Gwinnett Center committee appointed
President Michael F. Adams has announced the appointment of a 14-member Gwinnett Program Committee to plan for the university's expanded role in the University System of Georgia Gwinnett Center.

Delmer Dunn, Regents Professor of Political Science, will chair the committee, which will be responsible for preparing the upper-level course curriculum which UGA will provide as part of expanded course offerings. Lower-division courses will continue to be provided by DeKalb College, which will be re-named Georgia Perimeter College on July 1.

"Our goal is a cutting-edge educational program which may serve as a model for other institutions," Adams says. "The exciting possibilities of an off-campus site offer this committee the opportunity to shape the future of higher education in one of our state's most rapidly developing sectors."

Considering the recommendations outlined in the 1996 Gwinnett Policy Advisory Council report, the committee will examine a full range of potential academic offerings and alternative long-range options for tenure and promotion, according to Adams. "This committee's task is to build the finest program possible for the students it will serve," he says.

In addition to Dunn, the members are:
Dorothy Carrillo, UGA coordinator in the Gwinnett University System Center; George Francisco, associate dean of the College of Pharmacy; Donald Eastman, vice president for strategic planning and public affairs; Carl Glickman, University Professor of Social Science Education; Michael Hannafin, professor of instructional technology and the Charles H. Wheatley Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Technology-Based Learning; Sylvia Hutchinson, professor of reading education and associate dean of the College of Education; Kay Keck, director of graduate studies, Terry College of Business; Jim Trieschmann, associate dean and insurance professor, Terry College of Business; Michael Thurmond, senior public service associate in the Carl Vinson Institute of Government; Katharina Wilson, professor of comparative literature; and Bonnie Yegidis, dean of the School of Social Work.

Two additional appointees will serve as ex officio members of the committee. They are Meg Amstutz, assistant to the president, and Elizabeth Molloy, dean of academic services at DeKalb College.

A significant expansion and relocation of the Gwinnett Center was approved by the board of regents in December. A new facility will be constructed on a 159-acre site off Georgia highway 316 donated by the Gwinnett County government. Capital-construction costs are estimated at $22 million from the University System, with an additional $3 million in roads and other infrastructure improvements, including technology equipment, provided by Gwinnett County. Facility-planning funds are included as part of the governor's fiscal year 1999 budget, now before the General Assembly.

DeKalb College, which has offered courses in Gwinnett County for the past 10 years, will expand its current offerings at the new site, teaching all freshman- and sophomore-level courses and offering associate degrees.

UGA will teach the upper-division courses, offering degrees at the bachelor's and master's levels.

Charges against fraternity members are dismissed: The Office of Judicial Programs has dropped disciplinary charges against UGA student James McLeod Norman in connection with an incident at the Kappa Sigma fraternity house on Nov. 15, 1997. Criminal charges against Norman and Joseph Sean Ragsdale, a 1995 graduate of UGA, have also been dismissed.

The dismissals come following the resignation of the UGA police officer involved in the case. Police say Officer Parks Owens, who alleged he had been beaten while trying to close down a fraternity party on that date, resigned in the course of an internal investigation of alleged (and unrelated) off-duty wrongdoing.

The Office of Judicial Programs has already held a hearing on charges against Kappa Sigma fraternity for allegedly holding a party beyond authorized hours and without appropriate security on the premises. A decision in that case was expected after Columns went to press.

Museum Exhibition travels to Amsterdam: The Georgia Museum of Art has announced that the exhibition Adriaen van Ostade: Etchings of Peasant Life in Holland's Golden Age, organized and premiered by the museum in 1994, will open the new wing of the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam in May. In exchange, the Rembrandt House is lending artworks for a Georgia Museum Rembrandt exhibition, opening next November.