided most of the labor, with additional assistance provided by volunteer students, faculty, and students in the Post-Secondary Readiness Enrichment Program.  It is estimated that more than $70,000 of value has gone into the development of the site, thanks to Parker’s efforts.  

The area contains improvements and facilities all planned and designed by Parker. These include a small parking area, roofed bulletin board, restroom facility, storage house, and an outdoor classroom shelter that seats 24 students. There are over two miles of hiking trails that have been established for wildlife viewing and access. About 100 nest boxes for birds, squirrels, and owls have been erected, along with brush piles and small clearings in the forest to make the area more attractive to wildlife. Records of the flora and fauna have been compiled, water quality monitoring of the river and creek has been conducted, and activities were conducted to improve wildlife habitat.

“The area is becoming an important field resource for the biology department and it should prove valuable to many generations of students, especially now that the department is promoting student research as an integral part of its curriculum,” Parker said, adding that even in retirement he plans to continue his service as the director of the site.  

Parker, who grew up in Rome, Ga., and now lives in Dawsonville, retired Aug. 1 after his service to NGCSU teaching 14 different courses and supervising numerous student independent-study projects. He taught classes in human anatomy and physiology, medical microbiology: infection and immunity, medical parasitology, human histology, and wildlife biology and conservation. During his career, he taught a total of 37 years.

Parker attended the Rome city schools. He received the Eagle Award, the highest award in the Boy Scouts, in 1957 under the leadership of Scoutmaster Joseph C. Gittings, Troop 28. After graduating from West Rome High School in 1961, he attended Shorter College and received his bachelor’s of arts degree with a major in biology in 1965.

He then continued his graduate education at Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, where he was a Title IV National Defense Education Act fellow for three years and Graduate Teaching Assistant for three years. He received the Ph. D. degree at that university in 1971, with his dissertation titled “Protozoan, Helminth, and Arthropod Parasites of the Gray Squirrel in Southwestern Virginia.” Dr. Rhodes B. Holliman was chairman of his graduate committee. 

In the summer of 1966 Parker studied mammalogy at the University of Virginia’s Mountain Lake Biological Station under Dr. Charles O. Handley, Jr, curator of mammals, Smithsonian Institution. 

From 1971-1973 he was engaged in post doctorial studies in microbiology and was instructor at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, where he worked with Dr. Clifford Nelson on intestinal flagellates and amebic meningoencephalitis. From 1973-1975 he was assistant professor of biology at Guilford College, where he taught general zoology, cell biology, microbiology and parasitology. 

In 1975 Parker began work with the biology department at NGCSU as assistant professor of biology and advanced through the ranks to full professor.

Parker has held membership in a number of honorary and professional societies, including the Beta Beta Beta Honor Society, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, Sigma Xi and Phi Sigma Research Honor Societies, the American Society of Parasitologists, American Society of Mammalogists, American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Society of Protozoologists, Association of Southeastern Biologists, Wildlife Society, Helminthological Society of Washington, and the Georgia Academy of Science. Also, the nematode species Pterygodermatites parkeri was named in his honor in 1970.

Dr. Parker is married to the former Mary Carol Hairston and they have two daughters, Ms. Amy C. Parker and Mrs. Carrie E. Podgurski.

New student event ushers in school year at NGCSU Aug. 15

DAHLONEGA – New freshmen and students returning to North Georgia College & State University will start the fall semester with an opening event on Aug. 15 to welcome them to campus. The new Student Convocation at NGCSU will take place at 4 p.m. in the Memorial Hall gym.

Classes will begin early the following day, but at the Student Convocation students will have the chance to socialize and learn about different student organizations and activities.

“We want this to be an occasion for camaraderie,” said North Georgia President David Potter, who is initiating the new tradition. “It is a time to affirm our shared community and commitments in preparation for the coming year and to welcome new students to the university.”

Student leaders will address campus life and introduce several of the North Georgia student organizations.

Potter, who is starting his first full academic year at North Georgia, will address the students, along with other administrators.

Freshmen will be able to meet faculty members from each of NGCSU’s four academic schools and other students at the university.

Following the convocation, an outdoor picnic will take place on North Georgia’s 10-acre drill field at the center of campus. Attendees to the inaugural NGCSU Student Convocation will receive a t-shirt keepsake.

“This will be an annual way to kick off the school year and invite all our students to campus for one big event,” said Wesley Thomas, director of the Hoag Student Center and student activities. “Our different students who might only take classes together can get to know each other and have a real sense of community.”

For more information, contact the NGCSU Hoag Student Center at 706-864-1643.

	President David L. Potter

NGCSU president to be installed at convocation

DAHLONEGA – North Georgia College & State University President David L. Potter, who took office on Jan. 1, 2005, will be officially installed as the university’s 16th president on Aug. 10 during a 3 p.m. faculty and staff convocation in the Memorial Hall Gymnasium on campus.

Robert Fuller, the chief executive officer of the Faculty Senate will commend the authority of the institution to Potter, along with Allison Strong, president of the Staff Council, during the University Convocation.

Potter chose not to stage a formal inauguration or investiture because of the expense, among other factors. He will address the members of the faculty and staff at the first-in-recent-history convocation, which Potter initiated to bring together the campus community at the beginning of the academic year.

	Scenes from previous FROG Weeks

Military freshmen begin college a week before classes during FROG training

DAHLONEGA – More than 220 new military students will descend on the North Georgia College & State University campus in Dahlonega to start six days of intense physical and mental training called FROG Week starting Aug. 9. This unique introduction to college life will culminate in a graduation run up Dahlonega’s Crown Mountain on Aug. 14. The freshmen will have a day’s rest before classes officially start Aug. 16. North Georgia is one of only six four-year universities designated as a senior military college among the nation’s schools with ROTC programs.

During the week, students are engaged in a host of physical activities including an obstacle course, low and high ropes obstacles, a leadership reaction course, rappelling cliff, and drill and ceremony training. The purpose is to build teamwork and decision-making skills.

FROG (Freshman Recruit Orientation Group) Week acclimates the new cadets to a leadership-training program that started 132 years ago at NGCSU, predating the federal ROTC program. NGCSU enrolls more than 4,500 students, 600 of whom participate in the Corps of Cadets. Upperclassmen will come back two weeks prior to the start of school and will hone their leadership skills by preparing and overseeing the six days of freshman training.

North Georgia is the one senior military college, of the six, that offers strictly Army ROTC. Students are immersed in the leadership training program, wearing uniforms five days a week, but none are obligated to military service unless they choose so.

Producing well-prepared military officers and civilian leaders is part of NGCSU’s leadership mission for its entire student body. Among the university’s alumni are three dozen generals. An academic minor in leadership, with a military- or citizen-track emphasis, has been established to enhance the university’s long-standing leadership legacy. North Georgia’s “Legacy of Leadership” initiative allows for collaboration across campus for students, faculty and staff.

To find out more about the FROG Week schedule, contact Joshua Preston at 706-864-1949 or jipreston@ngcsu.edu.

This page last modified on: Monday, 17 October 2005 17:10:14 -0400 by University Relations    

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