As the University of West Georgia closes another year in the history books, we look back on what happened at the university in 2009. Our list of memorable events marks the sublime, and maybe a little bit of the ridiculous, in recapping how the Wolves closed out the decade.
Here, submitted for your approval or disapproval, is the list:
The Greek Village opens, amid much rejoicing from the fraternities and sororities that occupy the enclave, and even more rejoicing from their former neighbors.
The Coliseum opens, providing a new home to the basketball and volleyball teams, as well as a venue for commencement, which now can be completed in just two ceremonies in one day, compared with the nearly three dozen that were formerly required.
Dee-fense! Dee-fense! The Wolves football team makes its first homecoming in its new stadium one to remember (unless you're from West Alabama), holding the Tigers to nine points, and snapping a losing streak that is now long-forgotten.
Georgia Highlands College (GHC) and theUniversity of West Georgia will collaborate on an educational facility in Douglasville, Ga., school and city officials reported.
Douglasville, Block and Kahan Properties and theUniversity System of Georgia (USG) signed a 10-year agreement to bring the educational facility to fruition. The building, formerly the home of Cub Foods on Stewart Parkway, is about 44,000 square feet. A $1.5 million renovation will create seven classrooms, both a wet and dry lab with a common prep area, auditorium, faculty offices, student lounge, library and conference room.
USG, which several years ago identified the area as underserved, also inked an option on a 50-acre site in Douglasville that could accommodate future expansion as enrollment increases.
“We want to establish a concentration of universities and colleges in Douglasville,” said Darren Bak, chairman of the Douglasville Development Authority, in a news release. “The future strength of the city’s economy is tied to our ability to grow businesses that are based on human capital. Higher education begins to move us in that direction and provides us with the workforce needed to support a variety of knowledge based companies.”
Georgia Highlands College is a two-year institution with more than 5,000 students at six sites in Rome, Cartersville, Marietta, Dallas and Douglasville.
The University of West Georgia is a residential, doctoral comprehensive university that offers a broad undergraduate and graduate curriculum based on a liberal arts foundation. UWG has more than 11,000 students through its College of Arts and Sciences, Richards College of Business, College of Education, and School of Nursing.
--Atlanta Business Chronicle
Prior to his arrival at IBBS, Todd served as Vice President of Sales for Momentum Telecom’s wholesale line business which he successfully grew by a compound annual rate of 157%.
“Todd is a very highly-regarded industry professional with an established presence in the broadband and cable marketplace,” said IBBS Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Sandra Jimenez. “He is known for a high level of professionalism and the enthusiasm he brings to every assignment. We are confident that Todd will be a great addition to the IBBS team.”
For more than ten years, Mr. Zittrouer has proven to be an exceptionally successful sales leader who has consistently driven revenues to new heights. Throughout his career, he has been recognized as a top contributor.
Among Mr. Zittrouer’s priorities will be to drive new business for IBBS’ recently introduced Commercial Services and Network Services offerings, which represent tremendous opportunities for the company in North America.
“While at Momentum Telecom, I was fortunate to work with IBBS as a strategic partner and was very impressed with its leadership position in the cable market,” commented Mr. Zittrouer. “I am excited about joining this exceptional team and look forward to helping IBBS realize significant growth for years to come.”
Todd earned a BS in Business Administration from the University of West Georgia.
About IBBS
IBBS is a leading provider of mission-critical OSS software and services for cable operators and broadband Internet Service Providers worldwide, accounting for more than 800,000 high-speed data subscribers. The company’s diagnostic and provisioning software, network management services and tier-1 NOC, as well as its US-based call center, empower support professionals to cost-effectively monitor and service customers with a scalable, secure, fully-integrated solution that ensures maximum network uptime and lower operating expenses. Since 2001, IBBS and its customers have been providing world-class customer service and network management by using the Broadband Explorer (BBX) Provisioning and Diagnostic Software Suite and enabling the Triple Play through wired and wireless networks. IBBS is located in Atlanta, GA, with western operations in suburban Vancouver, BC.
Additional information can be found at http://www.ibbs.com or by calling 770-387-2053.
More than half of those attending a college or university in Georgia graduate with debt, but that debt is among the lowest in the nation.
The average debt at graduation from one of Georgia’s universities in 2008 was $17,296, compared with a national average of $23,200, according to The Institute for College Access & Success’ Project on Student Debt report. Fifty-five percent of Peach State graduates left with debt in 2008.
Of Georgia’s public universities, Medical College of Georgia topped the list with an average graduate debt of $43,169. Columbus State University came in second with an average graduate debt of $26,905.
Among the private universities, Agnes Scott College topped the list with $25,577.
Click here to see the complete Georgia list.
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2009/12/14/daily17.html
Dr. Faye McIntyre recently announced two im-
portant additions to the Richards College of Business
award-winning international programs. The Univer-
sity of West Georgia and China’s Zhongnan University
of Economics and Law (ZUEL) have established a
program with the Richards College that will allow stu-
dents from ZUEL to attend UWG in their senior year.
The new program will allow approximately 40 finance
majors annually to attend UWG and earn a degree
from both institutions. Dr. Charles Hodges, professor
of finance at the college, was one of the facilitators of
a partnership that will allow the Chinese students to
earn a bachelor’s of business administration in finance.
He believes the partnership will benefit both ZUEL
students and UWG students.
An agreement with France’s ESCEM (Ecole Su-
perieure de Commerce et de Management) was final-
ized in October to establish the Richards College first
business student exchange program. Up to 30 UWG
students will have the opportunity to study in France,
and 30 of their students will study here for a semester
or a year.
Erich Bergiel, faculty advisor for the Japan Study
Abroad program explains the importance of study
abroad.
“The experience of international travel is invaluable.
As technologies expand, global markets are becoming
seamless. It is no longer a question of ‘if’ we will need
to interact or communicate in a global environment
but ‘when’. These students have the opportunity to
experience this prior to getting into the real world.
Some have barely left Georgia and their minds are
opened and enlightened by experiencing a culture so
different from their own. There is only so much that
can be interpreted from readings and textbooks, but to
fully embrace and experience it can be life changing.
Our course in Japan does not just teach about the
Japanese culture but it allows students to improve
their ability to understand and appreciate differences
in others. That is a worthwhile lesson.”
The Graduate Record Examinations, the test that serves as a gatekeeper to most American graduate programs, will undergo a host of significant changes, including dropping analogy questions and introducing a new scoring scale, the Educational Testing Service announced on Friday.
The changes in the GRE general test, reported by the Chronicle of Higher Education, are the most extensive in the test's 59-year history. It will be offered starting in the fall of 2011. They were announced here at the annual meeting of the Council of Graduate Schools.
The new GRE will adopt a narrower range of possible scores, from 130 to 170 points, in order to encourage more-accurate comparisons between test takers. The existing range, from 200 to 800 points, magnifies small differences in scores that have little statistical significance, testing-service officials said.
The verbal-reasoning section of the GRE will stop using two types of questions, antonyms and analogies, that are believed to encourage excessive rote learning of vocabulary, especially among international students. Those questions will be replaced with reading-comprehension exercises, said David G. Payne, executive director of the GRE program.
"Having a good command of English vocabulary will be necessary, but it won't be sufficient, to get a high score on the test," Payne said.
The new test will also allow computer-based test takers to revisit previous questions within the same section, a practice that is not allowed on the current test. The test will retain an adaptive format, meaning questions can get tougher if a test taker is doing well, or easier if the test taker is doing poorly. But question difficulty will only change at the beginning of a new section of the test, not with each new question.
The entire test will take four hours, about 30 minutes longer than now. Some of the changes were proposed several years ago, but they were delayed after test takers experienced a shortage of testing sites in Europe.
Speaking contest winners are, from left, Jessi Burgess, Andrew Struletz and Chelsie Wilson.
On Dec. 1, the Department of Mass Communications and Theatre Arts sponsored the sixth annual Gibson Public Speaking Contest. The event was named in honor of Dr. Chester Gibson, who served in the department for more than two decades.
Competition is fierce.
Of the hundreds of students studying public speaking, only seven were chosen to take part in the contest. Speech faculty select students to participate based on the quality and effectiveness of their persuasive speeches.
Judges for the evening were Dr. Bruce Lyon, Ms. Jane Simpson, and Mr. Gary Leftwich. Lyon has served the University of West Georgia in various capacities, most recently in the Ombuds Office. Simpson is university general counsel. Leftwich is director of corporate communications at Southwire; he is also an alumnus of UWG, having graduated with a degree in mass communications.
Each contestant received a cash prize for their participation. Receiving $50 for participating (and the titles of their speeches) were Bernell Grizzard (“The Bottled Water Hoax”), Brenden Jonassaint (“Broken by Divorce”), Ferris May (“2 Laws of 2: Reducing Drunk Drivers”), and Daniel Vinson (“Getting What You Want: The Greatest Good”). Andrew Struletz took third place and a $200 prize for “Alcohol Should be Illegal.” Taking second place and $300 was Jessi Burgess for “Comprehensive Sex Education.” The first-place winner and recipient of $400 was Chelsie Wilson, whose speech was entitled “The FDA Should Strengthen Their Regulation on Painkillers.”
Speech faculty (Meda Rollings, Gail Reid, Bruce Daniel, Kelly Williams, and Wendell Stone) hosted the event. Awards were made possible through the generous support of textbook publisher McGraw-Hill and Dr. Chester and Mrs. Faye Gibson.
College and university leaders are regularly criticized for making too little information available or presenting only the data that show them in the best light.
No such statement can be made about the leaders of 24 public college systems that on Thursday -- as part of atwo-year-old initiative aimed at boosting college completion and closing racial and socioeconomic gaps in enrollment and graduation -- released extensive data about their performance on those fronts.
READ MORE HERE:
Health Services has received another shipment of seasonal flu shots.
The shot is free to students and costs $15.00 for faculty and staff.
We also have the H1N1 shots which are free to faculty, staff, students and families.
The two shots may be taken at the same time.
To take the shot(s) come to Health Services between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. and bring your UWG ID.
The last day of operation for Health Services for fall semester is Friday, Dec. 11.
For further information regarding influenza please see the following site: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu.
The Department of Art at the University of West Georgia is
pleased to present the third annual "Good Things Come in
Small Packages," a show featuring artwork from UWG
students, faculty, alumni, friends & community.
The Bobick
Gallery will be filled with artwork in a variety of media
including painting, photography, drawing, ceramics, mixed
media, printmaking and sculpture, with no dimension being
larger than 12 inches.
This exhibition is an opportunity for
students, faculty and the local art community alike to
exhibit their work side by side and share their ideas and
inspiration.
There will be a reception tonight from 6pm - 8pm in the Bobick Gallery, Humanities first floor.
Today marks the 21st anniversary of World AIDS Day. The red Christmas lights/globes located at the University of West Georgia’s main entrance (in the trees) will be lit at dusk. Each globe represents one year of HIV Awareness.
Many will be remembering lost loved ones. While new medications have been developed that prolong life, the struggle is ongoing.
Additionally, we have many reasons to be thankful.
As the holidays approach, it is our wish that you have a wonderful, healthy, and peaceful season. The lights will be a visual reminder to give thanks and to cherish the ones we love.
The Star of Bethlehem, a multimedia astronomy presentation, will take place Friday, Dec. 4 from 7pm - 8:30pm in the Math-Physics (Crider) Lecture Hall. Suitable for ages 10 years and up, it is free and open to the public. The program will be presented by Dr. Ben de Mayo, Professor Emeritus of Physics, and is sponsored by the Departments of Physics and Continuing Education and by the Georgia Space Grant Consortium-NASA.
For more information, phone 678-839-4087 or 678-839-4097.
