Appalachian higher education center celebrates opening on Jan. 12

DAHLONEGA – The new Georgia Appalachian Center for Higher Education is the first such agency in the state to unite colleges, universities, technical colleges and high schools to increase the number of Appalachian Georgians to continue their education beyond high school. The center, designed to further the educational goals of “at-risk” Appalachian region students, has been funded for the current year at North Georgia College & State University in Dahlonega.

A Jan. 12 opening event introducing the Appalachian center to area constituencies will take place at NGCSU starting at 1 pm. Educational partners, local and national public officials and Georgia high school students have been invited to take part in the introduction of the new state organization. Appalachian Center for Higher Education Director Shirley Davis will present the mission of the center.

The center is designed to provide opportunities for grant awards to high schools; to develop close relationships with schools; to heighten awareness and advance the concept of higher education; and to provide technical assistance and training to high school grantees. The NGCSU School of Education is partnering with the new higher education center to provide resources and expertise.

The Appalachian Regional Commission, which provides part of the funding for the new center, has identified eleven counties as “educationally distressed” – Banks, Elbert, Fannin, Franklin, Lumpkin, Chattooga, Dade, Gilmer, Gordon, Murray and Walker.

“The Appalachian center will target the high schools in these counties,” said Davis. “In addition, other services, including workshops, dissemination of research, and technical assistance will be available for most counties in the northern tier of the state.”

“Georgia’s current high school graduation rate hovers around 64 percent with only 28 percent of the state’s 18-24 year olds enrolled in postsecondary programs,” said Alice Sampson, project manager for the higher education center and director of the Appalachian Studies Center at NGCSU. “For a number of our Appalachian high schools the student college enrollment rates are closer to 8 percent. We believe we can do much better.”

The center is inviting the 21 higher education institutions in the Georgia Appalachian region to serve on an advisory board and to promote the new educational initiative.

“This organization will provide technical assistance and grant awards up to $20,000 to selected high schools in eleven counties across the northern part of the state,” said NGCSU President David Potter. “Awardees will implement projects of their own design, tailored to meet each school’s individual needs and challenges for moving students toward postsecondary education.”

For more information about the Georgia Appalachian Center for Higher Education contact Shirley Davis at gache@ngcsu.edu or 706-864-1995.