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Columns::February 11, 2002
Black History Month observance commemorates ‘The Birth of African-American Culture’
Poet Nikki Giovanni will lecture, give reading
Governor taps two faculty for new commission to promote historical tourism
Mending (historic) fences
Willie Cole visits campus as part of artist series
Risky business
Peach State Poll finds most Georgians believe immigrants are not taking their jobs away
China’s Cultural Revolution put professor on ‘radical’ career path
A world of difference
Administrative changes
Newsmakers
The British were here
Campus News
UGA expands its academic program at Gwinnett University Center
By Larry B. Dendy
ldendy@uga.edu
UGA courses and degree programs offered at the Gwinnett University Center will be subject to the same academic standards as the curriculum offered on UGA’s main campus, according to policies approved by the University Council at its Jan. 31 meeting.
The policies open the way for UGA to offer upper-level undergraduate courses that will enable Gwinnett University Center students to receive baccalaureate degrees from UGA.
UGA has offered graduate-level and continuing education programs at the Gwinnett facility since 1984. In 1997, the University System of Georgia authorized Georgia Perimeter College to teach lower-division undergraduate courses leading to an associate degree, and permitted UGA to offer upper-division undergraduate courses along with graduate and continuing education programs.
With the recent opening of the Gwinnett Center’s new campus off Collins Hill Road in Gwinnett County, UGA will begin its expanded academic program this fall with courses for juniors and seniors in business, science and education. Students who successfully complete required courses will be eligible for a baccalaureate degree from UGA.
The university’s Gwinnett program will be under the direction of a senior administrative officer appointed by the university’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. Provost Karen Holbrook has appointed Bob Boehmer, associate provost for institutional effectiveness, as the senior administrative officer. James Muyskens will continue to serve as CEO of the Gwinnett University Center.
The policies require that any new credit-bearing course or academic program at the Gwinnett Center be initiated by the UGA school or college offering the course. Like all other university courses, Gwinnett Center courses must be reviewed by the vice president for instruction and are subject to review by the council’s Curriculum Committee.
Issues regarding faculty governance at the Gwinnett Center will come under the authority of the University Council and its committees.
Responding to a council member’s question about the policies, Boehmer said students enrolling at the University of Georgia at Gwinnett must meet the same admission requirements as students transferring to UGA from other schools.
Most teachers of UGA courses at the Gwinnett center are already on the university’s faculty, and any new teachers will also be hired by university schools and colleges and will be subject to the same evaluation standards as other faculty, Boehmer said.
Some 5,000 students now attend the Gwinnett University Center, and officials predict enrollment eventually will rise to 15,000. In other action, the University Council approved creation of a new bachelor of science degree in applied biotechnology and a new major in film studies under the bachelor of arts degree.
The applied biotechnology degree, offered by the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, will give students scientific knowledge and laboratory experience necessary for jobs in which biotechnology could be used to improve plants, animals and micro-organisms.
The need for more skilled biotechnology workers is pressing, according to the college’s proposal for the degree: Georgia leads the nation in creating technology jobs and ranks among the top 10 states in the number of people employed in technology positions.
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