Simpson had served as director of the Georgia Center since 1983. He was also appointed UGA associate vice president for services (now public service and outreach) in 1992, and was an associate professor, since 1983, in the Department of Adult Education, now part of the School of Leadership and Lifelong Learning in UGA's College of Education.
1983-1998: The Third Director
Simpson was the third director in the Center's 41-year history, the first two being Hugh B. Masters, from 1954 to his retirement in 1968, and Thomas W. Mahler, from 1968 until his retirement in 1983.
The Georgia Center opened in 1957 with funding from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, through a 1953 grant, and the State of Georgia, and was the second of the "Kellogg Centers," the first opening at Michigan State University in 1951. Today, there are 13 such centers, ten in the U.S., and one each in Costa Rica, Great Britain, and Honduras.
Highlights
In a June interview with the Georgia Center Quarterly, Simpson discussed the Center, the Institute of Higher Education, and how 15 years can go by so quickly. He recalled his initial impressions of the Georgia Center and UGA, when he was employed by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He was assistant dean of the Extension Division there just before coming to Athens in 1983. "If you were involved with a continuing education center, you needed to see what they were doing at The University of Georgia," he said.
After his interview for the director's position in '83, he had an even more favorable impression. "Continuing education and outreach were a major part of the agenda of the University. The support was there from the top down -- the attitudes, the atmosphere. I wanted to be a part of that. There are few places where the support for and potential of continuing education and outreach are so well-defined as they are here at UGA. I was struck by that," said Simpson. Of the many highlights of the decade and a half, Simpson said topping his list is the completion of what was known as the "Kellogg Project," which ran from 1984-1991.
"It was a mammoth building project, a mammoth programmatic project. We kept the place going during it all. By any measure, the project was successful. I'm proud of what we accomplished," Simpson said.
The Kellogg Project was a series of initiatives funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in 1984. This second Kellogg grant to UGA involved, along with the Georgia Center, the University's Department of Adult Education and Cooperative Extension Service, Fort Valley State College (now University) Cooperative Extension Program, and a series of UGA Faculty Interdisciplinary Task Forces, all conducting programs under an umbrella concept to bridge practice and theory called the National Center for Leadership Development in Adult and Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning. Georgia Center programming components were certifiable curricula, a personal adult learning laboratory, continuing professional education activities and initiatives, and advanced technology enhancements, one of which was the establishment of WUGA-FM, The University of Georgia National Public Radio affiliate operated by the Georgia Center. The State of Georgia provided matching funds for the renovation and expansion of the Georgia Center's physical plant to its present-day 300,000 square feet.
To commemorate the achievements of the Kellogg Project and the building additions, the Center held a "Rededication" in September of 1990. (At the time, both efforts still had a few remaining details to go.) "Rededication Week" featured a panel discussion, a national teleconference, a staff celebration, exhibits, a concert, and a "formal" ceremony, over which Simpson presided.
"I remember the heady and exhilarating feeling of standing on the stage in (the Georgia Center's) Masters Hall, with all of the special guests and all that they represented -- the governor, the Kellogg officials, the University and University System of Georgia officials. We had done it, and had done it well," Simpson said.
A number of the plans that Simpson initially envisioned for the organization back in 1983 have come to pass, with the help of the staff and faculty of the Georgia Center. Among these are: reaffirming and redefining the mission of the Center; initiating new educational programs (both credit and noncredit); developing a Center-wide management information system, created in-house; producing cultural enrichment programs for Center guests and the Athens community; upgrading services and the physical environment of the Center, reflecting the concept of the comprehensive residential conference center, "the learning sanctuary"; forming a variety of support teams; and encouraging and implementing Center-wide communication and feedback groups and mechanisms.
Another special event was the Center's 40th birthday, marked by the September 1997 conference "A Celebration, With Conversations About the Future" for the field of adult and continuing education. Tours, exhibits, and other events and activities highlighted the Center's past accomplishments and future plans. The focal point of the conference was a "town hall" meeting with Harlan Cleveland, dean emeritus of the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs of the University of Minnesota and president of the World Academy of Art and Science.
"The 40th was a major milestone in the Center's history. For these four decades, we have kept the faith with our initial charges from the Kellogg Foundation and the State of Georgia, while always building and expanding on them," Simpson said.
Simpson said that another fond memory for him is what it was like to represent the Georgia Center and The University of Georgia at national and international meetings and conferences.
"It's always wonderful to have the support of, and to be valued by, peers. One of the proudest moments I had as director happened a few years ago at a conference at The University of New Brunswick in Canada. I was introduced at the opening plenary session as being from UGA and the Georgia Center, which the speaker called 'one of the foremost continuing education centers in North America.' There have been similar words of praise from colleagues in the United Kingdom and the U. S. That type of acknowledgment is an affirmation of what we, the University as well as the Center, are doing," Simpson said.
"We are looked to as a leader in the field," he said.
Distinguished Public Service Fellow
As Distinguished Public Service Fellow at the Institute of Higher Education (IHE), Simpson said he will be involved in "public policy analysis, looking at issues that affect higher education, and policy development and implementation." In the spring, he will teach a graduate course on the financial aspects of higher education, the first of several courses and seminars in the works. "The Institute is looking to broaden its work in the public service arena," Simpson said.
Some of the issues to be addressed will be the political dimensions of the academy; workforce education; the "pragmatic" education -- what are the needs of the public; transnational certification and the international banking of credits; public policy priorities and what they mean for public higher education; access to higher education; accreditation; legislative accountability; the missions of institutions; the definition of a university education -- is it an exchange of ideas and information or is it totally pragmatic; outcomes measures; comparative systems of international higher education; and others.
The Institute is a service, instruction, and research agency of UGA that cooperates with other agencies and institutions in the development of higher education; assists in the professional preparation of administrative, faculty, and staff personnel; and studies the organizational and functional processes of colleges, universities, and statewide systems. The institute is directed by Cameron Fincher, Regents Professor for Higher Education and Psychology. (Information from IHE's Web page) Fincher also worked closely with the second director of the Georgia Center, Thomas W. Mahler, for many years, and dedicated the IHE-published book The Historical Development of the University System of Georgia 1932-1990 to him in 1991.
Continuing Accomplishments
Simpson's career in education began in the late 1960s and has been devoted primarily to adult and continuing education. His contributions to the field were recognized in 1996, when he was named a member of the inaugural class of the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame. In June of 1998, he received a University of Georgia Medal for Distinguished Achievement in Public Service and Outreach.
As stated above, Simpson came to UGA from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, where he was assistant dean of the Extension Division (Cooperative Extension and Continuing Education) from 1978-1983. Before that, he was director of Virginia Tech's Off-Campus Credit Programs, also with the Extension Division, and was administrator of the Western Region Consortium for Continuing Higher Education. Earlier, he served as assistant principal, teacher, and athletic director at Shawsville High School in Shawsville, Virginia.
He holds a B.A. and M.A. in history, and an Ed.D. in educational administration -- adult and continuing education, all from Virginia Tech. In 1991, Simpson was a Kellogg Visiting Fellow at the Rewley House of the Department for Continuing Education of Oxford University in England. Simpson is scheduled to return to England this fall to develop research and teaching programs between IHE and Oxford's Kellogg College, which was formed in 1990 to serve adult learners.
Professional activities include a wide variety of roles with the University Continuing Education Association (UCEA). Simpson was elected president of the association for the year 1995-1996 and was a member of the Board of Directors from 1993 through 1997. Chair or member of numerous committees over the years, Simpson most recently was selected as one of the first commissioners of the newly reorganized (this spring) UCEA, as a member of the Commission on Learning and Technology. He helped establish the North American Fellows Program, an effort to expand professional development opportunities for those in continuing higher education in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. He has been heavily involved with the activities and governance of UCEA's Region III, serving as chair from 1988-1990. (UCEA was known as NUCEA -- National University Continuing Education Association -- until 1996.)
Simpson has worked extensively with the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, beginning with a doctoral internship 22 years ago. Since, he has chaired multiple accreditation committees for various universities and colleges, and has participated in the administration of the Commission.
Other professional activities/accomplishments include service with the Directors Group of Kellogg Continuing Education Centers; the Georgia Adult Education Association (GAEA); the editorial board of Adult Learning, of the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education; the Continuing Education Higher Education Leadership Commission, of NUCEA and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation; the American Council on Education; and the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL).
Simpson has contributed numerous articles and chapters to adult and continuing education publications, and was coeditor, with Carol E. Kasworm, of the book Revitalizing the Residential Conference Center Environment (1990, Jossey-Bass, "New Directions in Continuing Education" series). He has also made presentations about various adult and continuing education topics throughout the state, region, nation, and world, for example, "University-Corporate Partnerships Using Distance Learning" for the International Council for Distance Education (ICDE) in Lisbon, Portugal, in October 1997; "Transnational Accreditation Issues" for the Second International Conference on Distance Education in Russia, in Moscow, Russia, in July 1996; and "Transnational Accreditation Issues," for ICDE in Lillehamer, Norway, in June 1996.
To contact Simpson: Edward G. Simpson, Jr., Distinguished Public Service Fellow, Institute of Higher Education, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-1772, Phone: 706-542-0581, Fax: 706-542-7588.
Web administrator: webmaster@gactr.uga.edu All contents copyright © 1998 University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education. All rights reserved. Last revised: Tue, Sep 1, 1998, 9:18:15 AM URL: http://www.gactr.uga.edu/GCQ/gcqspr98/simpson.html