May 30, 2008

GSW, ABAC advance programs with signing

AMERICUS—Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW) President Kendall Blanchard and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) President David Bridges signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Friday, May 30 signifying a partnership involving four academic areas: to offer a Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education at ABAC; to offer teacher certification at ABAC for bachelor’s degrees at ABAC; to offer the turfgrass curriculum for a PGA (Professional Golf Association) Professional Golf Management (PGM) bachelor’s degree program at GSW; and to offer a Bachelor of Business Administration in natural resources management at ABAC.

Pending final approval from the University System of Georgia Board of Regents (BOR), classes will begin in Fall 2008 for the early childhood education, teacher certification and resource management programs. The BOR has a scheduled meeting in mid June. The PGM program still requires accreditation from the PGA.

GSW will continue to offer junior and senior level night classes on the ABAC campus for four-year business degrees in management and accounting.

In addition to signing the MOU, Blanchard and Bridges signed a Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) to simplify the transfer of credits for students transferring from ABAC to GSW. This is the eighth TAG agreement that Georgia Southwestern has signed since August 2007.

Additional signing attendees included, Mike Chason, ABAC public relations director; Ashley Williamson, ABAC public relations assistant; Niles Reddick, Ph.D., ABAC vice president of academic affairs; Jeff Gibbs, Ph.D., ABAC chair of the Division of Business Administration; William Tietjen, Ph.D., GSW interim vice president of academic affairs; Cody King, GSW vice president of Business and Finance; John Kooti, Ph.D., GSW dean of the School of Business; Greg Hawver, Ed.D., GSW professor and chair, middle grades and secondary education, health and human performance; Shaun Murie, GSW PGM director; and Stephen Snyder, GSW public relations director.

For more information, contact Georgia Southwestern at (229) 931-2037 or ABAC at (229) 391-5057.

  Advancing education--Georgia Southwestern President Kendall Blanchard, right, and ABAC President David Bridges sign agreement for new collaborative programs.

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