Points of Pride – September 2009
October 26, 2009
The Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel (Georgia Center)
In an outreach effort to military personnel, the Georgia Center’s Independent and Distance Learning Department’s coordinator for online course development and marketing has re-established a partnership with DANTES (Defense Activity for Non-traditional Education Support) – www.dantescatalogs.com – and has posted all of the online courses to its web portal. Independent and Distance Learning courses will now be available for all military personnel stationed around the world.
The International Association for Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (IMACS) held the 18th IMACS World Congress at the Georgia Center on August 3-7, 2009. Seventy-five scientists and practitioners from around the world attended the conference. IMACS was supported by the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Computer Science Department. Prior to the conference, the National Science Foundation supported a two-day workshop on mathematical biological and numerical analysis attended by 72 academicians and others.
During the month of August, the Georgia Center’s Sales Department booked three conferences with an estimated 405 participants, 375 hotel room nights and 1,240 participant meals for estimated revenue of $71,298. The sales department also booked tactical events for estimated revenue of $36,260. The conference and event planning department coordinated nine conferences with 384 participants and 78 meetings or special events with 3,832 participants.
The State Botanical Garden of Georgia
Dr. Jim Porter’s (Warnell School of Ecology) ECOL1000 class of 400 students assembles at the Botanical Garden to collect insects as part of their field work requirement. Two sections of David Berle’s (College of Agriculture and Environmental Services) HORT1000 class (nearly 400 students), worked with garden staff to fulfill their service-learning requirement.
The final concert of the Sunflower Music Series featured Grogus on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009. Scheduled in late August to include returning UGA students, more than 300 attended the outdoor concert showcasing the new flower garden.
The $875,000 renovation to the Visitor Center and Conservatory is completed and prepared for educational classes, field trips, and programs.
The Marine Extension Service (MAREX)
Aquarists Devin Dumont and Karin Paquin, with the Marine Extension Service’s aquarium on Skidaway Island, created a new exhibit of invasive species that features several red lionfish (Pterois volitans) and the titan acorn barnacle (Megabalanus coccopoma), both from the Pacific Ocean and now established in the Western Atlantic. The lionfish were obtained from the Georgia Aquarium that worked with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary staff in collecting this species off of the Georgia coast. The exhibit opened on Sept. 11, 2009, and is dovetailed with the Invasive Species Public Awareness and Monitoring Program being conducted by MAREX’s Shellfish Research Laboratory. Part of that effort included publishing a series of fliers describing several invasive species that have become established in Georgia’s coastal waters and wetlands. Examples can be found at www.marex.uga.edu/shellfish/researchinvasivemeetguests.htm.
CoastScapes Conservation Landscaping Program (CSCP), initiated in January 2009, is a comprehensive program for coastal Georgians that teaches conservation landscaping practices and implementation processes in order to preserve the coast’s water resources, plants, habitats and wildlife – all of which are critical elements needed to nurture and preserve the complex web of life that characterizes coastal Georgia and its surrounding watersheds. In addition, as the coastal region begins to accommodate rapidly expanding urban growth, the program will help mitigate negative environmental impacts by promoting the adoption of comprehensive CoastScapes conservation landscaping practices with emphasis on the following components:
- Use of non-invasive native and beneficial plants;
- Water conservation;
- Reduction or elimination of pesticide and fertilizer use;
- Restoration and/or creation of native habitat;
- Preservation of undisturbed native vegetation, wetlands and riparian buffers;
- Promotion of habitat linkage and connectivity;
- Incorporation of an overall environmentally sensitive site design;
- Incorporation of bioretention, rain harvesting, and other green infrastructure stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs);
- Implementation of invasive species control;
- Promotion of pollinators, beneficial insects and coastal wildlife habitats;
- Composting, recycling and reuse; and
- Adoption of integrated pest management.
International Public Service and Outreach (IPSO)
IAAE Conference Beijing 2009
Glenn Ames, International Public Service and Outreach director (IPSO), traveled to Beijing, China, in August 2009 to present a contributed paper titled Ruffled Feathers: Tariff Rate Quotes and Voluntary Export Agreements in U.S. Mexican Poultry Meat Trade. The paper was co-authored with Lewell F. Gunter, Jack E. Houston, and Sonia Velásquez Guerrero. Guerrero, a former Training, Internships, Exchanges, and Scholarships (TIES) graduate student, graduated from the University of Georgia in December 2008 with a master’s degree in agricultural and applied economics.
The Fanning Institute
Fanning Institute faculty members Rob Williams and Kim Anderson, in partnership with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) and the Helene Fuld Foundation, designed and conducted a year-long development program for Fuld Fellows, a national group of 50 emerging leaders in schools and colleges of nursing. “Given the dramatic size of the nursing shortage in America and the increasing expectations and responsibilities for the role of nursing in the healthcare of the future, the Fuld Foundation and AACN wanted to recognize emerging leaders in academic nursing and expand their leadership competencies to face new challenges,” said Barb Penn, director of education for AACN. “We partnered with the Fanning Institute because of its experience and research in leadership and leadership development in higher education and healthcare.” In its 10th year, the Fuld Fellowship has involved more than 500 leaders and 200 nursing schools.
Fanning Institute faculty members Louise Hill and Janet Rechtman designed and facilitated a Parental Leadership Development Program sponsored by Troup County Family Connections. The program evolved out of discussions on how to identify and engage parents as leaders in the school system and community organizations. Program participants were a diverse group of early learning providers, public school outreach coordinators, and interested parents.
To download a copy of September Points of Pride click here.