DAHLONEGA (March 23, 2007) –  A longtime physical therapy professor at North Georgia College & State University is fighting a battle with brain cancer, and Frank Fearon's students are raising money to help with the costs of his medical treatments.

	Frank Fearon

A car wash at AutoZone in Dahlonega will take place on March 31 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 475 Morrison Moore Parkway. Physical therapy graduate students will sell baked goods and wash vehicles. All proceeds will go the Frank Fearon Medical Fund.

Fearon, who lives in Cumming with his wife Debbie and four kids, previously was director of Outpatient Rehab at Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville before joining the North Georgia faculty full time in 1993.

He was instrumental in implementing the NGCSU Master of Science in Physical Therapy Program, which started in 1992 and is now North Georgia’s first on-campus doctoral degree program. 

In an effort to offer local residents physical therapy at a discounted rate, Fearon co-founded the Physical Therapy Faculty Practice in 1999. Fearon is president of the campus-based not-for-profit corporation.

Fearon’s family of supporters are continuing to solicit help for their friend and loved one. Debbie Fearon quit her job to help with her husband’s healthcare needs, and now medical costs of Frank Fearon’s 3-year battle with cancer have caused a financial strain on the family. 

In addition to the March 31 fundraiser, North Georgia PT faculty members are giving all the proceeds from a March 24-25 Physical Therapy Association of Georgia District 9 continuing education event to the Frank Fearon Medical Fund. PT clinicians in the northeast Georgia area will learn about cutting edge interventions and treatments in their field from NGCSU’s PT faculty during the weekend.

A third planned event to help raise money for the Fearons will take place on April 13 at the opening of the PTAG state chapter conference in Augusta.

For more information on the March 31 car wash fundraiser at AutoZone, contact PT student Rick Finger at 404-210-9439. Contributions may go to: Frank Fearon Medical Fund, 8645 Wallace Tatum Road, Cumming, GA 30040. Letters of support may be mailed to Dr. Frank Fearon, 4840 McCoy Circle, Cumming, GA 30040.

DAHLONEGA (March 23, 2007) – Area residents who have heard about possible changes in the residence and commuter policies for students at North Georgia College & State University are invited to a “Town Hall” discussion of the topic. The public meeting will take place on Wednesday, March 28, from 7 until 9 p.m. in the auditorium of the Health & Natural Sciences Building on Sunset Drive off of Main Street in Dahlonega.

North Georgia President David Potter said that university administrators are exploring alternatives to the current policy while identifying implications of any change.

More than half of all undergraduate students are considered “commuter students.” There are not enough dormitory rooms to accommodate the number who, according to the policy, “are required to live on campus.”

"Over the past decade, North Georgia, with a 50 percent increase in enrollment, is proportionately the fastest growing of any four-year institution in the University System of Georgia, and our Corps of Cadets has shared in that growth,” said Potter.

“Our enrollment now stands at about 4,800 students, with two-thirds female. Graduate students number 600. Of the 4,200 undergraduates are 600 resident cadets – 650 during the past fall semester – 900 resident women, and 400 students enrolled in off-campus sites. The remaining 2,300 or so students on our Dahlonega campus are known as commuter students, most of whom are enrolled full-time."

Potter said that growth on the Dahlonega campus must be curtailed to avoid threatening the capacity of the town and Lumpkin County to provide infrastructure to support a great increase in student enrollment.

“One strategy we are pursuing is to achieve a maximum enrollment on the campus of 6,000 to 6,500 students,” he said. “With the current resources from Cadet Command, the maximum number of cadets North Georgia can serve in the corps is 750.”

The university’s programs in Gainesville and in Forsyth County, the president explained, can absorb additional enrollment demand in some academic programs.

Administrators, including the president; retired Col. Tom Palmer, commandant of the Corps of Cadets; current and former professors of military science and other military and civilian employees of North Georgia will be present at the Town Hall meeting to respond to questions.

DAHLONEGA (March 16, 2007) – A $10 million gift, the largest donation to North Georgia College & State University in the institution’s 134-year history, is being contributed by Dahlonega resident Mike Cottrell to benefit the School of Business & Government.

Mike Cottrell and his wife Lynn

The school will be renamed the Mike Cottrell School of Business.

Cottrell, 54, the owner of Gainesville-based Cottrell Inc., the world leader in automobile transport-equipment manufacturing, made an initial $4 million contribution in December through the NGCSU Foundation.

"We are extremely grateful to Mike and his family for this remarkable gift,” North Georgia President David Potter said. “Their exceptional generosity has touched many lives in our community already, and we are honored to be a recipient of their dedication to the lives of others.”

Last year, Cottrell Inc. manufactured almost 1,800 car haulers, more than all the other major international manufacturers combined. The corporation now controls a majority of the U.S. market in over-the-road automobile-transport equipment manufacturing.

In 2003, Cottrell and his wife Lynn established the Cottrell Circle C Ranch LLC, a registered Black Angus cattle-breeding business in Dahlonega. Their home is located on the ranch, which spans 846 acres with an uninterrupted view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Cottrell designed the house and layout of the property, placing the home where it would capture the majestic view and overlook the sprawling ranch. His son Michael Cottrell, a 2005 business marketing graduate of NGCSU, manages the cattle-breeding business.

Mike Cottrell started his professional life in design as a draftsman with his father Don Cottrell’s company, Cottrell Sullivan Inc., designing the truck transports that travel interstate highways carrying up to 12 cars at a time. He bought the company, now Cottrell Inc., in 1987. As president, he made numerous changes in the business that helped catapult it to become the car-carrier industry leader.

	Mike Cottrell and his wife Lynn in front of their home

Part of Cottrell’s gift to the university will be used to establish the business school’s Center for the Future of North Georgia. The new center will be an applied research resource for the region’s cities, counties, chambers of commerce, economic development authorities and other public and private entities.

“The Center for the Future of North Georgia will, at its heart, be a regional economic development and entrepreneurial center,” said Cottrell, who is a third-term chairman of the Lumpkin County Development Authority. “It will be a place that can help facilitate the future growth of the community and the region.”

The center, Cottrell said, will provide a forum for the discussion of critical issues surrounding the future development of the north Georgia area.

“Mike’s vision and gift will be truly transformational for our School of Business by creating a perpetual endowment to support the faculty, students and programs,” President Potter said. “The gift will allow North Georgia to advance in ever greater service to the state.”

Students will receive a critical benefit in the form of increased internships and applied research opportunities, which will help the undergraduates become more competitive in the business world upon graduation.

“We have the opportunity to make the North Georgia business school one of the best schools of its kind and size in the country,” said Cottrell, who is also the vice chair for the Business Advisory Council at North Georgia and a trustee of the NGCSU Foundation. “That’s the goal and I think it’s one we can achieve.”

Cottrell believes North Georgia can be an economic driver for the region, and that’s why he was attracted to the opportunity to expand the university’s resources.

To demonstrate that “driving power,” one research project of the business school’s Center for the Future of North Georgia will focus on the issue of workforce development.

“When companies move into an area, one of the things they look at is the available workforce,” said Cottrell, whose company employs about 700 workers. “Seeing what type of workforce you have and exploiting that is a study that needs to be done as a starting point for economic development.”

The funding for the business school will also help attract dynamic leadership, provide research grants and encourage innovation and collaboration among faculty and students.

Cottrell, a lifelong resident of Georgia, enjoys hunting, fishing and playing golf in the north Georgia area. His other roles in the community include serving as vice chair of the Lumpkin County Water and Sewerage Authority and a director on the Board of the United Community Bank of Dahlonega.

Cottrell enjoys spending time with his wife and six children – three of whom still live at home – and three grandchildren.

Cottrell said that his parents have been a major influence in his life. He is grateful for his mother Connie Cottrell’s sacrifices and for his father Don James Cottrell, now deceased, who helped set his son on his successful path in business.

“I have been fortunate in my life, worked hard and achieved a measure of success,” he said. “I am able to give back to the community, and I want to make a difference.”

A ceremony to officially name the Mike Cottrell School of Business will take place later this year. For more information on the NGCSU business school, go to apache.northgeorgia.edu or call 706-864-1459. 

DAHLONEGA (March 16, 2007) – Perry Tomlinson, BB&T Bank’s regional president, hands Ed Nix, chairman of the North Georgia College & State University Foundation, a ceremonial key to the Dahlonega branch bank building on Main Street. North Georgia President David Potter, right, was among university administrators, local officials and bank employees present for the March 16 ceremonial event to officially transfer ownership of the building to the Foundation. The university is leasing the top two floors of the bank building from the Foundation. BB&T has a five-year lease for the bottom floor of the facility to maintain banking services there and retains ownership of most of the parking lots for customer service.  

ATLANTA (March 12, 2007) – The University System of Georgia is stepping up efforts to serve the educational needs of the U.S. military by launching the Georgia Military Education Initiative. A coordinated and synchronized System-wide approach will be used to expand the degree programs, courses and support services available to every branch of the military.

“Georgia has one of the largest military populations in the nation, and the University System should become a major educational service provider for those men and women who are serving our country through military service,” said USG Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr.

North Georgia College & State University has been designated as the lead institution in the MEI, given its status as the military college of Georgia and its close association with the military community. Officials at NGCSU will orchestrate the planning and development of the initiative’s overall strategy with the support and oversight of the Board of Regents, the University System Office staff and in cooperation with other USG institutions and eventually, the Department of Technical and Adult Education.

“We are honored to accept responsibility for coordinating this effort and look forward to the USG becoming a major provider of educational programs to the military,” said NGCSU President David L. Potter. “Using the inherent strengths of various USG institutions in a collaborative manner, we expect to rapidly expand our support with flexible, high-demand programs of superior quality. The end result will be an overall increase in opportunity for the men and women of the Armed Forces and an enhanced capability for the innovative delivery of instruction by USG institutions to all our citizens.”

The MEI initiative has been planned as a coordinated, highly flexible, high-tech approach to serve military personnel who seek to further their education. University System officials seek to address the unique challenges that make it difficult to provide college degree programs to military personnel – a population frequently on the move and out of reach of a USG campus – through traditional means.

Other than the obvious goal of helping military personnel earn a college degree, the MEI program also will address some logistical issues faced by this group. Customer service to the military community will be improved by making access to the University System’s programs and services faster, friendlier and easier. The new initiative will eliminate red tape that could be a barrier to admission for military personnel and expand the use of technology to deliver online courses to military personnel, no matter where they are based.

University System officials have been working since the spring of 2006 with a military-based educational group known as the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support to develop prototypes for courses that can be delivered to military personnel in the field through such means as the popular iPod.

As part of the MEI initiative, a number of online degree programs will be used to help expand program delivery – the USG’s eCore (core curriculum courses), WebMBA (online master’s degree in business administration), WebBSIT (bachelor of science in information technology degree), European Union and African Studies Certificate programs.

For more information on the University System’s developing MEI program, contact: Billy E. Wells Jr., executive assistant to the president of NGCSU, 706-864-1993, bewells@ngcsu.edu.

DAHLONEGA (March 12, 2007) – An ROTC instructor from North Georgia College & State University in Dahlonega, Ga., won the Fort Benning Commanding General's Cup Pistol Trophy at the Feb. 4 competition at Fort Benning, Ga.

	Sgt. 1st Class Eric Leid, kneeling center, with all the North Georgia cadets who attended the Fort Benning Combat Pistol Championship competition and training in February.

Sgt. 1st Class Eric Leid, a North Georgia military science instructor, won the Fort Benning Service Pistol Championship for the second year in a row by having the highest individual aggregate of the Commanding General's Pistol Match and the Excellence in Competition Match, which he also won.

NGCSU Cadet Neil Sookdeo was the novice winner in the Excellence in Competition Match
The ROTC Team from NGCSU won the Command Sergeant Major Pistol Team Match; shooters were Leid, Sookdeo and Cadets Michael Smolucha and James Pickett.

At the awards ceremony, Col. Michael Linnington, Fort Benning's assistant commanding general, presented the top awards. Leid was presented with a picture plaque of the Commanding General's Cup, kept on permanent display in Infantry Hall, on which his name will be engraved.

The U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit hosted the Fort Benning Combat Pistol Championship Feb. 2 to 4, with USAMU pistol shooters providing pistol marksmanship training to all soldiers who participated.

"Marksmanship is the key fundamental to combat readiness," Linnington told the soldiers at the awards ceremony. "You're all winners here, because even if you didn't get a trophy, you still got valuable marksmanship training, which will help you lead your soldiers in combat."

DAHLONEGA (March 9, 2007) –  Because of renovations to the Education Building at North Georgia College & State University, several administrative and academic offices, as well as Information & Instructional Technology services, had to move out of that facility.

Thanks to a purchase of the BB&T bank building by the NGCSU Foundation, most of the displaced offices have relocated to the second and third floors of the bank building on Main Street, across from the main campus.

A ceremony to officially transfer the title of the building from BB&T to the NGCSU Foundation will take place on March 16 at 8:30 a.m. in the BB&T Bank conference room.

In attendance at Friday's ceremony will be the executive council of the NGCSU Foundation Board of Trustees, NGCSU President David Potter and other university administrators.

The university is leasing the top two floors from the foundation. BB&T has a five-year lease for the bottom floor to maintain banking services there.

The foundation owns only a portion of the parking lot. Most spaces have been retained by BB&T for customer use.