Outreach News

by Renni Turpin

Four months into “FAFSA season,” Georgia College Advising Corps (GCAC) college advisers work hard to motivate and support seniors to submit their financial aid forms. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is critical for college enrollment and is the gateway for federal and state grants, work-study, and federally backed student loans. According to the Department of Education, 34.4% of seniors at GCAC schools have submitted the FAFSA, putting us more than 2 percentage points above the Georgia average of 31.3%.

by Brionna Johnson

The University of Georgia’s College Advising Corps is proud to announce our program’s expansion into the Newton County school system in Covington, GA. With support from the Newton County School District, we are placing three new college advisers at Alcovy High School, Eastside High School, and Newton High School to begin their service in mid-January 2022. GCAC now has 24 advisers serving 20 high schools across the state of Georgia.  

by Renni Turpin

by Brionna Johnson

Brook Thompson and Brionna Johnson led an information session about the Georgia College Advising Corps to members of the McBee Institute community.

by Renni Turpin

by Brionna Johnson

As summer transitions to autumn, the excitement of going back to school is palpable for students, families, school staff, and the advisers of the Georgia College Advising Corps (GCAC). On August 2nd, GCAC advisers entered their school sites, ready to assist students and families at seventeen high schools across Georgia with navigating post-secondary applications.

by Brionna Johnson

IHE faculty, staff, alumnus, and students attended the 17th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Freedom Breakfast honoring the legacy of Dr. King and celebrating the work of area peacemakers. The inspirational annual event is coordinated through a partnership of UGA, Athens–Clarke County Unified Government, and the Clarke County School District. Alumnus 

Dominique Quarles (PhD 2019) helps coordinate this event each year as the director of the Office of Institutional Diversity at UGA.

IHE faculty member Leslie Gordon will greet the 2019-2020 Governor's Teaching Fellows (GTF) in September as the program’s new director. "I am grateful for the opportunity to work with this wonderful faculty development program and its past and present fellows," said Gordon. "IHE has a strong commitment to education in Georgia, and I look forward to being a part of that tradition through this well-respected program."

Marguerite Koepke retired as the director of the Governor’s Teaching Fellows program (GTF) at the conclusion of the summer symposium this year. Koepke is professor emerita in the College of Environment and Design and had held a courtesy appointment at the Institute of Higher Education (IHE) to lead the program since 2000.

BEGINNING IN 2009 with four advisers, the Georgia College Advising Corps (GCAC)—an outreach program of the IHE—has grown to include twenty-one advisers embedded in sixteen high schools. The advisers assist students through the complex college admissions process to increase the number of matriculants from low-income, first-generation, or other historically underrepresented backgrounds.

In addition to being an IHE alumna, Yarbrah served for six years as program director for the Georgia College Advising Corps (GCAC), an outreach program of UGA's Institute of Higher Education.

In her new national role, she will support current programs in Georgia and South Carolina (including GCAC) and assist with the onboarding of new programs across the country. Yarbrah says, “My goal is to help programs increase their impact so they can help more underserved students achieve their dreams of attending and graduating from college.”

Robinson has served as the program coordinator of GCAC since May 2017, and over the past year, Robinson was instrumental in strengthening program recruitment, logistics and communications.

In her new role as director, Robinson oversees GCAC program development and evaluation, supervises the near-peer advisers, and coordinates with the participating high schools and other GCAC partners. She also assumes responsibility for grant writing, program promotion, fundraising and budget management.

The Georgia College Advising Corps (GCAC) — an outreach program of the University’s Institute of Higher Education — is a college access program that works to help low-income, first-generation and underrepresented students enter college. GCAC helps students find their way to college by placing well-trained recent college graduates in high schools to work one-on-one with students as they navigate the college admissions process, including researching college options, completing applications and applying for financial aid.

Delmer “Del” Dunn, a former director of the Institute of Higher Education, will receive one of the University of Georgia’s highest honors during Founders Day activities on Jan. 22, 2018. Along with Mary Frances Early, the first African-American to earn a degree from UGA, he will receive the President’s Medal, which recognizes extraordinary contributions of individuals who are not current employees of UGA and who have supported students and academic programs, advanced research and inspired community leaders to enhance the quality of life of citizens in Georgia.

Michelle Asha Cooper, president of the Institute for Higher Education Policy in Washington, D.C., will deliver the 29th annual McBee Lecture at the University of Georgia. Cooper will discuss “A New Hope for a Better Tomorrow: Tackling Postsecondary Challenges Today” at 10 a.m. Feb. 12, 2018 in the UGA Chapel.

The Governor’s Teaching Fellows Program, established by Zell Miller when he was governor of Georgia, celebrated its 20th anniversary with a day-long conference in January 2015. Offered through the IHE and currently funded by UGA, the program provides higher education faculty from public and private institutions across Georgia with expanded opportunities for developing important teaching skills. Former GTF participants returned to the Institute to discuss ways in which the program had benefitted them beyond their GTF experience.

The IHE continues its longstanding commitment to Croatian higher education with a trip in October to participate in two nationwide scholarship fairs. Sheila Slaughter will present the keynote address and several IHE faculty, including Rob Toutkoushian, will be giving a workshop on funding institutions of higher education and its students.