North Georgia’s Forsyth program flourishing

DAHLONEGA – The North Georgia College & State University Forsyth County program, less than two years old, has added a second classroom location and has gained a new coordinator, Mike Weaver, to help NGCSU’s expansion into the area.

The university started offering classes at North Forsyth High School this semester to better accommodate the number of enrolled students. Computer classes will continue in the county’s Board of Education Center, where the Forsyth collaboration originated in fall semester 2001.

“Forsyth’s citizens have expressed a real commitment to higher education in their county,” said Donna Gessell, director of NGCSU Graduate Studies and External Programs. “They have been gracious hosts, sharing their educational facilities.”

The program also has gained an on-site coordinator, Mike Weaver, a former principal of all three Forsyth County high schools, who will work with Gessell to explore new opportunities for the university’s satellite program.

Weaver, who worked in the Forsyth school system for 16 years, will be available part-time in the Board of Education building and at North Forsyth.

“He plans to visit with high school guidance counselors to provide information to recruit students for the program and to meet and greet students entering summer classes to make them feel welcomed into the program,” Gessell said.

This spring more than 20 classes across several disciplines, and all the schools at the university, are being offered to North Georgia undergraduate and graduate students in Forsyth County. Gainesville College also is offering classes at the high school, continuing its partnership with North Georgia to offer core curriculum courses.

More than 200 North Georgia students are enrolled in Forsyth classes for the spring, a steady increase from the 135 students enrolled in the fall. Classes meet at 5 p.m. or later to accommodate those who work full-time and students who travel to take the classes.

From the perspective of one North Georgia professor who lives in Cumming and teaches on the Dahlonega campus and in Forsyth County, the growth only benefits the university’s educational goals.

“The Forsyth program represents a substantial investment on the part of NGCSU in higher education in North Georgia,” said Eric Link, who teaches one American literature class in Forsyth. “The cooperation right now between NGCSU and North Forsyth High School reinforces a bond that already existed between North Georgia and Forsyth County, and in time the Forsyth program could grow into a full-fledged branch campus that houses complete programs. The potential is there, for sure.”

More than 30,000 surveys were sent by External Programs and Continuing Education in January to Forsyth County residents to assess their needs.

“We have had more than 800 returned so far,” Gessell said. “We hope to use that information to set specific directions as to which degree programs to offer.”

Weaver also will help promote Continuing Education programs.

Those involved with North Georgia’s venture into Forsyth County are optimistic about the potential for the future. With the recent growth, they plan to continue to make it even more accessible to current and prospective students.

Women & Leadership Conference scheduled for March 4 at NGCSU

DAHLONEGA – Three nationally known speakers – Frances Hesselbein, Jane Stephenson and Susan Anderson – will be featured in the Women & Leadership Conference at North Georgia College & State University on March 4. 

“Our eighth annual Women & Leadership Conference commemorates the 130th anniversary of the founding of North Georgia, which was the first co-educational university in Georgia and the first public university in the state to enroll women as students,” said NGCSU President Nathaniel Hansford. “It’s also the 125th anniversary of the graduation of the first woman to receive a degree from a public institution of higher education in Georgia.”

Hansford explained that Miss Willie Lewis of Lumpkin County had the distinction of being the state’s first woman to graduate from a public college when she received her degree from North Georgia Agricultural College, NGCSU’s original name, in 1878.

Hesselbein, who served as the chief executive officer of Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. from 1976 to 1990 and is now the chairman of the Board of Governors of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, will be the conference’s keynote speaker at 12:30 p.m. In 1998, Hesselbein was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States’ highest civilian honor. She is the author of “Hesselbein on Leadership,” and is editor-in-chief of the quarterly journal “Leader to Leader.”

Stephenson, the 10 a.m. speaker, is the founder of the New Opportunity School for Women in Berea, Ky. The school helps women find ways to face opportunity and conflict, hone their job skills and increase their sense of self-worth. The author of “Courageous Paths: Stories of Nine Appalachian Women,” Stephenson has been the Appalachian director of the Steel-Reese Foundation since 1998. The New York-based foundation contributes to education, natural resource conservation and protection, health care, human services, rural development and other services.

Anderson, the 11 a.m. speaker, is executive director of the ArtReach Foundation of Atlanta. The non-profit corporation brings a training program to teachers in international communities that have suffered as a result of war. Now in its third year of its first initiative, the ArtReach program has provided educational workshops to 260 teachers in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Anderson will be presented with the Artemis Award at the Annual Global Forum of the Euro-American Women’s Council in Athens, Greece in May 2003.

The conference, which is free and open to the public, begins at 9:30 a.m. with welcome remarks by two women students, Joanna Register and Meagan Goodman, who both serve in the university’s nationally top-ranked Corps of Cadets.

All events take place in the auditorium of the Health & Natural Sciences Building at the top of the Sunset Drive hill, off of Main Street, about two blocks west of the Dahlonega Historic Public Square.

For more information, contact the co-chairs of the committee planning the conference, Tanya Bennett, 706/864-1978, or Elizabeth Combier, 706/864-1962.

North Georgia College & State University currently is engaged in a special project, “Forging a Legacy of Leadership,” celebrating the university’s leadership programs, which have been part of the institution’s mission since its founding in 1873.

NGCSU faculty members part of special forces training

DAHLONEGA – “My least favorite part was waiting at the Huddle House at 2:30 a.m. for the ‘contacts’ while I was role-playing and being approached by my own students whom I had to deceive in order not to compromise the mission,” said Dr. Elizabeth Combier, who participated in U.S. Army Special Forces training exercises during a week in October of last year.

SPECIAL OPERATION: (L to R) Dr. Kristi Hislope, Mariana Pomphile and Dr. Elizabeth Combier, North Georgia College & State University faculty members in language and literature, helped U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers train by using their Spanish-speaking skills in simulated missions.

Combier, along with Dr. Kristi Hislope and Mariana Pomphile, all Spanish-teaching faculty at North Georgia College & State University, participated in simulated missions with the elite soldiers at Camp Frank D. Merrill, the Army’s 5th Ranger Training Battalion, north of Dahlonega, Ga.

After their teaching duties ended daily, the three faculty members posed as informants and passed along information in Spanish to special forces soldiers, helping them carry out operations, including ambushes and raids. Another situation required Pomphile and Hislope to be rescued in a staged exercise.

“I was blindfolded and being rescued on a dark, cold, wet night. I was running with a soldier, and I fell down some steps and hurt my knee. They dragged me back to the truck. But at least they rescued me!” Hislope said of her experience.

Army Lt. Col. Bill Shaw, the former executive officer of North Georgia’s ROTC department, now deployed overseas, and special forces personnel helped train and prepare the three women for their roles in between their classes.

“We wanted to support our military in their training, and as patriots we want to do our part, however small, to fight terrorism,” Hislope said.

The teachers’ experiences weren’t all painful ones.

“My favorite part was passing along the information in Spanish,” Pomphile said. “It made me feel like I was in some James Bond movie."

Speakers at North Georgia will discuss leadership roles

DAHLONEGA – Three speakers at North Georgia College & State University will discuss different aspects of leadership as part of a Leadership Week, Feb. 10-14.

• Dr. Jim Muncy, a marketing professor at Valdosta State University, will address how to be "Successful in Leadership" at 8 p.m. on Feb. 10 in the Gloria Shott Auditorium. Muncy also is president of Muncy Leadership International, a company devoted to developing and training leaders, and serves as the executive director of the Association for Consumer Research. He recently published the book “A Few Keys to All Success.”

• James Hunter, who has more than 20 years of experience in leadership training and development, will speak on Feb. 11 at 12:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Health & Natural Sciences building. Hunter is the author of the best-selling book “The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership.”

• Dr. Barry Friedman, professor of political science and coordinator of the graduate program in public administration at North Georgia, will lecture on "Democracy in Organizational Life" on Feb. 13 at 5 p.m. in room B of the Hoag Student Center.

All events are free and open to the public. Hunter’s speech is sponsored by the NGCSU Leadership Initiative. The other events are sponsored by the Resident Student Association.  For more information about Leadership Week, contact Njeri Pringle, RSA advisor and graduate assistant, at nmpringle@ngcsu.edu.

Black history month speakers at North Georgia

DAHLONEGA – Black history month events at North Georgia College & State University will feature two speakers.

James Allen, an Atlanta antiques dealer specializing in African American artifacts, will speak on Feb. 4 at 12:30 p.m. in the Gloria Shott Auditorium. His photographs of lynchings in the United States, collected over a quarter century, have been published in “Without Sanctuary” and exhibited around the country.

Also featured is Minnijean Brown-Trickey, one of nine black students in 1957 who entered Little Rock Central High in Arkansas, helping end segregation. She will speak at NGCSU on Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. in the Hoag Student Center Auditorium.

Both events are free and open to the public.

Orientation session will cover opportunities in teaching fields

DAHLONEGA – Individuals with bachelor’s degrees who are interested in entering the teaching profession may attend a free orientation session at North Georgia College & State University.

On Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m. in the Gloria Shott Auditorium in the Nix Cultural Center on campus, faculty members in the Department of Teacher Education will explain the process of obtaining teaching certification. No reservations are necessary. If North Georgia doesn’t offer the specific education program of interest, the faculty members will help individuals find other programs in Georgia to suit their needs.

“People need information about admission requirements, program structures, working with school districts, finding jobs and the education job market,” said Susan Gannaway, department head. “We will have program information and advisors available to answer questions.”

Gannaway added, “Now is the time to begin looking at careers in teaching, but there are entry requirements and the education programs begin in mid-May.”

For more information or directions, contact Gannaway at 706/864-1893.

USG enrollment, retention & SAT scores at all-time high

DAHLONEGA – One year after completing the phase-in of higher admissions standards, the University System of Georgia announced a record number of students enrolling at its 34 institutions. Also, more are staying in the system after their freshman year, more are attending college full time, and the system’s students are academically stronger.

The system’s overall headcount enrollment is now 233,098 – an increase of 7.1 percent over the fall 2001 total of 217,546. The system’s full-time-equivalent enrollment increased by 13,950 students, or 8.2 percent, over fall 2001. System-wide, 66 percent of USG students now enroll full time.

The number of African-American students enrolled in the University System also increased 8.8 percent from 48,677 in fall 2001 to 52,941 in fall 2002.

 “These increases reflect both new students coming into the system and record retention rates within the system,” said University System of Georgia Chancellor Thomas C. Meredith. “Improving our ability to retain students was one of the goals cited in the Board of Regents’ Strategic Plan. We retained more first-time freshmen (from fall 2001 to fall 2002) than has ever before been recorded in the system’s history.”

With 73.5 percent of North Georgia College & State University’s fall 2002 students enrolled full time, NGCSU’s official fall enrollment was 4,178, an 8.2 percent increase over fall 2001’s enrollment of 3,863. NGCSU’s full-time equivalent number in fall 2002 was 3,467, a 7.4 increase over the previous fall’s 3,227 FTE.

A separate report, produced by the Office of Strategic Research and Analysis, shows that the average SAT scores of the system’s fall 2002 first-time freshmen – one of the strongest measures of the academic strength of incoming students – also is at a record high. The average composite score (combined verbal and math scores) of incoming USG freshmen is now 1,030, which is up from 1,026 in the fall of 2001 and from 1,021 in the fall of 2000. System-wide, the average SAT scores for USG students are now 516 in math and 514 in verbal.

 “Our students continue to perform above the national average and the increase in scores is proof that raising the bar for college admission is the right thing to do,” Meredith said.

NGCSU is one of 12 USG institutions with average incoming freshmen SAT scores exceeding 1,000. In fact North Georgia is among the top five schools in the SAT average scores listing, with Georgia Tech the highest with 1,325, then the University of Georgia with 1,211, Southern Polytechnic with 1,094, followed by NGCSU with 1,069 and Georgia State with 1,066. 

This page last modified on: Friday, 05 November 2004 15:43:04 -0500 by University Relations    

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