The Year: Highlights, Challenges

The Center’s organization is structured to provide program participants and guests seamless educational and event experiences. Three primary units comprise the Center: the Educational Programs Unit, the Operating Services Unit, and the Business and Finance Unit.

Educational Programs Unit

The Educational Programs Unit, composed of 15 areas, departments, and offices, is responsible for providing educational and informational programs and services to the people of Georgia and beyond. The unit brings together all credit and non-credit educational programs of the Georgia Center, as well as the Center’s support services for electronic outreach/distance education and for electronic media production of informational and educational packages. It also includes the Georgia Center Library, the Office of Evaluation and Assessment, and the Office of Outreach Engagement and Continuing Education Unit Oversight, and is responsible for managing and operating the University’s public radio station, WUGA-FM.

• The American Language Program (ALP), UGA’s intensive English language program administered by the Georgia Center, enrolled 329 students, 277 full-time and 52 part-time, for FY 00-01. There was an enrollment increase of 49 students over the previous year—the first increase since the Asian economic crisis that affected enrollments in intensive English programs nationwide during the last few years.

ALP continued its efforts to diversify its offerings and broaden its audience. For example: ALP (1) developed and delivered its first custom short course through an agreement with the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates and UGA’s Department of Occupational Studies, (2) collaborated with administrators of Columbus State University (CSU) to establish an intensive English program on CSU’s campus, and (3) worked with UGA’s Department of Comparative Literature to develop text materials for a CD-ROM demo for EFL (English as a Foreign Language) instruction to be presented in Eastern Europe.

The University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education, which opened in 1957, was founded by the State of Georgia through a W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant behind a concept of public service and outreach, that of bringing the expertise and knowledge of The University of Georgia to the people of the state and region, and beyond. That fundamental, of developing programs and services to meet the needs of adult learners, is a vital part of the Center’s mission today.

• The Business Outreach Services Program Office, a collaborative effort between UGA’s Business Outreach Services (BOS)/Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and the Georgia Center, developed and offered a total of 121 programs and conferences, with 107 successfully accomplished (20 were held statewide). Total attendance for all programs was 2,432 participants.

Established in 1999, the goal of the office is to support economic development through the creation, expansion, and retention of businesses by using University-based knowledge to address the educational needs of the small business community. A wide range of high quality and affordable courses are offered in the core areas of Management, Marketing, and Finance.

The Department of Community Education Programs serves the multiplicity of learning needs of adults and organizations by developing and providing a creative variety of instructional delivery formats and a unique selection of course topics. Within the local community and beyond, programs provide a means to access the rich instructional resources of the University community for adult learners seeking both professional and personal enrichment. For the year, 4,664 adult students participated in educational activities developed or facilitated by the department, which fulfills its public service instructional mission through three program concentrations, as follows:

• Community Education Programs (CEP) provides professional and personal development courses and workshops, offering non-credit short courses in subject areas such as professional development and financial management; computers; writing; visual arts; dance, music, and performance arts; languages; test preparation; recreation; mind and body fitness; and leisure studies. Enrollment for the program of evening courses, including evening computer courses, totalled 2,582 participants. A total of 238 courses were developed and offered, including 15 introduced this year; 178 courses were conducted.

Data from surveys conducted within CEP courses helped develop the CEP participant model. The majority of participants are college-educated; from education and business fields; between 30 and 59 years of age; female; Clarke County, Georgia residents; and many participate in courses for job-skills training and self-enrichment.

• The Computer Instruction Program offers a full range of computer courses in a variety of formats to adult learners and professionals interested in advancing their work-related or personal computer skills. Total enrollment across all categories of programming was 1,793, a 16% increase over FY 99-00.

• The Liberal Studies for Older Adults program includes the Institute for Learning in Retirement (LIR), which was founded by the Georgia Center in 1994. LIR is an organization of retirement-age persons who are interested in pursuing lifelong learning; the program shares membership with more than 265 institutes on campuses of higher education institutions throughout the U.S. and Canada.

In an ongoing effort to cultivate increased autonomy regarding their activities and their implementation, the leadership of the Center’s LIR Program voted to pursue an independent path and separate from the Center at the end of the fiscal year. For the year, 19 courses were offered; total membership was 158 (a 27% decrease from FY 99-00 July 1999 through June 2000). The Washington, Georgia, chapter of the LIR program began its third year with 39 members and a course schedule of six courses.

• FY 00-01 continued a transition period for the Conference Services Area (formerly the department of Conferences and Professional Programs). An assistant director for the area was hired in May, and a new name was adopted to reflect the area’s larger scope.

The Conference Services Area provides a complete array of non-credit conferences and professional programs and includes joint-staff appointments with other campus units such as the School of Forest Resources, the College of Pharmacy, and the College of Veterinary Medicine. Event Management provides on-site customer service for every event held in the Center and provides oversight of the Business Center, which provides guests flexible options to conduct business during their stay. Meeting Services provides all on-site logistical support for Conference Services and other Georgia Center areas. Registration Services collects conference fees and maintains conference participant records.

Conference Services developed or delivered 621 programs this year, up slightly from 610 in FY 99-00; total participants decreased from 35,461 to 32,555. CEUs generated for Georgia Center Category 1 and Category 2 (individual credit and group credit) programs decreased by less than 1% to 40,063. CEUs the previous year totalled 41,313 (see The CEU at UGA: The Georgia Center’s Role). Program evaluations completed by participants were almost uniformly positive, especially the comments on customer service.

A full-time coordinator at the Gwinnett University Center in Lawrenceville, Georgia, delivers original, contract, or client-developed programming in the Gwinnett County area. This year, 60 programs were offered (57 during FY 99-00), with 986 participants (960 during FY 99-00). The Gwinnett University Center Continuing Education Program continued to offer successful certificate programs in Conference and Meeting Management, Human Resource Development, Paralegal Studies, and Instructional Design and Technology.

Two Georgia Center joint staff arrangements continue with UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences—one at the Coastal Plain Experiment Station and Rural Development Center in Tifton, Georgia, and another at the Griffin, Georgia, Experiment Station. These positions are responsible for continuing education program development in their respective local areas.

• The Evaluation and Assessment Office, dedicated to studying the programming and service levels of Center activities, built on the 43 survey/evaluation instruments developed last fiscal year, adding seven new instruments to the options available for assessment. These instruments were administered more than 325 times in various conferences, programs, research projects, and classes, serving more than 35,038 clients. Information gathered from the instruments helps to determine the various needs of clients, and, additionally, to analyze trends that may contribute to a new or refined program offering. Each conference and educational event administers an exit questionnaire/comments instrument. Findings are used to improve Center services.

• The Georgia Center Library, part of the University of Georgia Libraries, is a resource for guests, conference participants, employees, and students. The library continued to develop its selective collection of materials in adult and continuing education, educational technology, management and leadership, distance education, career and professional development, marketing research, and higher education.

• The Department of Media Production is one of three units of the Georgia Center Distance Education Area (along with University System of Georgia Independent Study, USGIS, and the Department of Web Instructional Development, WebID) offering technology support and development. Media Production provides video production, video editing services, GSAMS (Georgia Statewide Academic and Medical System) compressed video classroom connections, a satellite uplink, and satellite reception services. The department also has a collaborative relationship with Georgia Public Broadcasting and provides public television programs to Georgia Public Television as well as educational and instructional materials to PeachStar Education Services.

Together with WebID and the Conference Services Area, Media Production sponsored the “Teaching and Learning with Advanced Technologies” conference at the Georgia Center that was conducted on behalf of the University System of Georgia (USG), bringing together faculty and technology staff from all 34 institutions of the University System. Also, Media Production continues its collaboration with USG in the testing and implementation of video software for use on the Internet. Video encoding, archiving, and hosting systems installed last year are operational.

Working with Stryker Howmedica Osteonics and Saint Mary’s Hospital in Athens, Georgia, the department produced an instructional video on new techniques in knee-replacement surgery to be used in training of Japanese surgeons.

Also, the department is working with the Institute of European Studies to coordinate the development of a conference at their facilities in Avignon, France, for education ministers from the European Union. With partial funding provided by UGA’s Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach, the department produced two videos at UGA research facilities in Costa Rica, documenting the work of faculty and students of the University’s Institute of Ecology.

The department produced more than 100 video projects this fiscal year and provided 10 satellite downlinks to various University clients, 82 uplinks of programming, and 154 GSAMS events.

Significant projects completed included:

– “May It Please the Court,” a 30-minute documentary produced for the Georgia High School Mock Trial Committee of the State Bar of Georgia; “Pain Management,” an instructional program for Purdue University featuring UGA College of Pharmacy faculty; and “Continuing Legacy of Paul Torrance,” a video about the work of Paul Torrance, emeritus professor of UGA, which was created for presentation at the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children being held in Barcelona, Spain.

– Six training modules for the Department of Family and Children’s Services to train caseworkers in the proper management of food stamp and Medicaid caseloads.

– Interactive Teaching Network (ITN) – six satellite teleconferences produced for the Department of Special Education, and two interactive teleconferences for the Southeastern Association of Educational Opportunity.

– A promotional video for the international certificate program “Principles of Marketing Research” (a WebID project) and “The Georgia Center Connection,” an employee orientation video for the Georgia Center.

– United Way campaign video produced for the 10th year.

• The Office of Outreach Engagement (OOE) and Continuing Education Unit (CEU) Oversight, established in March of 1999, has as its mission “to engage the research capabilities of the University of Georgia in meeting the needs of Georgia’s citizens by interactive communications and the dissemination of research results through various continuing educational methods such as conferences, seminars, workshops, and certificate programs.”

OOE uses the educational facilities, systems, and other resources of the Georgia Center and its many clients and affiliates to apply research findings to problems facing the citizens of the state and the world.

In this first full year of operations, OOE developed and/or conducted programs for landfill operators (in cooperation with the Georgia Chapter of the Solid Waste Association of North America) and for designers of soil erosion and storm water prevention measures (at the request of the Georgia Chapter of the Soil and Water Conservation Society of America). A course teaching the principles of Georgia’s new Storm Water Permit for Construction Sites under the rules of the Clean Water Act was developed in collaboration with the Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission, and OOE assisted the Erosion and Sedimentation Control Technical Study Committee (DIRT II Panel), a legislatively appointed group.

The first annual conference on biological and chemical terrorism was held for approximately 100 persons in December, laying the groundwork for a major grant request by UGA’s College of Pharmacy to develop academic and Extension programs to train professionals in responding to weapons of mass destruction. (See The CEU at UGA: The Georgia Center’s Role.)

Housed under the Center’s roof today are two auditoriums (one seating 400, the other 600), 24 meeting rooms, two executive conference rooms, 200 hotel rooms (lodging for up to 400 people), banquet areas, a restaurant, a coffee shop, a gift shop, three computer training labs, audio and video production facilities, equipment for video teleconference uplinks, an instructional studio providing two-way video connections to electronic classrooms statewide, a public radio station, and support areas. The facilities comprise almost 300,000 square feet. The Georgia Center employs close to 1,000 people (just over 300 monthly, salaried, and hourly full-time and part-time faculty and staff, as well as approximately 700 temporary and student employees).

• University Studies serves traditional and nontraditional students who reside in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia, and surrounding counties that do not include another University System of Georgia college or university. University Studies provides academic advising, academic support programs, and student services to enhance the academic success of degree-seeking students in their first or second year of study. The total number of students enrolled through University Studies for FY 00-01 remained fairly constant—649 duplicated students, compared with 630 for FY 99-00, (July 1999 through June 2000).

University Studies completed its first formal Program Review conducted under the mandate of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents, receiving favorable findings. During FY 00-01, University Studies offered seven sections of UNIV 1118, “University Studies: Strategies for Academic Success,” serving more than 150 University Studies students.

• The A.N.S.E.R.S. (Adult/Nontraditional Student Educational Resources and Services) Program functions as a clearinghouse, broker, and provider for a wide variety of programs and services for adult and nontraditional undergraduate students on- and off-campus. A.N.S.E.R.S. serves UGA adult and nontraditional undergraduate students, UGA employees eligible for tuition remission under the University System of Georgia Board of Regents guidelines, adults in the Northeast Georgia area, and employers interested in workforce education and training.

FY 00-01 marked the end of the beginning/implementation period of A.N.S.E.R.S. The response to A.N.S.E.R.S. has been positive both on-campus and off-campus. In March 2001, A.N.S.E.R.S. was the recipient of the Georgia Adult Education Association’s (GAEA) “Award for Outstanding Innovative Program” of the year. The A.N.S.E.R.S. Program will play a significant role in the University of Georgia Adult College beginning in January 2002 (see Announcing UGAC—The University of Georgia’s Adult-Centered College).

• University System of Georgia Independent Study (USGIS) offers University System academic credit courses to System students and other individuals who are interested in earning academic credit through distance learning methods and technologies. Headquartered at the Georgia Center, USGIS offers courses through six senior higher education institutions in the University System—Armstrong Atlantic State University, Georgia College and State University, Georgia Southern University, North Georgia College and State University, The University of Georgia, and Valdosta State University.

During FY 00-01, USGIS offered 131 academic courses, taught by 98 faculty members representing 52 academic departments. For the year, the program registered 3,485 students in 5,164 course registrations, a slight decrease of 103 course registrations from FY 99-00 (July 1999 through June 2000). More than 2,583 students completed courses during FY 00-01.

USGIS is committed to developing a more extensive electronic campus and worked closely with the Georgia Center’s Department of Web Instructional Development (WebID) toward that goal. For the year, 12 online courses were co-developed for the USGIS curriculum; 11 additional online courses are currently in development. Also, USGIS now provides a CD-ROM option for completing courses.
The Certification in Turfgrass Management, the first credit certificate for USGIS, was established; it was developed with UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and is endorsed and marketed by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA).

• The Department of Web Instructional Development (WebID) provides a centralized resource for Georgia Center World Wide Web publishing, including support for distance education, marketing, publicity, and e-commerce. Established in December 1998 by consolidating existing Georgia Center Web operations, WebID’s Certificate Programs office also administers several print- and Web-based distance learning programs, some cosponsored by professional associations or other UGA units.

WebID completed 24 semester-length WebCT-based distance learning courses, including 12 courses for University System of Georgia Independent Study (USGIS) and 12 for the eCore™, a Web-based University System of Georgia (USG) core curriculum offered through Georgia G.L.O.B.E. (Global Learning Online for Business and Education).

Four of the eCore™ courses (“Mathematical Modeling,” “English Composition I,” “American Government,” and “American History to 1865”) were recognized as “WebCT Exemplary Courses” at the 2001 International WebCT Conference.

Web projects in progress at the end of the year included short courses created in collaboration with UGA’s College of Education Department of Special Education and the Carl Vinson Institute of Government; “Concepts in Clinical Pharmacokinetics,” a certificate program for pharmacists; “Child Abuse Investigations,” a grant-supported project managed by the Georgia Center’s Conference Services Area; and the “Online Library Learning Center,” a comprehensive tutorial on library skills for USG distance learning students.

FY 00-01 saw dramatic improvements in the Georgia Center Web site. A complete redesign was rolled out in April, which included an extensive “business to business” section targeting institutional purchasers of Georgia Center services. An online hotel reservation system was also activated. During FY 00-01, the Georgia Center Web server received more than 6.6 million hits.
In WebID’s Certificate Programs office, the Web version of “Principles of Marketing Research” was opened for enrollment in July and was supported by a variety of new marketing efforts, resulting in strong enrollments. WebID’s three certificate programs—which include, in addition to “Principles,” “Towing and Recovery with Light-Duty Equipment” and “Principles of Turfgrass Management,”—enrolled 404 students and graduated 98.

• WUGA-FM, which completed its 14th year of service to the community and to UGA in August 2001, continued to broadcast a diverse mix of music, news, and information from national, state, and local sources. Operated by the Georgia Center, WUGA-FM is a member of National Public Radio and the Peach State Public Radio Network and is an affiliate of Public Radio International. The most innovative initiative undertaken this year was webcasting the station’s signal over the Internet, allowing WUGA-FM’s signal to be reached by anyone who has access to a computer.

As has been the case for years now, WUGA-FM continued to receive recognition for its news organization, which earned four awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, as well as one from the Georgia Associated Press and one from the Public Radio New Directors Incorporated.
WUGA-FM cosponsored a record number of events, including several political forums with the League of Woman Voters and Leadership Athens Alumni; the Lyndon House Arts Center First Anniversary; the Sunflower Music Series with The State Botanical Garden of Georgia; the first annual Fall Wine Fest; and the North Georgia Folk Festival with the Athens Folk Music and Dance Society. Also, WUGA-FM cosponsored the Twilight Jazz Festival in April and produced several shows with UGA’s School of Music, Marine Science Institute, and Peabody Awards. Several live shows were produced including the station’s own annual anniversary show “Once in A Blue Moon,” and a new show featuring local artists, “Athens Live.”

For the second year in a row, WUGA-FM saw a 14% increase in underwriting revenues, from $78,485.18 in FY 99-00 (July 1999 through June 2000) to $89,456.54 in FY 00-01. Donations from private individuals also increased as the station continued to inform the public of its need for private support.

Operating Services Unit

The Operating Services Unit provides the support operations for the Georgia Center, for both residential and off-campus programs, through an integrated system of auxiliary services, building engineering/housekeeping, environmental design, graphics, information technology, mail/message services, marketing and sales, photography, and printing. The Unit strives to offer the best service possible for the Center’s many audiences and to improve the Center’s effectiveness and efficiency.

• Information Technology Services (ITS) completed many significant projects, including installation of video streaming for the Department of Media Production; audio streaming for WUGA-FM; a point-of-sale system for Food Services; and expansion and upgrades for much of the Center’s network infrastructure. ITS maintained 350 workstations, 800 network connections, and more than 20 production and development servers. Comprehensive technical services managed by the department include network infrastructure, centralized computing resources, file services, Web and multimedia services, e-mail services, database services, remote access, and instructional lab facilities.

• The Central Booking Office (CBO), part of the Department of Sales and Marketing (which also includes Facilities Allocation, Sales, Marketing and Public Relations, Graphic Design Services, Photographic Services, Printing Services, and Mail and Message Services), is responsible for booking all conferences and non-conference meetings and events and manages all non-conference meetings and events and repeat conferences. CBO staff managed 1,238 meetings and banquets, serving 67,656 customers, and booked 332 new and repeat conferences. In conjunction with Food Services, CBO created special menus and decorations for 10 “theme events”: Bayou, Caribbean, Country/Western, French, Garden, Harvest, International, Italian, Low Country, and Mexican.

The Department of Sales and Marketing continued to assist all Georgia Center departments and units through a wide variety of projects, campaigns, and initiatives, helping to get the word out about “All Things Georgia Center. “

• Auxiliary Services (Hotel, Food Services, Gift Shop) exceeded $6 million in revenue for the first time; the $6,399,165 of income surpassed last year’s $5,724,038 by $675,127, or 11.8%. This is the third consecutive year that revenues have risen more than 10%.

Building and landscaping renovations and improvements continued, including completion of the new main entrance; upgrades to the hotel rooms; and the refurbishing of the coffee shop, which was renamed the Courtyard Café. The Café features a new 48-seat outdoor covered deck. Also, there were major improvements to the Georgia Center’s landscaping and gardens.
Hotel occupancy rose to 62%, from 58% the previous year. As the number of guests grew by 4,204 to 57,286. For FY 00-01, the Georgia Center placed 5,565 guests into Athens-area lodging properties when there was no space available in the Georgia Center Hotel. This represents a significant infusion into the local economy, in addition to ancillary expenditures by all Georgia Center’s guests for food, entertainment, and other local expenditures.

A renewed emphasis on maintenance and cleanliness in the lodging rooms enabled the Georgia Center to score 100% on the State Tourist Accommodation Inspection from the Georgia Department of Human Resources for the third consecutive year.

Business and Finance Unit

As a service unit, the Business and Finance Unit is responsible for the general business functions of the Georgia Center—budgeting, administrative/business, capital projects, and personnel/payroll—as well as for staff training and development. During FY 00-01, the unit continued refining and reorganizing its structure and processes in order to better serve the Center, with the goal of moving the organization forward with new ways to “do business.”

The Business Services office worked toward centralizing and streamlining financial processes and procedures, resulting in much more effective and efficient business operations throughout the Center. The Training and Development office expanded its class schedules, offering Center employees new classes focusing on three categories: New Employee Orientation, Customer Service, and Computer Training.

The overall FY 00-01 Georgia Center financial figures showed a net of $292,967 after accounting for reserves compared to a net of $358,998 after accounting for reserves, for FY 99-00 ( “The University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education, Numbers, Various Programs/Events/Services, FY 00-01”). Total income for FY 00-01 was $20,466,487, compared to $18,960,523 for FY 99-00. Expenditures for FY 00-01 totalled $19,725,882, compared to $18,313,323 for FY 99-00.