Georgia Highlands College will be holding a Career Expo highlighting a number of open positions on March 12 at Cartersville in the new GHC academic building from 1 PM to 3 PM.  The event is open to the public.

GHC is looking to fill a variety of positions in areas like admissions, the business office and more, including a number of part-time and full-time faculty positions.

“GHC is a growing and progressive institution with opportunities for great employees to grow with us,” Vice President for Human Resources Virginia Siler said. “With a focus on employee wellness and development, the culture is warm and embracing, while the work is fast paced and challenging.”

If interested, please bring your C.V. or resume to the event.

To learn more about the open positions and what it’s like to work at GHC, please visit: jobs.highlands.edu

Additionally, LakePoint Sporting Community will be joining the expo with a variety of positions open for spring and summer. LakePoint features state-of-the-art sports venues with a number of amenities, including onsite hotels, restaurants, themed retail, bowling, ziplines, water parks and much, much more.

To learn more about LakePoint, please visit: http: lakepointsports.com

Georgia Highlands College will be hosting “Passports for Life: Holocaust Rescue & Survival” on April 4^th from 2PM to 3:30PM in Cartersville.

The event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by Students Without Borders. The event will take place in the Student Center in Room 102 A/B.

GHC Assistant Professor of Communication Alexandra MacMurdo Reiter and Vermont author K. Heidi Fishman will discuss recent research findings of a clandestine scheme that saved hundreds during the Holocaust.

Attendees will hear the uplifting story of how Alexandra’s grandfather, Stefan Ryniewicz, helped save Heidi’s grandfather, Heinz Lichtenstern, among others throughout Europe, through the creation of fake foreign passports.

Additionally, Heidi will speak about her award-winning book “Tutti’s Promise” and follow the presentation with a book signing.

For more information on Alexandra’s grandfather: https://www.highlands.edu/2018/06/14/ghc-faculty-members-grandfather-honored-polish-embassy-secretly-saving-hundreds-holocaust/

To contact Alexandra: amacmurd@highlands.edu

For more information on Heidi and her grandfather: https://popjeandme.com/

To contact Heidi: heidifishman@gmail.com

After a successful pilot last year, GHC is continuing the STEMFIT “math boot camp” this summer. Its aim is to help incoming high school dual enrollment students or college freshmen start at a collegiate mathematic level of pre-calculus or higher.

“In order to complete a STEM pathway in a timely manner and maintain momentum toward graduation, students should at a minimum start with pre-calculus,” Dean of the Division of Mathematics and Computer Science Melanie Largin said. “Often times, students enter at the lower college algebra-level but can take an exemption exam if their SAT/ACT scores are high enough to then get to pre-calculus.”

The camp is one week at GHC’s Cartersville location with classes Tuesday through Friday from July 9 to July 12. The camp costs $25, but if a student takes the free in-house exemption exam offered at the end of the camp, they will receive a refund of $20. In order to qualify to enroll in the camp students must have an ACT of 22 or higher or an SAT of 550/28.5 or higher. STEMFit is sponsored by the GHC Center for STEM Learning and a University System of Georgia STEM Initiative grant.

Largin stated there are many perks to participating, including working one-on-one with college professors, learning in a real college classroom, and getting the opportunity to bypass college algebra saving time, money, and putting students one step closer to graduation.

During GHC’s pilot group, 60 percent of students went on to pass the college algebra exemption test, while the other 40 percent went further and passed the pre-calculus exemption test, as well.

Largin explained that for students who do not participate in some kind of preparatory class, like the STEMFIT camp, the pass rate for the college algebra exemption test is historically low due to those topics being covered early in a student’s high school career.

To combat low pass rates, GHC developed its week-long “math boot camp” to prepare students for the first years of college and to increase their chances of passing the college algebra exemption test.

This is particularly advantageous for freshmen entering STEM fields, Largin added.

STEM is an acronym for the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. STEM relates to academics and careers focused in corresponding fields.

“We are excited that this effort will help to propel these students forward,” Largin said. “We look forward to continuing to expand this effort through our STEM grant, to utilizing some of the lessons used during the camp in our ongoing college algebra classrooms at GHC and to presenting our results to our colleagues across the state.”

For more questions or to register, contact math@highlands.edu or call 678-872-8070.

Georgia Highlands College is hosting Cartoon Network’s Mark McCray at each of its locations for a special lecture series about African American influences in cartoons and comics this week.

McCray is a senior manager of programming operations for Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network, overseeing Adult Swim’s on-air promotion and scheduling strategy.

His presentation discusses how Saturday morning programming competition fueled an animation boom that resonated across television; how black characters evolved in cartoons and comics; how Saturday morning marketing strategy impacted black youth in America; and how African American professionals fare in today’s animation businesses.

Prior to Adult Swim, McCray helped launch the Boomerang Network and worked as a television programmer for Cartoon Network.

He is the author of “The Best Saturdays of Our Lives,” which chronicles the origins of competitive Saturday morning programming. He is also an award-winning television writer who has been in the broadcasting industry for 18 years and has a passion for programming strategy, animation and comic books.

For more information on McCray, please visit: https://www.thebestsaturdaysofourlives.com/home.html

Georgia Highlands College was listed by Rice University-based publisher OpenStax as one of the top 10 schools that has served the most students with the adoption of free college textbooks in the 2017-18 school year.

GHC was one of only two colleges in Georgia listed. The University of Georgia also made the list.

To date, GHC has saved students over $6 million by eliminating textbook costs and providing free digital options. GHC’s faculty have been working since fall 2015 to expand Open Education Resources (OER) courses each semester.

On average, GHC has saved students over $2 million a year.

OER course conversions are aided by the University System of Georgia’s Affordable Learning Georgia (ALG) initiative which promotes student success by providing cost-free alternatives to expensive textbooks.

The new OERs don’t just provide free textbooks either. Students also get video resources, software, labs and an enhanced textbook experience with hyperlinks to many other resources.

“GHC’s strong partnership with the University System of Georgia to increase savings to college students has expanded and strengthened GHC’s mission of producing more career-ready graduates with little to no debt upon completion,” GHC President Don Green said. “Joint efforts like this are great examples of how GHC can continuously increase student success in the classroom, through graduation and into a career with the greatest possible return on investment.”

GHC’s total cost savings is based on the cost of a new textbook multiplied by the total number of non-dual enrollment students enrolled in courses offering OERs. Textbooks are already included in the dual enrollment program and provided to dual enrollment students at no cost.

Since OER is open to anyone for free, students, potential students or even the public can view these resources at any time. OER textbooks can be downloaded to any smart device, phone or tablet. To view, please visit: affordablelearninggeorgia.org

GHC plans to continue to offer OERs and expand into as many areas and courses as possible moving forward.

For more information on the Rice University report: OpenStax announces top 10 schools that have adopted free college textbooks

Georgia Highlands College is hosting guest lecturer Karcheik Sims-Alvarado on February 24^th from 2:00PM to 3:30PM at the Cartersville location for Black History Month.

The event is free and open to the public.

Sims-Alvarado has studied the history and culture of African Americans throughout the Black Atlantic World. Whether in the classroom, museum, or in the field, she has sought to document and to teach the African-American odyssey through various mediums.

As the CEO of Preserve Black Atlanta, a nonprofit dedicated to identifying, recording, and preserving African-American history and culture, she has developed a model for utilizing historical and cultural assets as a catalyst for economic and community development.

She has worked with some of Atlanta’s leading institutions: The National Center for Civil and Human Rights, Atlanta History Center, Herndon Home Museum, and Central Atlanta Progress.

Sims-Alvarado will talk about preserving and celebrating Atlanta’s contribution to the Modern Civil Rights Movement and some about her newly published book, the “Atlanta and the Civil Rights Movement, 1945-1968,” with Arcadia Press.

To learn more about Karcheik Sims-Alvarado, please visit: https://www.atlantacivilrightsmovement.org/about/

For more information about the event, you may send questions to Assistant Professor Sean Callahan at scallaha@highlands.edu

Georgia Highlands College has opened registration for the second annual Highlands Writers Conference set for March 2nd at the GHC Cartersville location.

Attendees will have the opportunity to spend the day with acclaimed authors, including prize-winning poet Christopher Martin, memoirist and Vice President of Membership for the National Book Critics Circle Anjali Enjeti, and Charles Thomas, screenwriter and host of the podcast “Atlanta Film Chat.”

Full day registration is $45 and includes two workshops, publishing panel, and a catered lunch presentation. Discount registration for all area high school and college students is $10.

Anyone can register at hwc.highlands.edu

“This one-day program provides numerous opportunities for aspiring writers to learn about craft in a variety of genres as well as best practices for publication,” Assistant Professor of English Jessica Lindberg said. “We welcome writers who have been practicing for years as well as those who have not yet set pen to paper.”

The lunch presentation will feature two-time Georgia Author of the Year recipient Raymond L. Atkins as the keynote speaker.

Atkins resides in Rome, Georgia. He teaches English at Georgia Northwestern Technical College and Creative Writing at Reinhardt University. His first novel, “The Front Porch Prophet,” was published in 2008 and was awarded the Georgia Author of the Year Award for First Novel. His third novel, “Camp Redemption,” was released in 2013 and was awarded the Ferrol Sams Award for Fiction and the 2014 Georgia Author of the Year Award for Fiction.

A limited number of slots are also available for manuscript consultations with Atkins for $25.

The 2019 publishing panel includes Will Donnelly, fiction editor and social media coordinator for “Juked” magazine, Anna Sandy-Elrod, current Editor in Chief of “New South” and Managing Editor of “Muse/A,” and Nury Castillo Crawford, local educator originally from Peru, South America.

To learn more about the event or to register, please visit hwc.highlands.edu or on Facebook at facebook.com/HighlandsWriters

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The Georgia Highlands College Lakeview Art Gallery in Rome is currently showing art from GHC Professor of Art Brian Barr’s drawings for a children’s book series called “Martin the Guitar.” The gallery is free and open to the public and will be available Monday (Feb. 18) through Friday (Feb. 22).

The collection of artwork was produced for the second and third book in the illustrated book series: “Martin the Guitar on the Road” published in 2017 and “Martin the Guitar in the Big City” published early 2019.

The story follows Little Martin the Guitar, who once lived in Mr. Beninato’s Music Store in New York City, before he was picked up by his new owner, the famous folk singer Robert. Now, the two have been invited to perform at the most famous concert hall in the world.

Along with the book and illustrations are links to audio, featuring music to accompany the story.

Barr has been working alongside author Harry Musselwhite for several years throughout the production of the series. Barr said he approached the project with a careful eye.

“While the style of children’s books illustrations is very different than my normal style of drawing and painting, the process is not that dissimilar,” he said. “Once I had the script, I tried to figure out what parts of the story would best be represented visually. Then I worked on several sketches for each illustration until I found the composition that I thought worked the best.”

Barr chose to bring the fictional world to life with color pencils so that he “could get a strong color saturation.”

“I started working up the main objects and backgrounds in strong, flat colors, then I modeled the forms by adding cooler colors to bring out greater structure,” he said. “One of the most difficult aspects was trying to design each illustration so that it could be cropped easily, depending upon how the designer would need to fit them into the overall layout.”

Barr has always had a passion for art and decided early on to pursue it as a career.

“I took classes wherever I could up until college, where I focused on studying drawing at the University of Central Florida. After that, I finished my education with an MFA in Painting from the New York Academy of Art. Over the years, I’ve been lucky to have several exhibitions of my work, but, lately, I have focused on doing illustrations.”

Barr is no stranger to drawing for publications. He has worked with fellow artist Kelly Shane to create a graphic novel called “Jackdaw” and has even dabbled in non-fiction with artwork for a Civil War biography. He has been teaching at GHC since 2002.

“Perhaps the thing that I love most about GHC is that, for so many, it represents a true opportunity for a new direction, a new life,” he said. “I have had many students in my classes that have never been able to have any art training at all, so we are providing a true beginning for them.”

Cindy Mendoza may be the first person in her family to go to college and she may be starting a little later in life than some, but that hasn’t stopped her from holding down a nearly perfect 4.0 GPA, working as the vice president for Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society (PTK), and earning her degree in biology from Georgia Highlands College.

Each year, one student is chosen from each college in the University System of Georgia to be a Board of Regents Academic Day Representative. Mendoza was chosen for GHC for her outstanding scholastic achievement.

“I find it difficult to speak to my family about my academic progress,” she said regarding her being the first in her family to go to college. “I realize they cannot always comprehend the full significance of my achievements, but I’m filled with joy knowing that my professor’s and wonderful mentors at GHC do. This recognition means that someone notices my hard work and that is motivation to continue pushing myself.”

Mendoza started at GHC in 2017 and will be graduating in spring 2019. She currently serves as the vice president for GHC’s PTK student organization and is leading a student-run initiative to create a video series for social media giving advice to students from students.

“I love being able to help others,” she said. “I feel an immense sense of accomplishment when I can be of any assistance to my fellow classmates, professors and others in my community.”

The new PTK series will debut on GHC’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube channel soon. Mendoza will be leading the charge with videos focused on her experience as a non-traditional student with advice for other non-traditional students.

After completing at GHC, Mendoza is planning to pursue a doctorate program in optometry. She stated a career path continuing to help others is her ultimate goal.

“Obtaining a degree that will allow me to improve the quality of life for thousands of people is the most important thing for me,” she said. “My drive is the ability to help others.”

Mendoza and the other representatives will be honored during a Board of Regents meeting and luncheon at the University System Office. She will be recognized again during GHC’s Honor Night in the spring.

Georgia Highlands College has been listed by TopRNtoBSN.com as one of the “Best Online RN to BSN” options in Georgia. GHC was ranked second, just after South Georgia State College.

The site touts GHC’s nursing program for its affordability, quality, and the opportunity for students to “complete in as little as three semesters when attending classes full-time.”

The site also notes, “[GHC] is part of the state’s RN-BSN articulation plan, which allows nursing students to earn transfer credits from their ASN degree programs… [and] Georgia Highland College’s RN to BSN degree program is done completely online, allowing you the flexibility of scheduling course work at convenient times so you can continue to work.”

TopRNtoBSN.com states nurses who only have an associate degree risk “losing their competitiveness on the job market” due to the American Nurses Association’s goal for “at least 80 percent of nurses to have at least a BSN degree.”

The site goes on to explain that “nurses with a BSN on average make around $4000 more per year…”

TopRNtoBSN.com put its list together based on what it considers are the top nursing schools in Georgia that offer full online or hybrid options designed for professionals already working full-time. Additionally, the site states it has ranked the best online options for “budget-conscious working nurses” that are all regionally accredited.

To see the full list or learn more about TopRNtoBSN.com, please visit: https://www.toprntobsn.com/ga/online-rn-bsn/