Beetle lab advances university’s applied research
Lab will combat regional threat to hemlock trees

An undergraduate student works with the beetles in the new Predator Beetle Lab, funded by the Georgia General Assembly and only the third such lab in the state.

DAHLONEGA (Feb. 26, 2008) – On Feb. 23, the Environmental Leadership Center at North Georgia College & State University hosted a grand opening for its new Predator Beetle Lab, designed for researchers to raise beetles to help preserve the hemlock tree population of north Georgia.

The predator beetles eat tiny invasive insects from Asia, called hemlock wooly adelgids, or HWAs, which are killing the hemlock population.

“Hemlock trees are vital members of our mountain ecosystems,” says Robert Fuller, the founder of NGCSU’s Predator Beetle Lab, only the third such lab in the state. “Hemlocks are most commonly found in moist environments near rivers and streams, where they provide shade for the streams and help stabilize the riparian soil along the stream banks. The trees provide food and habitat for hundreds of species in their ecosystem.”

Young Harris College and the University of Georgia house the state’s other two beetle labs. They are also studying
the HWA problem, which entered Georgia in 2003. Fuller says the HWA infestation first appeared in Dahlonega in 2005.

The decimation of other Hemlock tree populations in the United States has left soil exposed to erosion and once cool trout streams exposed and warmed by the summer sun.

“HWAs are here, and experience has shown that it can kill our hemlocks in as little as three years,” Fuller says.

	Hemlock tree with an adelgid infestation. Photo: Pennsylvania Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bugwood.org

In November, he discovered HWAs for the first time along the Etowah River just north of the Ranger Camp, and one of his students discovered them along the Chestatee River just upstream of Highway 52 East.

Sara Osicka, the new lab coordinator, says the predator beetles will be raised in the lab and then released by the Georgia Forest Service. She would like to monitor the beetles’ progress in the local ecosystem and involve undergraduate students with the lab’s work.

The first beetle eggs were laid the week of Jan. 21, and Fuller hopes to have mature beetles ready for release to the forest in March.

“While there are a few native predators that will eat HWAs, none attack it rapidly enough to significantly slow its advance,” says Fuller. “The only known long-term protection is to introduce predator beetles from Asia that keep HWAs in check there.”

The NGCSU applied research facility, located on Sunset Drive, was funded through the Georgia General Assembly.

North Georgia dean sets sights on developing premier business school
MBA degree 'major component' of plan

	NGCSU’s new business dean, Max Burns, at the Mike Cottrell School of Business dedication ceremony last September.

DAHLONEGA (Feb. 22, 2008) – Max Burns, dean of the Mike Cottrell School of Business at North Georgia College & State University, began his new role in higher education and having served a congressional term of office in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The former Senior Fulbright Scholar is taking charge of the newly reorganized business school at a pivotal time for the school and university. Burns has been charged with developing the first comprehensive, accreditable graduate business degree program in the region. North Georgia’s new Master of Business Administration degree program will enroll its first class in August at Cumming City Hall in Forsyth County.

“My primary responsibility is to advance the Mike Cottrell School of Business and make it the best business school in the nation for a school of its size and mission,” Burns says. “I’m going to do that internally within the university and the University System of Georgia and also externally with local businesses and industry.

For more information about the MBA program, visit www.northgeorgiamba.com.

“Right now, we are strategically positioning the business school to serve the region at a much greater level and the MBA program is a major component of our plan,” says Burns. “We want this degree to offer business professionals a quality graduate education close to home.”

Burns has considerable experience in the public and private sectors. He was a senior policy advisor in Washington after his elected term as a U.S. representative for Georgia’s 12th Congressional District. His engineering background formally began with an undergraduate degree from Georgia Tech and eventually led him to a career in academia as a professor of information systems at Georgia Southern University. He received his master’s in business information systems and a doctorate in business administration from Georgia State University.

His information technology background is benefitting North Georgia’s MBA program through the development of new classrooms designed specifically to support an enhanced technology environment for learning.

Burns is also focusing on other ways to develop regional engagement with communities and businesses.

“We’re continuing to support and enhance our strong undergraduate programs. Beyond that we’re looking at expanding our role in serving the region from the standpoint of economic growth and development and quality of life development.

“We’re working with multiple communities and counties on technology initiatives, which I think is critical to the growth of the university and the region,” Burns says.

North Georgia has plans for a major new center that will facilitate the study and advancement of the region’s economy. The Center for the Future of North Georgia will be part of the Mike Cottrell School of Business and a key part of the university’s strategy for regional engagement with a focus on economic development and growth within the region.

For more information about North Georgia’s business programs and initiatives, go online to apache.northgeorgia.edu. More information on the new MBA program is located at www.northgeorgiamba.com.

North Georgia picks location for new Master of Business Administration degree program
Cumming City Hall will house graduate program

	Cumming City Hall

DAHLONEGA (Feb. 20, 2008) – North Georgia College & State University and City of Cumming officials announced the inaugural location of the university’s new Master of Business Administration degree program during the Feb. 19 Cumming City Council meeting.

The university’s first MBA classes will begin in August on the fourth floor of Cumming City Hall, located right off Georgia Highway 400 in downtown Cumming. The business program was approved last spring by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents based on a growing need in the region for a graduate-level business program.

North Georgia President David Potter addressed Cumming Mayor Ford Gravitt, council members and local citizens at the Feb. 19 city council meeting, expressing pride in the partnership between the university and the community, which he said will benefit the citizens throughout the Georgia 400 corridor.

For more information about the MBA program, visit www.northgeorgiamba.com.

“We are pleased to offer this program and look forward to providing additional programs in the future that benefit the workforce of our northeast Georgia region,” NGCSU President David Potter said. “We are grateful for the support of our Cumming partners in this new venture.”  

The NGCSU Foundation, Inc., signed a three-year lease agreement with the city for use of the top floor of the government building. The foundation has been working with Martin Riley Associates, the architect firm that designed the city hall, to develop the unfinished top floor into a technology-rich education environment.

In addition to having interior space that is ideal for a graduate-level academic program, Cumming City Hall is easily accessible to those living and working along the Georgia 400 corridor. The downtown Cumming location also offers ample parking and is well-lit, safe and secure, officials say.

TeamMBA, the name of the graduate program, is designed for working professionals who wish to earn the degree without disrupting their careers to attend school full time. Courses will be offered in the evenings, and students also will interact long-distance for group studies and team projects through various technology tools.

Students who enroll in the program can expect to earn their degrees in 20 to 24 months. TeamMBA is a cohort-based program and will allow each group of 30 to 40 students to matriculate and graduate together.

Applications for the August cohort are being accepted now through June 30. Open houses for the new MBA will take place at various locations through the year. For more information contact John Douglas at 706-864-1610 or visit www.northgeorgiamba.com.

New emergency information system being implemented

DAHLONEGA (Feb. 15, 2008) – Once again, we are reminded of the tragedies that can occur on our nation’s college and university campuses. In just the last few days, we have seen tornadoes destroy much of the campus of Union University in Tennessee and the tragic deaths of students at Louisiana Technological College and Northern Illinois University. 

Immediate communications are critical to assuring maximum safety for students, faculty and staff when life-threatening and emergency events occur. North Georgia is implementing an immediate emergency communication system called the Connect-ED service. It enables campus leaders to send emergency information to the personal electronic devices of students and other members of the campus community. Connect-ED sends messages via four different modes of communication:

• Voice messages to home, work, and cell phones

• Text messages to cell phones, PDAs and other text-based devices

• Written messages to e-mail accounts

• Messages to TTY/TDD receiving devices for the hearing impaired

The university purchased Connect-ED in January and full rollout is expected by March 15.

“Notifying all students immediately is crucial in emergency situations, such as a severe storm or campus closure,” NGCSU President David Potter said. “It is essential for students to enter all of their contact information into the Connect-ED database. The more ways we have to contact individuals, the better our odds are of spreading timely information and updates and keeping everyone safe.”

“This network will only be used in real emergencies,” said Mike Stapleton, director of Public Safety. “Simultaneous contact to all registered devices can be made within moments of emergency events. This communication is proven to save lives, reduce fear and help people make informed decisions.”

“The real challenge of any emergency communication system is convincing people to enter their contact information. We will begin a campaign immediately to make students, faculty and staff aware of this system and to prepare them to register their contact numbers in March,” said John Clower, vice president for Student Affairs.

Through Connect-Ed, individuals may enter six contact numbers including their home and cell phone numbers, e-mail address, parents and family contact numbers, or numbers from text-based devices. 

Bob Owens’ pottery displayed at the Georgia Museum of Art

ATHENS (Feb. 15, 2008) – Selected pottery pieces crafted by Robert “Bob” Owens are on display in the “Selections from the Permanent Collection: Georgia Decorative Arts Highlights” exhibition through April 27, 2008, at the Georgia Museum of Art in Athens, Ga.

Owens, who died in April 2004, was the founder and first head of the Fine Arts Department at North Georgia College & State University and a professor at the college for 32 years.

Shown with Bob Owens' pottery pieces are Tommye Scanlin, professor emerita at NGCSU, and Bob Owens’ widow, Gwen Owens.

The three works featured – two vases and a covered stoneware jar – signify Owens’ debut at the museum and are in the process of being gifted to the museum’s permanent collection, along with two other pieces by his widow, Gwen Owens, and their sons.

One of the objects on view, a stoneware vase, was the entry piece that led to Owen being awarded a juried membership into the Southern Highland Craft Guild in 1966 and later a lifetime membership in 1992. Collectively, the works serve as exemplars of north Georgia decorative arts and show the dynamic balance in his work as a creator, instructor and promoter of visual arts. 

“We are so pleased to be adding these objects by Bob Owens to the museum’s permanent collection,” says Ashley Callahan, the museum’s curator of the Henry D. Green Center for the Study of the Decorative Arts. “He made great contributions to the history of studio craft and decorative arts in north Georgia in the second half of the 20th century, and our collection would be incomplete without examples of his work in ceramics.”

While completing his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Masters of Fine Arts at BFA and MFA at the University of Georgia, Owens was heavily influenced by Earl McCutchen and Eulala Amos, who were professors of art at the university.

In addition to the Southern Highlands Craft Guild, Owens was a member of the Foothills Guild of Arts and Crafts, the John C. Campbell Folk School and the American Craft Council.  He served as president of the Southern Highlands Craft Guild and on the board of directors for the Quinlan Arts Center and Georgia Citizens for the Arts. His many awards include the Georgia Governor’s Arts award and a Georgia Educator of the Year award.

The show is being held in conjunction with the “New Discoveries in Georgia Painted Furniture” exhibit  and the Henry D. Green Symposium of the Decorative Arts, “A Colorful Past: Decorative Arts of Georgia.”

Partial support for the exhibitions and programs at the Georgia Museum of Art is provided by the Georgia Council for the Arts through appropriations of the Georgia General Assembly. The Council is a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Georgia Museum of Art is located in the Performing and Visual Arts Complex at the University of Georgia on 90 Carlton Street. Museum hours are: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Wednesday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.; closed on Mondays.

For more information, visit www.uga.edu/gamuseum or call 706-542-4662.

	Jessica McMichen taps into the wireless network outside Dunlap Hall. The political science major can now stay connected on the go.

University expands wireless network
Majority of campus to have coverage by fall

DAHLONEGA (Feb. 1, 2008) – Laptop and mobile device users at North Georgia College & State University will soon have more options and freedom to access the Internet as the wireless network grows during the next several months.

The first two phases of the project were completed last month by Information & Instructional Technology staff. Phase three, estimated to begin in February and to be finished during fall semester 2008, will provide the majority of campus with wireless coverage, said Dr. Bryson Payne, Chief Information Officer.

“We’ve been focusing first on the areas that students use most,” said Payne. “Our goal is to have a robust, user-friendly wireless network connection available any place that students would reasonably expect to be able to use a laptop or other wireless device.”

The areas most frequently used by students – Hoag Student Center, Stewart Library, Dunlap Hall and Newton Oakes Center – acquired the service first during Phase I of the implementation.

Phase II concentrated on expanding the capability to all classroom areas. Phase III will continue the expansion to the non-academic buildings, including the common areas in the residence halls. Phase IV will finish the project following the completion of the new Library Technology Center in fall 2008. Outdoor antennas will likely be added in the summer near common areas and at the new plaza outside the Stewart Library.

The expansion is in response to students voicing that wireless networking was a priority. Student Technology Fee funds were allocated last year by the Student Government Association, the University Technology Committee and the Student Technology Fee Committee to support the endeavor.

Since August 2007, wireless connectivity services have been available to the NGCSU community and visitors. A few limited-use wireless hot spots have been available on campus for several years, but access to those was restricted to specific events or to NGCSU users only.

“The committees involved in bringing the wireless network to reality made it clear that guest access was a priority, from prospective students to visiting lecturers,” said Payne.

A network access control system will be added beginning in March. This will give priority bandwidth and access to campus resources – such as the network drives – to NGCSU faculty, staff and students when they log on to the wireless service with their Novell ID and password.

“Fall semester we saw peak usage of as many as 120 users per hour using the wireless network, even with little publicity,” said Norman Loyd, assistant network manager. “So far, the Student Center, particularly the Keg and upstairs lounge area, is by far the most popular wireless hangout.”

Loyd implemented the majority of the project with assistance from Jeff Balch, network manager, and Jim Webb, information security officer. John Painter, of Paramount Network Services Inc., performed most of the additional cabling.

For more information, contact the IIT Helpdesk at helpdesk@ngcsu.edu or 706-864-1922.

Veteran professor prepares educators on teaching standards
Program funded through National Science Foundation

	Judy O’Neal uses hands-on learning in class.

DAHLONEGA (Feb. 1, 2008) – Georgia’s revised K-12 curriculum is now well under way and the state’s teachers are rethinking how to teach students with the new Georgia Performance Standards.

Judy O’Neal is helping prepare math teachers – from primary through secondary education – for this challenge through the National Science Foundation Math & Science Partnerships program.

O’Neal, and Robb Sinn and Dianna Spence, all Department of Math & Computer Science faculty members at North Georgia College & State University, are working through the Pioneer Regional Educational Service Agency in Cleveland to create professional development content for area math educators.

This is O’Neal’s third NSF Math & Science Partnerships project and the second supported by the NGCSU School of Education. The NSF grant is funded directly through RESA for $492,000 over three years.

O’Neal was the math representative for Georgia at a U.S. Department of Education and NSF summit on the Math & Science Partnerships program in December.

“We looked at exemplary programs and talked about what type of commitment and encouragement universities
can provide school systems,” says O’Neal. “It reinforced how important it is to meet the needs of our particular partner – Pioneer RESA in our case – because those needs vary around the country.”

O’Neal is a member of the project management team for the MSP, collaborating with Pioneer RESA coaches and developing several courses. This semester O’Neal developed Integrated Math I and II courses for high school teachers who will start implementing the Georgia Performance Standards in their classrooms in the fall. To help her develop the courses, she facilitated a 13-system regional planning meeting with high school teachers so they could give input into the development of integrated 9th-12th grade mathematics.

“They won’t just be teaching Algebra I, Geometry or Algebra II. It will be a more integrated program with a lot of different math content in one year,” says O’Neal. “So that takes a little bit of retooling on the part of math teachers.”

The MSP has supported the development of U.S. Department of Education tools, such as sample framework units for teaching, which teachers may use to create higher student involvement.

“The most important thing to remember here is we’re helping math teachers to be successful, and I’m really a believer in active student involvement in the classroom. I don’t want to see them just taking notes in a class, and I want teachers to use whatever tools they can to help students actively learn.”

O’Neal has starred in 30 Webcasts for the Georgia Department of Education, developing video instruction for middle grade teachers so they may learn how to teach particular concepts in the Georgia Performance Standards. The videos are accessible at www.georgiastandards.org/mathframework.aspx#eight.

After more than 35 years of teaching – 13 years at the collegiate level – O’Neal is refocusing her passion so that she can continue to impact the education system. She retired from NGCSU in November and returned to teach part time, continues to spearhead MSP initiatives and consults for East Hall Middle School. She also is a college short-course instructor for Texas Instruments, teaching two- or three-day workshops that prepare pre-service teachers using graphic calculators and other tools.

Research lab to help mitigate adelgid infestation in ecosystem

	The predator beetle, Sasajiscymnus tsugae, will be raised in the new lab.

DAHLONEGA (Feb. 1, 2008) – The new Predator Beetle Lab, funded through the Georgia General Assembly and located on the North Georgia College & State University campus, will focus on saving the hemlock tree population from an adelgid infestation.

“The lab will initially raise a single species of tiny beetle that feeds on the invasive hemlock wooly adelgid, which we hope will help save many of the hemlock trees from being killed by the adelgids,” said Robert Fuller, one of the lead researchers.

The lab is located on Sunset Drive in the Department of Biology’s Field Studies Building, which has been renovated for the lab with funding provided by NGCSU. Physical Plant personnel renovated the facility.

Hemlock tree with an adelgid infestation.

Sarah Osicka is the new coordinator for the Predator Beetle Lab and will run day-to-day operations.

An open house at the lab takes place on Feb. 23 at 10:30 a.m. to give the community an opportunity to see the applied research being conducted.

State Rep. Amos Amerson, a retired North Georgia professor, helped secure state funding for the lab.

Beetle photo: Carole Cheah, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, www.forestryimages.org; Hemlock photo: Pennsylvania Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bugwood.org

North Georgia receives SACS reaccreditation

DAHLONEGA (Feb. 1, 2008) – The Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges has reaffirmed the accreditation of North Georgia College & State University for a 10-year period. As part of the reaccreditation, NGCSU is required to submit a monitoring report to SACS related to assessment of student learning.

North Georgia’s strategy for a new component of accreditation, the Quality Enhancement Plan, was reviewed by the SACS reaccreditation committee at a March 2007 site visit. NGCSU’s thorough approach to the QEP resulted in an exemption from submitting a monitoring report until the 5-year QEP impact report is due. The QEP relates directly to student learning outcomes.

North Georgia administrators, faculty and staff have been involved over the last three years in the reaccreditation process. Documents related to the process are available at apache.northgeorgia.edu/sacs.

This page last modified on: Monday, 16 June 2008 15:15:41 -0400 by University Relations    

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