News from the University System of Georgia: region 2

NEWS

FROM

The University System of Georgia

Two USG Universities Rank Among Nation's Top 20 Public Institutions
Georgia is one of only three states with two institutions ranked among the top 20 public national universities in the United States in U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges 2002."
Georgia Tech is No. 10 on the coveted list, while the University of Georgia is No. 18.
Keeping Georgia company are Texas and Virginia, which each have two universities on the top-20 list, and California, which has six institutions posted.
The 2002 "Best Colleges" report and the magazine's 2003 edition "Best Graduate Schools," released in April 2002, also contain a variety of other rankings.
The reports rank Georgia Tech: First among the nation's graduate and undergraduate schools of
industrial and systems engineering; Second among undergraduate programs in aerospace engineer-
ing; Third among undergraduate programs in civil engineering; and Fourth among graduate engineering programs overall.
The reports rank UGA: Among the top three public law schools in the South and the
top six public and private law schools in the South; Third among graduate programs in public management/admin-
istration and public finance; and Fourth among graduate programs in vocational/ technical edu-
cation.
The reports rank Georgia State University: First among the nation's public universities with part-time
MBA programs and fifth overall; and Second among graduate business programs in insurance/risk
management.
The reports rank the Medical College of Georgia: Sixth among the nation's graduate programs in nursing anes-
thesia (a ranking held since 1998).

Did You Know?
N The Board of Regents is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. The original 11 regents developed a plan on Jan. 1-2, 1932, that for the first time centralized governance of the state's higher education institutions.
N To meet the needs of the poultry industry in Northeast Georgia, Gainesville College has collaborated with the Poultry Science Department at the University of Georgia in developing a Poultry Science Certificate Program on the Gainesville campus. Interested students may choose between tracks in Live Production or Processing. After obtaining the certificate, students may either transfer to UGA with full credit for the 48-53 semester hours they spent in the GC program or start their careers in the poultry industry.
N The magazine Black Issues in Higher Education has ranked Georgia Tech as the nation's Number One producer of African-American engineers at the undergraduate, master's and Ph.D. levels. This is the first time that a majority institution has been named the top producer of minority undergraduate engineers. The magazine also ranked Southern Polytechnic State University Number Two in African-American women earning baccalaureate degrees in engineering-related technologies, Number Four in minority women earning the same degrees and Number Three in Hispanics earning master's degrees in engineering-related technologies,
N Southern Polytechnic has received a grant from the Goizuetta Foundation to establish the Goizuetta Foundation Scholars Fund for Hispanic and Latino students, offering more than $500,000 in need-based scholarship assistance and a state-of-the-art Spanish language learning lab. SPSU also recently established a minor in Spanish with courses that emphasize activities and vocabulary associated with technology and business.

Some Interesting Facts About Gainesville College:
I More than 85 percent of the college's alumni live and work in Northeast Georgia.
I During FY 2001, more than 8,700 area residents participated in the college's non-credit, continuingeducation programs and more than 153,800 people benefited from its public-service programs. In addition to offering courses for the general public on a variety of topics, the Continuing Education Department signed 22 contracts with local businesses to provide industry-specific training, including computer and language workshops, for their employees. These firms included Habersham Metal, Wrigley's, Wayne Farms, Ninth District Head Start, Dutch Quality, IMS Gear and Innovata.
I Gainesville College collaborates with Brenau University and the local theater community to offer outstanding stage productions via the Gainesville Theater Alliance, which won a national award in 2000.

Four-Year Degrees Available at GC
Gainesville-area residents seeking a four-year degree don't have to plan on a long commute. North Georgia College & State University and Southern Polytechnic State University offer a variety of degrees through the University Center at Gainesville College, a two-year institution.
Students enroll at the institution offering the desired degree and then attend courses on the Gainesville campus. Even some graduate courses are available.

NEWS

FROM

The University System of Georgia

Collaborating to Safeguard the Water Supply
The science faculties of Gainesville College, North Georgia College & State University, and the University of Georgia recently pooled resources to establish an Institute for Environmental and Spatial Analysis that focuses on protecting and improving the water quality of Northeast Georgia.
Because the availability of sustainable water resources is so critical to Georgia's economic development, the main focus of the institute is to make use of collaborative grants and research to develop an in-depth scientific understanding of water quality, watershed integrity and land-use impacts within the Chattahoochee River Basin and other northeast Georgia basins.
Based at Gainesville College, the institute will serve as a teaching, research and public-service resource. Collaborative activities between the three schools will include developing outreach and research programs for maintaining and improving water quality, training individuals to assess water quality in diverse environments, developing plans for environmental remediation, and elevating public awareness concerning the importance of local water quality and environmental health.
Did You Know That North Georgia College & State University...
N has a Small Business Center, which has assisted more than 40 businesses and not-forprofit organizations in five counties through faculty and student projects emphasizing practical, realistic and affordable solutions to problems?
N has a degree program in criminal justice that has placed students in internships in numerous local and state offices, including the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, county sheriff's offices, police departments and other agencies?
N has been designated by the U.S. Army as a "Partnership in Nursing Education" school, enabling the university to offer Army nursing scholarships?
N was awarded a three-year federal rural health grant of $750, 000 for Project Partnership, a program that provides care services to elderly and infirm residents of counties in the institution's service area?

USG Resume Database Helping Employers to Recruit
FusionPoint Technology Solutions of Macon is one of the latest Georgia businesses to benefit from the University System of Georgia's online statewide database of college students and alumni seeking consideration as job candidates.
The consulting firm recently hired three Georgia Tech graduates located through GeorgiaHire.com, which provides cost-effective one-stop shopping for businesses in need of qualified job candidates. Students and alumni can post their resumes on the web site free of charge. It costs nothing for potential employers to search the database for job candidates and only a nominal fee to post job openings and company profiles.
Dr. Diane Fennig, director of GeorgiaHire.com, said that more than 141,700 students and alumni have posted their resumes for review since February 2000, and more than 11,500 employers have searched the database during that period.
Kennesaw State Puts the Family Back in Business
Kennesaw State University's Cox Family Enterprise Center has been providing guidance, support and other resources for large and small family-owned businesses throughout the state since the mid-1980s. Each year, the center gives these firms a rare opportunity to bask in the spotlight through its Georgia Family Business of the Year competition.
This year's winners are representative of the wide variety of firms that have been rewarded for knitting family values into the fabric of their operations:
Large-sized firms Hayes Chrysler Dodge Jeep and Chevrolet of Lawrenceville, Gainesville and Cornelia grew from an Atlanta gas station in the 1950s, nurtured by three generations of the Hayes family, whose members have used their success to support many community projects.
Medium-sized firms The Brunswick News, now in its 100th year, is a newspaper run by four generations of the Leavy family, and has never had an unprofitable period.
Small-sized firms McStatts Printing of Cartersville has involved two generations of the McStatts family in the operation of print shops in Georgia and Texas.