Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia (UGA) recently announced Katherine “Katy” Green as the new Archway Education Professional in Whitfield County, effective June 1. In her position, Green will focus on birth-to-five programs and activities in Dalton-Whitfield County. This position is a public service faculty member with a joint appointment in the UGA Archway Partnership and the College of Education, Department of Communications and Special Education.
Green is a doctoral candidate in the educational psychology and special education department at Georgia State University (GSU). Her focus is on Early Childhood Special Education with a focus in typical and atypical child development. Katy earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of West Georgia and a Preschool Handicap add-on Certificate from GSU. In addition to her doctoral program, Katy has served as a Clinical Instructor at GSU since 2009 in the Department of Early Childhood Education and the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education. Prior to her work at GSU, she was a Preschool Special Needs Teacher and Speech-Language Pathologist in the Paulding County School System. She also worked in the Carroll County and Catoosa County school systems as a Speech-Language Communications Assistant and Elementary Spanish Teacher.
As a unit of UGA’s Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach, the Archway Partnership delivers a full range of UGA resources to Georgia counties. It is a partnership among communities and UGA in which university faculty and students help address local community needs. The community drives the process through an executive committee and steering committee of local citizens and community leaders. Partner counties have access to the knowledge, research and other resources produced by the University.
As a means to workforce development, community leaders in Dalton-Whitfield County have committed to the goal of getting every student reading at grade level by the third grade. Through the coordination of the UGA Archway Partnership, a number of College of Education initiatives are under way to help the community reach that goal. One of these initiatives emphasizes the role of early brain development and literacy, leading to the creation of the new faculty position of Whitfield County Archway Education Professional to assist in identifying and addressing community needs related to parent capacity and school readiness.
The pilot Archway project began in 2005 and now includes eight communities across Georgia: Washington, Clayton, Hart, Sumter, Pulaski, Whitfield, Grady and Habersham Counties.
