by Jennifer Johnson
The Collegian
Issue date: 2/1/08
The Dunwoody Campus Library is currently hosting a vivid and interesting exhibit of abstract art by Associate Professor Charles Phillips, who has been teaching art history and art appreciation at GPC since 1990.
The exhibit is entitled 'Art and The Spiritual,' and is a collection of mixed media pieces inspired by his "emotional and spiritual interpretations" of what he sees.
Phillips was born in Ghana and taught there for many years before becoming an Advisor to the Minister of Art and Culture. He left his post there after regime change in 1982, and regrets the impact the politics of his position had upon him.
"It is important that my work should challenge the viewer optically, intellectually, and philosophically," and this is certainly the effect his works tend to have.
Upon first glance many of the pictures do not lend themselves to obvious or immediate interpretation. There are many colors and sweeping lines and curves that can appear chaotic, at first, and require much of the viewer to discover the communication within each piece.
One of the students' apparent favorites is entitled 'Jubilation,' which Phillips said was inspired by a picture of ballet dancers.
Phillips' favorite piece is entitled 'Keep Watch,' a picture is of a bird watching over its nest, which Phillips said depicts how we must all be mindful of our thoughts, our words and our actions.
Deep feelings and a sense of the invisible influences in our lives are evident throughout his work, which will be on exhibit at Dunwoody until Feb 28.
Phillips ended his interview by giving his basic philosophy of how to live; "Make sure you place yourself where people will enjoy you -not admire you, but enjoy you," said Phillips. "[It is always best] to be a team player, to love people. And in order to love others, you must first love yourself."
Aug 28, 2009
Red Cross Blood Drives make difference
by Jennifer Johnson
The Collegian
Issue date: 2/1/08
The Georgia Perimeter College-Dunwoody Health and Wellness Program sponsored a Red Cross Blood Drive on Jan. 28 in which it offered an opportunity for students, faculty staff, and community members to donate blood. The Blood Drive took place in the Student Center located in the B building between noon and 5 p.m.
Ashley Atherton, Coordinator of the GPC Dunwoody Health and Wellness Program, organized the event.
"College students are regular donors," said Atherton. "Having a Blood Drive in a college campus is a convenience factor for students, and it is easier for them to fit it in their busy schedules."
During the Blood Drive donors received a free Chik-Fil-A sandwich, snacks, and a t-shirt. Other Blood Drives were organized at Clarkson and Decatur Campuses as well.
In order to be a qualified donor, you must be at least 17 years old, weight a minimum of 110 pounds, and be in good health. If you have a tattoo done in Ga., there is a waiting period of one year before you can donate blood.
There are also other factors that may affect your eligibility to donate based on your health history. For additional information, visit the Red Cross at www.redcrossblood.org.
The Collegian
Issue date: 2/1/08
The Georgia Perimeter College-Dunwoody Health and Wellness Program sponsored a Red Cross Blood Drive on Jan. 28 in which it offered an opportunity for students, faculty staff, and community members to donate blood. The Blood Drive took place in the Student Center located in the B building between noon and 5 p.m.
Ashley Atherton, Coordinator of the GPC Dunwoody Health and Wellness Program, organized the event.
"College students are regular donors," said Atherton. "Having a Blood Drive in a college campus is a convenience factor for students, and it is easier for them to fit it in their busy schedules."
During the Blood Drive donors received a free Chik-Fil-A sandwich, snacks, and a t-shirt. Other Blood Drives were organized at Clarkson and Decatur Campuses as well.
In order to be a qualified donor, you must be at least 17 years old, weight a minimum of 110 pounds, and be in good health. If you have a tattoo done in Ga., there is a waiting period of one year before you can donate blood.
There are also other factors that may affect your eligibility to donate based on your health history. For additional information, visit the Red Cross at www.redcrossblood.org.
Richard Garcia shares poetry with GPC
by Jennifer Johnson
The Collegian
Issue date: 2/1/08
Award-winning poet Richard Garcia came to three GPC campuses Nov. 14-16 to read selections from three of his four nationally-published collections and work with GPC students in an intimate poetry workshop.
GPC's Humanities Department, Honors Student Association, and the Office of Student Life sponsored the poet's visit, which included readings on the Lawrenceville and Clarkston campuses, and a poetry workshop on Dunwoody campus.
Garcia's Clarkston campus audience on Nov. 15 mostly consisted of Anna Schachner, Dr. Rosemary Cox and Tim Tarkington's classes.
Before the evening reading, Garcia lounged on the plush seats on the second level of the College Center, where the reading took place. While Lawrenceville English professor and Honors Program coordinator Dr. Jeffrey Portnoy set up the massive fruit and cookie trays the 25 or 30 students and faculty took advantage of, Garcia chatted with students about prison-themed TV shows and movies, his wife, and his career.
Garcia was surprised when asked about his poem 'Paper', as he'd forgotten it had been published. Journalism major Vivian Giang told Garcia about analyzing the poem in Anna Schachner's creative writing class.
After an introduction by Portnoy, Garcia opened the reading by discussing the class's interpretation. "It was strange to me that the one thing that confused students was the most literal meaning," said Garcia.
Garcia's visit, his first to the state of Ga., was part of the Georgia Poetry Circuit, where collegiate faculty nominate and select a poet to give readings and workshops on different college campuses in two separate week-long periods, covering, Garcia said, five institutions per trip. Garcia noted that the circuit was "one of those things where you have to ask where you're at." But he was far from unhappy about the situation-"They give you big lunches and then take you out to dinner. Whatever happened to the starving poet?"
The not-so-starving poet read from three of his collections; 'The Flying Garcias', 'Rancho Notorious' and his latest release, 'The Persistence of Objects', discussing each poem before its reading. Garcia spoke of his mother, "the most morbid person I'd ever known," his dog Louie, and the fact that he often writes about chickens. He read the poem 'Chicken Head' from 'Rancho Notorious', about Jesus and a gangster, which one can find on the web-in Dutch. It is particularly popular with magazine editors and 6th graders, Garcia noted.
Garcia's website features the view from the window of his home office, the place he prefers to write when not composing with his students. Garcia was pleased, he said, to hear that attendee Rod Epps, a GPC journalism student, say the reading made writing poetry seem a little more accessible. "It made me like, 'okay, it's not this unachievable goal."
"That's what I want students to believe," said Garcia. "It's not about what you know, it's about what you discover."
The Collegian
Issue date: 2/1/08
Award-winning poet Richard Garcia came to three GPC campuses Nov. 14-16 to read selections from three of his four nationally-published collections and work with GPC students in an intimate poetry workshop.
GPC's Humanities Department, Honors Student Association, and the Office of Student Life sponsored the poet's visit, which included readings on the Lawrenceville and Clarkston campuses, and a poetry workshop on Dunwoody campus.
Garcia's Clarkston campus audience on Nov. 15 mostly consisted of Anna Schachner, Dr. Rosemary Cox and Tim Tarkington's classes.
Before the evening reading, Garcia lounged on the plush seats on the second level of the College Center, where the reading took place. While Lawrenceville English professor and Honors Program coordinator Dr. Jeffrey Portnoy set up the massive fruit and cookie trays the 25 or 30 students and faculty took advantage of, Garcia chatted with students about prison-themed TV shows and movies, his wife, and his career.
Garcia was surprised when asked about his poem 'Paper', as he'd forgotten it had been published. Journalism major Vivian Giang told Garcia about analyzing the poem in Anna Schachner's creative writing class.
After an introduction by Portnoy, Garcia opened the reading by discussing the class's interpretation. "It was strange to me that the one thing that confused students was the most literal meaning," said Garcia.
Garcia's visit, his first to the state of Ga., was part of the Georgia Poetry Circuit, where collegiate faculty nominate and select a poet to give readings and workshops on different college campuses in two separate week-long periods, covering, Garcia said, five institutions per trip. Garcia noted that the circuit was "one of those things where you have to ask where you're at." But he was far from unhappy about the situation-"They give you big lunches and then take you out to dinner. Whatever happened to the starving poet?"
The not-so-starving poet read from three of his collections; 'The Flying Garcias', 'Rancho Notorious' and his latest release, 'The Persistence of Objects', discussing each poem before its reading. Garcia spoke of his mother, "the most morbid person I'd ever known," his dog Louie, and the fact that he often writes about chickens. He read the poem 'Chicken Head' from 'Rancho Notorious', about Jesus and a gangster, which one can find on the web-in Dutch. It is particularly popular with magazine editors and 6th graders, Garcia noted.
Garcia's website features the view from the window of his home office, the place he prefers to write when not composing with his students. Garcia was pleased, he said, to hear that attendee Rod Epps, a GPC journalism student, say the reading made writing poetry seem a little more accessible. "It made me like, 'okay, it's not this unachievable goal."
"That's what I want students to believe," said Garcia. "It's not about what you know, it's about what you discover."
The Mikado takes center stage
by Jennifer Johnson
The Collegian
Issue date: 2/1/08
The Theatre Arts Guild at GPC presents Gilbert and Sullivan's Japanese-themed comic operetta, The Mikado, in the Cole Auditorium, Fine Arts Building on the Clarkston campus, Feb. 1- 10.
The play, directed by Sally J. Robertson, with music conducted by Susan J. McEwen, takes place in the town of Titipu, where the local government has fallen into the hands of two dubious characters; Pooh-Bah and Ko-Ko, the executioner. A young man arrives, who-unknown to most-is the son of the Emperor Mikado, and is fleeing an arranged marriage to the elderly Katisha, but falls for the beautiful Yum-Yum, Ko-Ko's fiancée. When the Mikado arrives, thirsty for execution, Ko-Ko thinks he has the perfect plan… until Katisha turns up, bent on revenge.
GPC students, faculty and staff will be on stage, behind the stage, and responsible for the stage; GPC visual arts students hand-painted the kimonos designed by Joanna Schmink, Costume Coordinator at The Atlanta Opera, who also designed the set which GPC Technical Projects Manager, Lizz Dorsey, constructed.
Cole Auditorium Manager Jennifer
Jenkins will be shedding light (as the lighting designer) on student actors Jeffrey David Gibb, Marcus Megahee, Lindsey Martin, Ava Thibodeau, GPC alumnus Matthew Carter and Aaron Gotlieb, and chorus members Ebony Collier, Judit Llorens, Barna Lumpkin Jr., William Houston West and alumnus Jay Aiken. GPC staff members Richard Beaubien and Marsha Powell-Forbragd will also lend their voices to the chorus.
The Collegian
Issue date: 2/1/08
The Theatre Arts Guild at GPC presents Gilbert and Sullivan's Japanese-themed comic operetta, The Mikado, in the Cole Auditorium, Fine Arts Building on the Clarkston campus, Feb. 1- 10.
The play, directed by Sally J. Robertson, with music conducted by Susan J. McEwen, takes place in the town of Titipu, where the local government has fallen into the hands of two dubious characters; Pooh-Bah and Ko-Ko, the executioner. A young man arrives, who-unknown to most-is the son of the Emperor Mikado, and is fleeing an arranged marriage to the elderly Katisha, but falls for the beautiful Yum-Yum, Ko-Ko's fiancée. When the Mikado arrives, thirsty for execution, Ko-Ko thinks he has the perfect plan… until Katisha turns up, bent on revenge.
GPC students, faculty and staff will be on stage, behind the stage, and responsible for the stage; GPC visual arts students hand-painted the kimonos designed by Joanna Schmink, Costume Coordinator at The Atlanta Opera, who also designed the set which GPC Technical Projects Manager, Lizz Dorsey, constructed.
Cole Auditorium Manager Jennifer
Jenkins will be shedding light (as the lighting designer) on student actors Jeffrey David Gibb, Marcus Megahee, Lindsey Martin, Ava Thibodeau, GPC alumnus Matthew Carter and Aaron Gotlieb, and chorus members Ebony Collier, Judit Llorens, Barna Lumpkin Jr., William Houston West and alumnus Jay Aiken. GPC staff members Richard Beaubien and Marsha Powell-Forbragd will also lend their voices to the chorus.
GPC hosts Southeast Model African Union
by Jennifer Johnson
The Collegian
Issue date: 11/1/07
The 11th Annual Southeast Model African Union (SEMAU) conference was held November 1-3 on GPC's Clarkston campus. "For most students," said GPC associate professor of economics James Kahiga, "This was the first time they made a direct connection between the theoretical model and actual African Union." Kahiga directed the 2002 model A.U. for GPC and this year, was once again invited to coordinate the event.
The opening session was attended and addressed by GPC president Dr. Tricoli, Dr. Paul Hudson, Chair of the Clarkston Business and Social Sciences department, Phil Smith,
Dean of the business department?, Ms. Susan Pratt, Assistant director of the Office of International Education for the Board of Regents, and Dr. Eustice Palmer, Chair of the University System Africa Council. Three special guests were also in attendance; Dr. Michael Nwanze, director of the National Model in Washington D.C., keynote speaker
Dr. Sulayman Nyang, Professor of African Studies at Howard University, and on Saturday, Her Excellency Amina Saloum Ali, the Ambassador of African Union to the U.S.
21 African countries comprised the Model Union, six of them represented by GPC delegations, made up of 5 to 8 students and an advisor. GPC had the most delegations and, up until two years ago, was the only two-year college participating in the model. Each delegation was represented in each of 5 committees that dealt with economic, social human rights, peace and security matters. Some of the issues addressed during SEMAU included foreign debt, the status of women, free education, the use of technology and Darfur.
Before the model A.U. took place, each student participant prepared a resolution to be presented to the committee addressing problems facing the continent of Africa. The resolution was first debated within the committee, which eliminated weaker issues and helped to combine proposals for strong resolutions. By the second day of the conference, the remaining resolutions were ready to be presented to the Heads of State assembly which met the next morning to debate them.
Resolutions that emerged from the model union are going to be complied and sent to the African Union at the encouragement of the Ambassador. This is the first year the model A.U. will be sending the thoughts, views and suggestions of the students to the African Union.
GPC student Danny Fraga of the Guinea delegation learned a lot about the country his group chose, both through weekly SEMAU-prep meetings and independent research.
"I thought it was awesome. I think it's a great program... it touches a lot of aspects-economic issues, social issues, problem-solving issues, you have to present vocally, so it helps with public speaking and is good leadership training. It was very well-rounded," said Fraga.
SEMAU also provided students and advisors with a social aspect that, as Fraga said, was an integral part of the experience.
"There is no way of explaining to students the experience they would get until they participate," said Kahiga after the conference. "Attitudes change; they form long-lasting friendships, and a long-lasting interest in Africa. It's the most cost-efficient way of study abroad without necessarily going there."
Students might not have left Georgia, but they did get a taste of Africa during the event-on Thursday night, participants enjoyed dinner with an authentic South African menu, and on the following night, were treated to African music and performances from the GPC International Dance club and the Soweto Street Beat Dance Group, who taught a few dance moves and a little Zulu to their audience.
"SEMAU was wonderful, and we need to have more people there," said Debra Denzer, director of the Center for International Education, who paid the registration fees for each of the GPC SEMAU delegates, and provided staff support.
Students interested in SEMAU need only identify an instructor interested in advising a delegation, Kahiga said, as there are no prerequisites to participate. Instructors interested in supporting the model may include SEMAU as an option for a class project or extra credit.
"But certainly," said Kahiga, "the amount of learning that students get at the model is much more than any course credit they can receive."
The Collegian
Issue date: 11/1/07
The 11th Annual Southeast Model African Union (SEMAU) conference was held November 1-3 on GPC's Clarkston campus. "For most students," said GPC associate professor of economics James Kahiga, "This was the first time they made a direct connection between the theoretical model and actual African Union." Kahiga directed the 2002 model A.U. for GPC and this year, was once again invited to coordinate the event.
The opening session was attended and addressed by GPC president Dr. Tricoli, Dr. Paul Hudson, Chair of the Clarkston Business and Social Sciences department, Phil Smith,
Dean of the business department?, Ms. Susan Pratt, Assistant director of the Office of International Education for the Board of Regents, and Dr. Eustice Palmer, Chair of the University System Africa Council. Three special guests were also in attendance; Dr. Michael Nwanze, director of the National Model in Washington D.C., keynote speaker
Dr. Sulayman Nyang, Professor of African Studies at Howard University, and on Saturday, Her Excellency Amina Saloum Ali, the Ambassador of African Union to the U.S.
21 African countries comprised the Model Union, six of them represented by GPC delegations, made up of 5 to 8 students and an advisor. GPC had the most delegations and, up until two years ago, was the only two-year college participating in the model. Each delegation was represented in each of 5 committees that dealt with economic, social human rights, peace and security matters. Some of the issues addressed during SEMAU included foreign debt, the status of women, free education, the use of technology and Darfur.
Before the model A.U. took place, each student participant prepared a resolution to be presented to the committee addressing problems facing the continent of Africa. The resolution was first debated within the committee, which eliminated weaker issues and helped to combine proposals for strong resolutions. By the second day of the conference, the remaining resolutions were ready to be presented to the Heads of State assembly which met the next morning to debate them.
Resolutions that emerged from the model union are going to be complied and sent to the African Union at the encouragement of the Ambassador. This is the first year the model A.U. will be sending the thoughts, views and suggestions of the students to the African Union.
GPC student Danny Fraga of the Guinea delegation learned a lot about the country his group chose, both through weekly SEMAU-prep meetings and independent research.
"I thought it was awesome. I think it's a great program... it touches a lot of aspects-economic issues, social issues, problem-solving issues, you have to present vocally, so it helps with public speaking and is good leadership training. It was very well-rounded," said Fraga.
SEMAU also provided students and advisors with a social aspect that, as Fraga said, was an integral part of the experience.
"There is no way of explaining to students the experience they would get until they participate," said Kahiga after the conference. "Attitudes change; they form long-lasting friendships, and a long-lasting interest in Africa. It's the most cost-efficient way of study abroad without necessarily going there."
Students might not have left Georgia, but they did get a taste of Africa during the event-on Thursday night, participants enjoyed dinner with an authentic South African menu, and on the following night, were treated to African music and performances from the GPC International Dance club and the Soweto Street Beat Dance Group, who taught a few dance moves and a little Zulu to their audience.
"SEMAU was wonderful, and we need to have more people there," said Debra Denzer, director of the Center for International Education, who paid the registration fees for each of the GPC SEMAU delegates, and provided staff support.
Students interested in SEMAU need only identify an instructor interested in advising a delegation, Kahiga said, as there are no prerequisites to participate. Instructors interested in supporting the model may include SEMAU as an option for a class project or extra credit.
"But certainly," said Kahiga, "the amount of learning that students get at the model is much more than any course credit they can receive."
Gwinnett PD opens its doors to GPC
Criminal Justice students tour Gwinnett Police Department
by Jennifer Johnson
The Collegian
Issue date: 10/1/07
Nearly 30 GPC students learned what it might be like to work in law enforcement when they toured the Gwinnett County Police Department on September 27. Criminal Justice majors in John Siler's courses, as well as Dr. Kim Krinsky's online criminology class and members of her psychology class constituted the group that spent several hours being lead through GCPD facilities by Major Bart Hulsey, a veteran of the force who spent 17 years in SWAT-and is also a GPC student.
Students walked by pieces of the police department's history displayed in frames and shadow-boxes along many of its grey walls. Quick inspections of different uniforms, badges, weapons, pictures of past police chiefs, once-occupied buildings and vehicles peppered the tour that took students past the evidence room, the detective's offices, the uniform division, and to the crime labs and impound lot.
In the hallway, the group met the Commander of Professional Standards Lt. P. T. Cronin, who urged students to fill out an online application early and go through the process that takes three to four months. The GCPD will hire before the academy begins and help with physical training to prepare future officers for time at the academy and the $25 million new training center that Hulsey called "second to none in the southeast." Cronin urged students to apply soon, noting that because the county provided tuition reimbursement, students could begin while still perusing their degrees (Cronin, like Hulsey, is back in school at Troy University).
An early stop in the tour was to the Communications center, where all the 911 calls in the county are received. In shifts, the group was lead in by Communications manager Angie Connelly. Students observed operators sitting before two computer screens, one which receives the call, the other which routes the information to appropriate departments-law enforcement, fire department and EMS-based on the type of call and its originating address.
While students waited in the hall, Hulsey took questions and shared his insight as a SWAT officer with Krinsky and her psychology students about the necessity of having a psychologist assigned to the team because of the high number of people SWAT encounters 'who have mental problems.'
Once regrouped, students were escorted to the Crime Scene Unit where they were again divided to be walked through the department. CSU officer Cendi Nicholson took one group through the offices and into the color lab, where all the film from crime scenes is processed in-house by CSU techs to ensure confidentiality and security. Nicholson pointed out that everyone in her department is cross-trained in equipment, processing and documenting evidence, going to court and testifying.
After a quick walk-through of the interior of the department-which included an introduction to a Crime scene technician busy fingerprinting a tire-iron, Nicholson took the group outside to the crime scene mobile unit and vehicle bays. Later students were escorted through detectives' offices and the electronic crime unit, complete with their own computer crime lab. Even though the labs are expensive to maintain and keep up to date,
"Everybody keeps their records on computers now," said Hulsey.
Rashied Hooker, double major in Criminal Justice and Business Management, is taking several of Siler's courses this semester and thought that the tour of the GCPD was "very informative and gave me a lot to think about... and cleaned up some stereotypes brought up by TV."
After the tour of the department, students got in their vehicles and traveled across Highway 316 to the air field where, in a massive aviation hanger owned by the police department, they saw firsthand state of the art equipment such as a full-body bomb suit, an electronic robot for bomb disarmament, two helicopters, an RV converted into a backup 911 center with funds from a Homeland Security grant and a DUI task force vehicle which is used for road checks and sobriety tests.
SWAT and EOD Commander Lt. Kevin Moran spoke with students about the roles that his team assumes in conflict situations. Before students investigated the hanger, Corporal Willie Bailey spoke briefly about the recruitment efforts at Gwinnett County and suggested anyone interested in a career in law enforcement go to www.gwinnettpolicejobs.com for information on applying for a position.
"I thought it was amazing," said Vincent Bullock, 21, a Criminal Justice major with his eye on the law program at GSU. "Any question I asked was answered directly."
Students were encouraged to ask questions throughout the tour, whether equipment-specific queries or questions about an officer's experience on the force.
To wrap up the tour of the GCPD facilities, the students were taken to the police academy where recruits are, according to Hulsey, issued the finest fire-arms training in the state of Georgia. Special attention was paid to the two indoor ranges and a computerized driving simulation that uses a full dashboard set up of a squad car, with three monitors serving as a windshield, Bullock recalled. Recruits learn to safely negotiate their vehicles at all hours and in different weather conditions with the vehicle responding in kind; if it was raining in the simulation, the vehicle would hydroplane, and if it was icy, it would slide.
By the tour's end at about 2:30 p.m., students interested in the field of criminal justice had spoken to veterans of several departments, had seen the latest equipment, vehicles and facilities, and created images that they will carry with them into their careers.
by Jennifer Johnson
The Collegian
Issue date: 10/1/07
Nearly 30 GPC students learned what it might be like to work in law enforcement when they toured the Gwinnett County Police Department on September 27. Criminal Justice majors in John Siler's courses, as well as Dr. Kim Krinsky's online criminology class and members of her psychology class constituted the group that spent several hours being lead through GCPD facilities by Major Bart Hulsey, a veteran of the force who spent 17 years in SWAT-and is also a GPC student.
Students walked by pieces of the police department's history displayed in frames and shadow-boxes along many of its grey walls. Quick inspections of different uniforms, badges, weapons, pictures of past police chiefs, once-occupied buildings and vehicles peppered the tour that took students past the evidence room, the detective's offices, the uniform division, and to the crime labs and impound lot.
In the hallway, the group met the Commander of Professional Standards Lt. P. T. Cronin, who urged students to fill out an online application early and go through the process that takes three to four months. The GCPD will hire before the academy begins and help with physical training to prepare future officers for time at the academy and the $25 million new training center that Hulsey called "second to none in the southeast." Cronin urged students to apply soon, noting that because the county provided tuition reimbursement, students could begin while still perusing their degrees (Cronin, like Hulsey, is back in school at Troy University).
An early stop in the tour was to the Communications center, where all the 911 calls in the county are received. In shifts, the group was lead in by Communications manager Angie Connelly. Students observed operators sitting before two computer screens, one which receives the call, the other which routes the information to appropriate departments-law enforcement, fire department and EMS-based on the type of call and its originating address.
While students waited in the hall, Hulsey took questions and shared his insight as a SWAT officer with Krinsky and her psychology students about the necessity of having a psychologist assigned to the team because of the high number of people SWAT encounters 'who have mental problems.'
Once regrouped, students were escorted to the Crime Scene Unit where they were again divided to be walked through the department. CSU officer Cendi Nicholson took one group through the offices and into the color lab, where all the film from crime scenes is processed in-house by CSU techs to ensure confidentiality and security. Nicholson pointed out that everyone in her department is cross-trained in equipment, processing and documenting evidence, going to court and testifying.
After a quick walk-through of the interior of the department-which included an introduction to a Crime scene technician busy fingerprinting a tire-iron, Nicholson took the group outside to the crime scene mobile unit and vehicle bays. Later students were escorted through detectives' offices and the electronic crime unit, complete with their own computer crime lab. Even though the labs are expensive to maintain and keep up to date,
"Everybody keeps their records on computers now," said Hulsey.
Rashied Hooker, double major in Criminal Justice and Business Management, is taking several of Siler's courses this semester and thought that the tour of the GCPD was "very informative and gave me a lot to think about... and cleaned up some stereotypes brought up by TV."
After the tour of the department, students got in their vehicles and traveled across Highway 316 to the air field where, in a massive aviation hanger owned by the police department, they saw firsthand state of the art equipment such as a full-body bomb suit, an electronic robot for bomb disarmament, two helicopters, an RV converted into a backup 911 center with funds from a Homeland Security grant and a DUI task force vehicle which is used for road checks and sobriety tests.
SWAT and EOD Commander Lt. Kevin Moran spoke with students about the roles that his team assumes in conflict situations. Before students investigated the hanger, Corporal Willie Bailey spoke briefly about the recruitment efforts at Gwinnett County and suggested anyone interested in a career in law enforcement go to www.gwinnettpolicejobs.com for information on applying for a position.
"I thought it was amazing," said Vincent Bullock, 21, a Criminal Justice major with his eye on the law program at GSU. "Any question I asked was answered directly."
Students were encouraged to ask questions throughout the tour, whether equipment-specific queries or questions about an officer's experience on the force.
To wrap up the tour of the GCPD facilities, the students were taken to the police academy where recruits are, according to Hulsey, issued the finest fire-arms training in the state of Georgia. Special attention was paid to the two indoor ranges and a computerized driving simulation that uses a full dashboard set up of a squad car, with three monitors serving as a windshield, Bullock recalled. Recruits learn to safely negotiate their vehicles at all hours and in different weather conditions with the vehicle responding in kind; if it was raining in the simulation, the vehicle would hydroplane, and if it was icy, it would slide.
By the tour's end at about 2:30 p.m., students interested in the field of criminal justice had spoken to veterans of several departments, had seen the latest equipment, vehicles and facilities, and created images that they will carry with them into their careers.
'American Apartheid' performed at MLK's spiritual home
by Jennifer Johnson
The Collegian
Issue date: 9/1/07
In the same room in which Martin Luther King, Jr. was baptized at the age of 5, a collection of community leaders, local actors and GPC faculty and staff presented a thought-provoking play about race-relations set against the backdrop of a violent four-day Atlanta race riot to close out one the of most significant exhibits the National Parks Service has ever displayed.
On Saturday, August 25, in the Fellowship Hall of Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, the play American Apartheid, written by Wade Marbaugh and Dr. Paul Hudson and adapted from the 1908 novel The Law of the White Circle by Thornwell Jacobs, was presented in honor of the 1906 Atlanta Race Riot Exhibit that was on display at the National Parks Service's MLK Historical Site from September 15, 2006 through August 31, 2007.
The exhibit 'Red Was the Midnight' shed light on a "significant, major event in Atlanta History… which has largely been erased from public memory," said Dr. Clifford Kuhn of Georgia State University, who spoke on behalf of Atlanta's Coalition to Remember the 1906 Atlanta Race Riot.
"I'm not sure that Thornwell Jacobs had an audience like this in mind when he wrote The Law of the White Circle," said 'Red Was the Midnight' co-curator Dr. Clarissa Myrick-Harris of the hundred or so men and women of various ages and races.
She discussed the ending exhibit and its artifacts, which included a copy of The Law of the White Circle that was borrowed from Carrie Jacobs Henderson, Thornwell Jacobs's granddaughter. The biography of Walter White (a 13 year old boy during the riot), as well as a Sterling Brown poem called "An Old Woman Remembers" were also part of the exhibit showcasing historical documents from the African American community during that period.
Myrick-Harris, whose daughter Amina is a psychology major at GPC, had not seen any of the play's five previous readings, but had read the book on which it was based. She believed the staged reading was very entertaining. "I would have liked more direct addressing of the issues of 1906 that deal directly with 2006. The references at the end dealt in passing, but attempted to make a connection... It was an honest attempt to bring Thornwell Jacobs and his view of the world of segregation through the eyes of 21st century white liberals."
Hudson, the Business and Social Science department chair of Clarkston campus, conceived of the play after writing the article "Immovable Folkways" about Jacobs and his book in The Georgia Historical Quarterly in 1999. (The Law of the White Circle was reprinted in September 2006-with Hudson's article-for the hundred-year anniversary of the riot.)
In September of 2005, Hudson enlisted friend and playwright Marbaugh to develop the story after outlining Jacobs' plot over the phone. Hudson provided "awesome historical research on W.E.B. Du Bois [a character in the play], the Flatiron Building… he added a layer of richness to the story. My primary contribution was to modernize the story, develop the characters and themes that Jacobs couldn't with the limited viewpoint of his times," said Marbaugh, who Hudson maintains wrote more than 80% of the play. The two collaborated on several aspects of the production that tells the story of Lola, the daughter of an octoroon (a person who is one eighth black), attempting to pass for her white half-sister during a time when a class of educated and enterprising blacks began to threaten the long-standing social order of the South. Just over 100 years ago in Atlanta, a mob of white men beat and killed African Americans and extensively damaged black-owned businesses in a the blood four-day period known as the Atlanta Race Riot.
After the last staged reading at Clarkston campus in April, said Marbaugh, he and director Michael Chechopoulos discussed another performance. Chechopoulos unilaterally approached the National Parks Service after viewing the Race Riot exhibit.
During a family vacation, Marbaugh received a call from Chechopoulos (in the NPS's publicity office) telling him the organization wanted to partner with them in the production. Marbaugh expressed his excitement with whoops and hollers from the backseat of his car to the surprise of his wife and daughters.
The actors, dubbed the Being Human Players and assembled for this specific event, were both local actors and GPC faculty and staff. Marbaugh works for the Human Resources department, director Michael Chechopoulos works at the Clarkston campus, and Athena Jones, an Los Angeles native with a few community productions under her belt, also works in Human Resources. Music and vocals for American Apartheid were provided by Fire Management program coordinator Derwin Daniels as well as Daniel Moore Jr. and ensemble. The staged reading included props and scripts and multiple roles for the actors. For this special performance, noted actor Elisabeth Omilami (daughter of the late Hosea L. Williams) portrayed Lola's mother. In an email to Marbaugh, Omilami said that participating in American Apartheid in this historic setting was "was an inspiring moment."
Among the audience that Saturday afternoon was GPC Dean Lisa Fowler and professor Debra Constable, who seemed to agree with Omilami. "It was awakening, enlightening and it helps to understand the history of Atlanta," said Constable.
Ty Stone, a social work major who took Hudson's United States History course, had seen the staged reading at the Clarkston campus in the spring. "I was still as sucked into it as I was before," she said.
Dwayne Carl, who Marbaugh tapped after seeing the actor/singer in last year's GPC production of Big River, commented about the audience's reactions each time they've had a reading. "Different audiences laugh at different things. Older audiences, younger audiences, black, white-they all got it. The underlying message is the same… and being here right now, the significance of having it here-its truly amazing."
"That performance and the audience reaction was a great moment in the history of my theater experience," Marbaugh said of the Ebenezer reading. Both writers were pleased with the reception American Apartheid received. A smiling Dr. Hudson quoted his hero, Thornwell Jacobs, on how delighted they are at the success of the play: "Nothing is too beautiful to happen."
The Collegian
Issue date: 9/1/07
In the same room in which Martin Luther King, Jr. was baptized at the age of 5, a collection of community leaders, local actors and GPC faculty and staff presented a thought-provoking play about race-relations set against the backdrop of a violent four-day Atlanta race riot to close out one the of most significant exhibits the National Parks Service has ever displayed.
On Saturday, August 25, in the Fellowship Hall of Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, the play American Apartheid, written by Wade Marbaugh and Dr. Paul Hudson and adapted from the 1908 novel The Law of the White Circle by Thornwell Jacobs, was presented in honor of the 1906 Atlanta Race Riot Exhibit that was on display at the National Parks Service's MLK Historical Site from September 15, 2006 through August 31, 2007.
The exhibit 'Red Was the Midnight' shed light on a "significant, major event in Atlanta History… which has largely been erased from public memory," said Dr. Clifford Kuhn of Georgia State University, who spoke on behalf of Atlanta's Coalition to Remember the 1906 Atlanta Race Riot.
"I'm not sure that Thornwell Jacobs had an audience like this in mind when he wrote The Law of the White Circle," said 'Red Was the Midnight' co-curator Dr. Clarissa Myrick-Harris of the hundred or so men and women of various ages and races.
She discussed the ending exhibit and its artifacts, which included a copy of The Law of the White Circle that was borrowed from Carrie Jacobs Henderson, Thornwell Jacobs's granddaughter. The biography of Walter White (a 13 year old boy during the riot), as well as a Sterling Brown poem called "An Old Woman Remembers" were also part of the exhibit showcasing historical documents from the African American community during that period.
Myrick-Harris, whose daughter Amina is a psychology major at GPC, had not seen any of the play's five previous readings, but had read the book on which it was based. She believed the staged reading was very entertaining. "I would have liked more direct addressing of the issues of 1906 that deal directly with 2006. The references at the end dealt in passing, but attempted to make a connection... It was an honest attempt to bring Thornwell Jacobs and his view of the world of segregation through the eyes of 21st century white liberals."
Hudson, the Business and Social Science department chair of Clarkston campus, conceived of the play after writing the article "Immovable Folkways" about Jacobs and his book in The Georgia Historical Quarterly in 1999. (The Law of the White Circle was reprinted in September 2006-with Hudson's article-for the hundred-year anniversary of the riot.)
In September of 2005, Hudson enlisted friend and playwright Marbaugh to develop the story after outlining Jacobs' plot over the phone. Hudson provided "awesome historical research on W.E.B. Du Bois [a character in the play], the Flatiron Building… he added a layer of richness to the story. My primary contribution was to modernize the story, develop the characters and themes that Jacobs couldn't with the limited viewpoint of his times," said Marbaugh, who Hudson maintains wrote more than 80% of the play. The two collaborated on several aspects of the production that tells the story of Lola, the daughter of an octoroon (a person who is one eighth black), attempting to pass for her white half-sister during a time when a class of educated and enterprising blacks began to threaten the long-standing social order of the South. Just over 100 years ago in Atlanta, a mob of white men beat and killed African Americans and extensively damaged black-owned businesses in a the blood four-day period known as the Atlanta Race Riot.
After the last staged reading at Clarkston campus in April, said Marbaugh, he and director Michael Chechopoulos discussed another performance. Chechopoulos unilaterally approached the National Parks Service after viewing the Race Riot exhibit.
During a family vacation, Marbaugh received a call from Chechopoulos (in the NPS's publicity office) telling him the organization wanted to partner with them in the production. Marbaugh expressed his excitement with whoops and hollers from the backseat of his car to the surprise of his wife and daughters.
The actors, dubbed the Being Human Players and assembled for this specific event, were both local actors and GPC faculty and staff. Marbaugh works for the Human Resources department, director Michael Chechopoulos works at the Clarkston campus, and Athena Jones, an Los Angeles native with a few community productions under her belt, also works in Human Resources. Music and vocals for American Apartheid were provided by Fire Management program coordinator Derwin Daniels as well as Daniel Moore Jr. and ensemble. The staged reading included props and scripts and multiple roles for the actors. For this special performance, noted actor Elisabeth Omilami (daughter of the late Hosea L. Williams) portrayed Lola's mother. In an email to Marbaugh, Omilami said that participating in American Apartheid in this historic setting was "was an inspiring moment."
Among the audience that Saturday afternoon was GPC Dean Lisa Fowler and professor Debra Constable, who seemed to agree with Omilami. "It was awakening, enlightening and it helps to understand the history of Atlanta," said Constable.
Ty Stone, a social work major who took Hudson's United States History course, had seen the staged reading at the Clarkston campus in the spring. "I was still as sucked into it as I was before," she said.
Dwayne Carl, who Marbaugh tapped after seeing the actor/singer in last year's GPC production of Big River, commented about the audience's reactions each time they've had a reading. "Different audiences laugh at different things. Older audiences, younger audiences, black, white-they all got it. The underlying message is the same… and being here right now, the significance of having it here-its truly amazing."
"That performance and the audience reaction was a great moment in the history of my theater experience," Marbaugh said of the Ebenezer reading. Both writers were pleased with the reception American Apartheid received. A smiling Dr. Hudson quoted his hero, Thornwell Jacobs, on how delighted they are at the success of the play: "Nothing is too beautiful to happen."
GPC stretches to accommodate highest ever enrollment
by Jennifer Johnson
The Collegian
There's a reason that GPC is experiencing such growing pains-this fall semester, the institution has enrolled the highest number of students in its 43 year history. 21,562 students now attend our campuses or log in to our online courses.
Enrollment is 7.2% higher than it was last fall, according to the director of the office of institutional and research planning, Dr. Godfrey Fuji Noe. This is in spite of the slow abandonment of the Lawrenceville campus off of Collins Hill Road and Highway 316.
Currently, only returning GPC students, transfers and transient students are able to take classes on Lawrenceville campus. New college students who began this semester (with the exception of Nursing and Joint Enrollment students) have been required to take their courses at one of the other GPC campuses or online as the college wean their students from the site of the new Georgia Gwinnett College.
As directed, students from Lawrenceville are finding their way to other GPC campuses, which may account for the noticeable increase at the Dunwoody location. The campus that has parking spaces for approximately 7,000 students now accommodates more than 9,000. A new parking deck is currently under construction.
Several new projects that will ease the student squeeze are in various stages of planning and implementation around the perimeter. (See list below for details.)
Furthermore, GPC and Georgia State University recently collaborated in a request for funds for new construction in Fulton County and have received upwards of 12 million for the construction of a new classroom building in Alpharetta.
But for the time being, and for many students this semester, class sizes have increased and parking spots may be a little harder to find.
New projects at GPC:
• New parking deck on Dunwoody
• New Student Center on Decatur
• New parking structure and entrance for Clarkston
• New Student Center and Library building for Newton
• New academic building on Dunwoody
• Major renovation of a Dunwoody building
• Major renovations of two buildings on Clarkston
The Collegian
There's a reason that GPC is experiencing such growing pains-this fall semester, the institution has enrolled the highest number of students in its 43 year history. 21,562 students now attend our campuses or log in to our online courses.
Enrollment is 7.2% higher than it was last fall, according to the director of the office of institutional and research planning, Dr. Godfrey Fuji Noe. This is in spite of the slow abandonment of the Lawrenceville campus off of Collins Hill Road and Highway 316.
Currently, only returning GPC students, transfers and transient students are able to take classes on Lawrenceville campus. New college students who began this semester (with the exception of Nursing and Joint Enrollment students) have been required to take their courses at one of the other GPC campuses or online as the college wean their students from the site of the new Georgia Gwinnett College.
As directed, students from Lawrenceville are finding their way to other GPC campuses, which may account for the noticeable increase at the Dunwoody location. The campus that has parking spaces for approximately 7,000 students now accommodates more than 9,000. A new parking deck is currently under construction.
Several new projects that will ease the student squeeze are in various stages of planning and implementation around the perimeter. (See list below for details.)
Furthermore, GPC and Georgia State University recently collaborated in a request for funds for new construction in Fulton County and have received upwards of 12 million for the construction of a new classroom building in Alpharetta.
But for the time being, and for many students this semester, class sizes have increased and parking spots may be a little harder to find.
New projects at GPC:
• New parking deck on Dunwoody
• New Student Center on Decatur
• New parking structure and entrance for Clarkston
• New Student Center and Library building for Newton
• New academic building on Dunwoody
• Major renovation of a Dunwoody building
• Major renovations of two buildings on Clarkston
Political science professor, student impress movers and shakers
by Jennifer Johnson
The Collegian
Issue date: 9/1/07
Political Science professor Robert King and a former student attended the 103 Annual Meeting and Exhibition of the American Political Science Association at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Chicago over Labor Day weekend and presented a proposal to the movers and shakers of the discipline.
King and Carlos Tejeda Gonzalez, a former GPC student, were given fifteen to twenty minuets on Saturday afternoon to present "Losing Public Space, 'Practicing' Political Literacy" to an audience King said "were fascinated by it… it was great to be there and show them what we're doing."
What King is doing is trying to get his students to develop their political voices starting with 'thought pieces'. Enter former students like Gonzalez; in King's online and hybrid political science courses on WebCT, students post on message boards and discuss issues with former students who act as "instigators and mentors" and, according to King, spur his students into thinking about a topic or position and responding.
The purpose of the exercise is to test the ideas students have against other ideas. The blog or message boards offer students an opportunity to practice their opinions as well as discuss issues and weigh arguments and facts against these ideas.
Encouraging this open dialog is important for the formation of a strong political voice. Too often, King said, he has seen his students on the outside of this forum that, in the absence of citizen's political voices, has been dominated by 'government and big media'. "So all my students, outside looking in, say, 'Oh, this is what I'm supposed to think.'" Class by class, King is beginning to change students' minds about their roles in the political arena, and this online exercise is another way to further this goal.
King and Gonzalez hope to eventually publish the presentation that they gave at the APSA meeting, but there is more work needed on the paper, and both will be busy this term; King is teaching 5 classes this semester, and Gonzalez both became a father and began Law School at Georgia State University this semester.
Gonzalez came illegally to the U.S. in his late teens and, at 32, began taking courses at GPC. He had "an insatiable curiosity and a really quick mind," King said of the student who was named Political Science Outstanding Student of the Year at Clarkston before continuing to GSU for his bachelors. Gonzalez, who was working on a brief in his spare time during the meeting, was able to attend thanks to a small grant from Scientific Atlanta that covered his expenses.
King hopes to begin this exercise for his three current online classes in an effort to engage them with the help of former students like Gonzalez.
"The classroom," King said, "Just isn't enough."
The Collegian
Issue date: 9/1/07
Political Science professor Robert King and a former student attended the 103 Annual Meeting and Exhibition of the American Political Science Association at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Chicago over Labor Day weekend and presented a proposal to the movers and shakers of the discipline.
King and Carlos Tejeda Gonzalez, a former GPC student, were given fifteen to twenty minuets on Saturday afternoon to present "Losing Public Space, 'Practicing' Political Literacy" to an audience King said "were fascinated by it… it was great to be there and show them what we're doing."
What King is doing is trying to get his students to develop their political voices starting with 'thought pieces'. Enter former students like Gonzalez; in King's online and hybrid political science courses on WebCT, students post on message boards and discuss issues with former students who act as "instigators and mentors" and, according to King, spur his students into thinking about a topic or position and responding.
The purpose of the exercise is to test the ideas students have against other ideas. The blog or message boards offer students an opportunity to practice their opinions as well as discuss issues and weigh arguments and facts against these ideas.
Encouraging this open dialog is important for the formation of a strong political voice. Too often, King said, he has seen his students on the outside of this forum that, in the absence of citizen's political voices, has been dominated by 'government and big media'. "So all my students, outside looking in, say, 'Oh, this is what I'm supposed to think.'" Class by class, King is beginning to change students' minds about their roles in the political arena, and this online exercise is another way to further this goal.
King and Gonzalez hope to eventually publish the presentation that they gave at the APSA meeting, but there is more work needed on the paper, and both will be busy this term; King is teaching 5 classes this semester, and Gonzalez both became a father and began Law School at Georgia State University this semester.
Gonzalez came illegally to the U.S. in his late teens and, at 32, began taking courses at GPC. He had "an insatiable curiosity and a really quick mind," King said of the student who was named Political Science Outstanding Student of the Year at Clarkston before continuing to GSU for his bachelors. Gonzalez, who was working on a brief in his spare time during the meeting, was able to attend thanks to a small grant from Scientific Atlanta that covered his expenses.
King hopes to begin this exercise for his three current online classes in an effort to engage them with the help of former students like Gonzalez.
"The classroom," King said, "Just isn't enough."
GPC hosted Best-selling author on Memorial Day
by Jennifer Johnson
The Collegian
Issue date: 6/1/07
On May 28, Georgia Perimeter College's The Writer's Institute, in conjunction with The Georgia Center for the Book, independent bookseller A Cappella Books, the International Center and The Chattahoochee Review welcomed best-selling author Khaled Hosseini to the packed Cole Auditorium on Clarkston campus.
The free event, which began at 7 p.m. with an introduction by President Tricoli, was opened to the community and allowed Hosseini to speak to the audience and answer questions about his new book, A Thousand Splendid Suns.
The Kite Runner author signed books purchased at the event and those bought from A Cappella Books. The pre-orders gave excited event-goers a reserved seat.
A Cappella, a valued corporate partner, says The Writer's Institute director Rob Jenkins, will donate a portion of the proceeds to the GPC Alumni Association.
"Every bookstore in America tried to get him on this tour," said Frank Reiss, owner of A Cappella Books. "We were very fortunate to get him."
That is, in part, because of the involvement of The Georgia Center for the Book and its director Bill Starr, who had the connections to reach a lot of people about the event, Starr said. Reiss added that Marc Fitten, editor of The Chattahoochee Review, secured GPC as a venue for the event, and that the involvement of the Georgia Center for the Book was "the crowning piece that encouraged the publisher" to bring Hosseini to the Cole Auditorium, even if it was on Memorial Day, the only day Hosseini was available. Hosseini thanked the audience for choosing to spend their holiday with him.
"The Writer's Institute is very pleased to be hosting the event," said Jenkins, who was on hand for the event, as well as writer-in-residence Jack Riggs, who introduced Hosseini to the crowd.
The event and its signing turned out to be quite a success. For DeKalb county residents who missed the reading, it will be broadcast on GPC's Educational Access Channel (22 on Comcast cable) later this summer.
The Collegian
Issue date: 6/1/07
On May 28, Georgia Perimeter College's The Writer's Institute, in conjunction with The Georgia Center for the Book, independent bookseller A Cappella Books, the International Center and The Chattahoochee Review welcomed best-selling author Khaled Hosseini to the packed Cole Auditorium on Clarkston campus.
The free event, which began at 7 p.m. with an introduction by President Tricoli, was opened to the community and allowed Hosseini to speak to the audience and answer questions about his new book, A Thousand Splendid Suns.
The Kite Runner author signed books purchased at the event and those bought from A Cappella Books. The pre-orders gave excited event-goers a reserved seat.
A Cappella, a valued corporate partner, says The Writer's Institute director Rob Jenkins, will donate a portion of the proceeds to the GPC Alumni Association.
"Every bookstore in America tried to get him on this tour," said Frank Reiss, owner of A Cappella Books. "We were very fortunate to get him."
That is, in part, because of the involvement of The Georgia Center for the Book and its director Bill Starr, who had the connections to reach a lot of people about the event, Starr said. Reiss added that Marc Fitten, editor of The Chattahoochee Review, secured GPC as a venue for the event, and that the involvement of the Georgia Center for the Book was "the crowning piece that encouraged the publisher" to bring Hosseini to the Cole Auditorium, even if it was on Memorial Day, the only day Hosseini was available. Hosseini thanked the audience for choosing to spend their holiday with him.
"The Writer's Institute is very pleased to be hosting the event," said Jenkins, who was on hand for the event, as well as writer-in-residence Jack Riggs, who introduced Hosseini to the crowd.
The event and its signing turned out to be quite a success. For DeKalb county residents who missed the reading, it will be broadcast on GPC's Educational Access Channel (22 on Comcast cable) later this summer.
How GPC is working to prevent violence:
GPC prepares students for law enforcement
by Jennifer Johnson
The Collegian
Issue date: 6/1/07
A growing number of our men and women in uniform are beginning their careers in law enforcement at GPC. The criminal justice program, and its five major-specific classes, are helping to prepare students for the next level in their training. The number of graduating criminal justice majors doubled since 2006. Currently, ten to twelve students of this program are in various stages of applying for law enforcement positions in the Greater Atlanta area.
"It puts us at quite a big advantage if someone comes to us with a general basic knowledge of the system because they had been exposed to it… [the major] makes them a better recruit in the police academy," said Major Jim Helms, an adjunct professor at GPC and the Director of the DeKalb Police Academy.
The program, which is also touted as an excellent jump-start for those interested in continuing on to law school, centers on base knowledge of law enforcement, court administration and corrections. These classes, which will be online in the Fall, include Introduction to Criminal Justice, American Police Systems, Corrections, Criminology, and the Judicial system.
"Introduction to Criminal Justice should be taken by every GPC student," says instructor John Siler, a former police department intelligence analyst for over 30 years. It is Siler's hope that the course will soon be an elective and not restricted to the criminal justice major.
"Young people don't realize that in their life, they will be exposed to the criminal justice system," said Helms. Both men described the situations students will undoubtedly find themselves in-involved in a traffic accident, subpoenaed, experience a theft, called to be a witness, a juror, or be a victim of a crime. "This is important information," Siler stressed. "Real-life stuff you're going to use."
Richard James uses this information every day. James, 27, works full-time as a corrections officer at Clayton County prison, and is in the process of interviewing with the DeKalb police department. James, who recently bought a home in Lithonia, said, "What better way to help out your neighborhood than to work in the place you live?... Being a police officer, you can actually make a difference in the community," he said. Because of his classes, which he began this time last year, James knows that corrections have come along way. "You learn stuff at training, but the college is giving you background... I'm understanding it better because of college. I like Georgia Perimeter. I will graduate from here-it's a great school."
Chris Green, 21, recently graduated from GPC, and is transferring to a four year institution. "It has been something I have always wanted to do, just as the military," he says of his future plans. "Protecting others and paying back my country and community for the freedoms that I, and others, take for granted."
Green will enlist after completing his education, and have a career in law enforcement following his service. "[The curriculum] has helped me understand the laws and regulations that govern our society as well as how to use them, and what effect they have on the members of society."
John Bender, 21, who will graduate from GPC in the Fall and has completed all his CJ coursework, was recently accepted by the Gwinnett County police academy. When we spoke with Bender, he was awaiting word and finished with the preliminary screening in the application process. It is a process which includes an interview, physical exam, completion of an online application, a thorough background check and both a polygraph test and psychological evaluation.
Bender feels that the criminology class in particular helped him learn a lot about criminal behavior and the criminal mind. The curriculum, he believes, "helped me with the interview-just knowing a little bit about what you're getting into."
Chris Delon is into it right now. Delon, 25, was a Criminal Justice major and took courses with Helms when he was at GPC. Delon is now in the DeKalb police academy and will graduate August 17.
"Everything that I learned at the classes at GPC gave me a better knowledge of what I'd be doing…. The classes I took-whether it was American Police systems or the intro to criminal justice-it all helps. It all ties in to help figure out what I was in for."
In addition to the information offered, students indicated that their instructors played a major role in their preparation for the future.
"Major Helms has about 32 years with DeKalb Police," Delon says. "He's a wealth of information and experience on everything from the citizen's aspect of the justice system, how citizens perceive law enforcement... to what the recruits can expect when they come into the academy and how the classes are arranged." Taking classes with Siler, with his background in law enforcement, Bender said, were also an asset to his education.
by Jennifer Johnson
The Collegian
Issue date: 6/1/07
A growing number of our men and women in uniform are beginning their careers in law enforcement at GPC. The criminal justice program, and its five major-specific classes, are helping to prepare students for the next level in their training. The number of graduating criminal justice majors doubled since 2006. Currently, ten to twelve students of this program are in various stages of applying for law enforcement positions in the Greater Atlanta area.
"It puts us at quite a big advantage if someone comes to us with a general basic knowledge of the system because they had been exposed to it… [the major] makes them a better recruit in the police academy," said Major Jim Helms, an adjunct professor at GPC and the Director of the DeKalb Police Academy.
The program, which is also touted as an excellent jump-start for those interested in continuing on to law school, centers on base knowledge of law enforcement, court administration and corrections. These classes, which will be online in the Fall, include Introduction to Criminal Justice, American Police Systems, Corrections, Criminology, and the Judicial system.
"Introduction to Criminal Justice should be taken by every GPC student," says instructor John Siler, a former police department intelligence analyst for over 30 years. It is Siler's hope that the course will soon be an elective and not restricted to the criminal justice major.
"Young people don't realize that in their life, they will be exposed to the criminal justice system," said Helms. Both men described the situations students will undoubtedly find themselves in-involved in a traffic accident, subpoenaed, experience a theft, called to be a witness, a juror, or be a victim of a crime. "This is important information," Siler stressed. "Real-life stuff you're going to use."
Richard James uses this information every day. James, 27, works full-time as a corrections officer at Clayton County prison, and is in the process of interviewing with the DeKalb police department. James, who recently bought a home in Lithonia, said, "What better way to help out your neighborhood than to work in the place you live?... Being a police officer, you can actually make a difference in the community," he said. Because of his classes, which he began this time last year, James knows that corrections have come along way. "You learn stuff at training, but the college is giving you background... I'm understanding it better because of college. I like Georgia Perimeter. I will graduate from here-it's a great school."
Chris Green, 21, recently graduated from GPC, and is transferring to a four year institution. "It has been something I have always wanted to do, just as the military," he says of his future plans. "Protecting others and paying back my country and community for the freedoms that I, and others, take for granted."
Green will enlist after completing his education, and have a career in law enforcement following his service. "[The curriculum] has helped me understand the laws and regulations that govern our society as well as how to use them, and what effect they have on the members of society."
John Bender, 21, who will graduate from GPC in the Fall and has completed all his CJ coursework, was recently accepted by the Gwinnett County police academy. When we spoke with Bender, he was awaiting word and finished with the preliminary screening in the application process. It is a process which includes an interview, physical exam, completion of an online application, a thorough background check and both a polygraph test and psychological evaluation.
Bender feels that the criminology class in particular helped him learn a lot about criminal behavior and the criminal mind. The curriculum, he believes, "helped me with the interview-just knowing a little bit about what you're getting into."
Chris Delon is into it right now. Delon, 25, was a Criminal Justice major and took courses with Helms when he was at GPC. Delon is now in the DeKalb police academy and will graduate August 17.
"Everything that I learned at the classes at GPC gave me a better knowledge of what I'd be doing…. The classes I took-whether it was American Police systems or the intro to criminal justice-it all helps. It all ties in to help figure out what I was in for."
In addition to the information offered, students indicated that their instructors played a major role in their preparation for the future.
"Major Helms has about 32 years with DeKalb Police," Delon says. "He's a wealth of information and experience on everything from the citizen's aspect of the justice system, how citizens perceive law enforcement... to what the recruits can expect when they come into the academy and how the classes are arranged." Taking classes with Siler, with his background in law enforcement, Bender said, were also an asset to his education.
Knocked Up: A crude comedy about sex, drugs and pregnancy
by Jennifer Johnson
The Collegian
Issue date: 6/1/07
Two polar opposites meet one night in a club, have too much to drink, and have a one-night stand with an uncomfortable parting the next morning.
Eight weeks later, career-oriented Alison (Grey's Anatomy star Katherine Heigl) and ultimate slacker Ben (the biggest role yet for 24-year-old Seth Rogen) make a little trip to the OBGYN.
It's a plot that too many young people are living today, but least in the movies, the happy ending is always in sight. That being said, this tale from writer/director Judd Apatow (The 40 Year Old Virgin), manages to straddle the line between comedy and romance without ever crossing into the chick-flick genre of movies like Music and Lyrics, or (God forbid) The Wedding Date.
Ben and Alison try to establish some sort of relationship for their unborn child's sake, and do so with the appropriate awkwardness that makes the situation a little more believable.
Oddly enough, you might want to see it on a first date.
Knocked Up is rated R for extensive drug use and language (as well as an unexpected shot from the big event), but for the most part, is a feel-good movie about making the best out of all life's unexpected deliveries.
The Collegian
Issue date: 6/1/07
Two polar opposites meet one night in a club, have too much to drink, and have a one-night stand with an uncomfortable parting the next morning.
Eight weeks later, career-oriented Alison (Grey's Anatomy star Katherine Heigl) and ultimate slacker Ben (the biggest role yet for 24-year-old Seth Rogen) make a little trip to the OBGYN.
It's a plot that too many young people are living today, but least in the movies, the happy ending is always in sight. That being said, this tale from writer/director Judd Apatow (The 40 Year Old Virgin), manages to straddle the line between comedy and romance without ever crossing into the chick-flick genre of movies like Music and Lyrics, or (God forbid) The Wedding Date.
Ben and Alison try to establish some sort of relationship for their unborn child's sake, and do so with the appropriate awkwardness that makes the situation a little more believable.
Oddly enough, you might want to see it on a first date.
Knocked Up is rated R for extensive drug use and language (as well as an unexpected shot from the big event), but for the most part, is a feel-good movie about making the best out of all life's unexpected deliveries.
Message from a century passed still relevant in staged reading of 'American Apartheid'
by Jennifer Johnson
The Collegian
Issue date: 3/1/07
Most students probably don't know that just over 100 years ago, a mob of white men beat and killed African Americans and laid extensive damaged to black-owned businesses in a bloody four-day period known as the Atlanta race riot. Most students probably have never even heard of the riot.
Wade Marbaugh and Paul Hudson hope to change that. They are the authors of American Apartheid, a play adapted from The Law of The White Circle, a novella by former Oglethorpe University president Thornwell Jacobs published just two years after the September 1906 riot.
In the book, the daughter of an octaroon (a person who is one eighth black) attempts to pass for her white half-sister, choosing a white suitor over her black fiance at a time when a class of educated and enterprising blacks began to threaten the long-standing social order of the South.
At the time of it's setting (only four decades since the end of the civil war), the democratic candidate for Governor had promised constituents to prevent African Americans the chance to vote. Newspapers supporting Hoke Smith ran headlines of black on white violence, with many reports being exaggerated and perhaps even fabricated.
"Whipped into a frenzy by the media," the co-authors of the play explained in their program, "mobs of white men rioted on September 22 and for three days thereafter."
They attacked blacks and damaged black businesses. That Fall, Smith kept his promise after winning election, and only a few blacks voted until the Civil Rights Movement six decades later.
As a Lyceum event for Black History month, the staged reading of the play on February 22, featured a cast comprised of both professional actors and GPC students and included music by faculty member Derwin Daniels.
The play finds its frame from the perspective of a present-day student picking up Jacobs's book at Oglethorpe University's library.
The story, set in September 1906 on the eve and during the Atlanta Race Riot, unfolds and is concluded before the audience returns to the student and her friends, who are the vehicles for the current issues our society faces (with mentions of Katrina victims, immigrants and homosexuals) that draw strong parallels to Jacobs' tale.
The 'white circle' the book and play mention is representative of the social and economic opportunity afforded to whites, but not to blacks. It is into this circle that Lola, the mixed-race artist engaged to a black college professor, hopes to cross.
The staged reading did not forgo the violence of the race riot, and included a scene in which, during the riot, 2 white men beat a black man and leave him for dead.
John Inscoe, History professor at UGA, Editor of the New Georgia Encyclopedia and of Hudson's 1999 Thornwell Jacobs article for the Georgia Historical Quarterly, came to the JCLRC auditorium on Clarkston campus for the reading. Inscoe was pleased to see its transformation to the stage, saying "it captured and imagined the racial tension very well."
"For a white man to have written that book," Inscoe said, "published two years after the race riot, is exceptional in and of itself."
The Law of the White Circle, in fact, suggested intermarriage as the long-term solution to the racial strife. Jacobs' book, after decades off the press, was reprinted last year at the centennial of the Atlanta race riot. In its adaptation for the stage, one of its social comments is very clear in its last line. After the tale is told, and the present-day students leave the library in conversation, our frame of reference says, "Everybody just needs to think outside… the circle."
"I think the last line was a painful, appropriate way of making the point that we haven't yet solved the problem," Inscoe said. "I hope it will go far."
Another staged reading will be on March 15 at the Decatur campus in B1190 at 2 p.m., with another planned for later this spring.
The Collegian
Issue date: 3/1/07
Most students probably don't know that just over 100 years ago, a mob of white men beat and killed African Americans and laid extensive damaged to black-owned businesses in a bloody four-day period known as the Atlanta race riot. Most students probably have never even heard of the riot.
Wade Marbaugh and Paul Hudson hope to change that. They are the authors of American Apartheid, a play adapted from The Law of The White Circle, a novella by former Oglethorpe University president Thornwell Jacobs published just two years after the September 1906 riot.
In the book, the daughter of an octaroon (a person who is one eighth black) attempts to pass for her white half-sister, choosing a white suitor over her black fiance at a time when a class of educated and enterprising blacks began to threaten the long-standing social order of the South.
At the time of it's setting (only four decades since the end of the civil war), the democratic candidate for Governor had promised constituents to prevent African Americans the chance to vote. Newspapers supporting Hoke Smith ran headlines of black on white violence, with many reports being exaggerated and perhaps even fabricated.
"Whipped into a frenzy by the media," the co-authors of the play explained in their program, "mobs of white men rioted on September 22 and for three days thereafter."
They attacked blacks and damaged black businesses. That Fall, Smith kept his promise after winning election, and only a few blacks voted until the Civil Rights Movement six decades later.
As a Lyceum event for Black History month, the staged reading of the play on February 22, featured a cast comprised of both professional actors and GPC students and included music by faculty member Derwin Daniels.
The play finds its frame from the perspective of a present-day student picking up Jacobs's book at Oglethorpe University's library.
The story, set in September 1906 on the eve and during the Atlanta Race Riot, unfolds and is concluded before the audience returns to the student and her friends, who are the vehicles for the current issues our society faces (with mentions of Katrina victims, immigrants and homosexuals) that draw strong parallels to Jacobs' tale.
The 'white circle' the book and play mention is representative of the social and economic opportunity afforded to whites, but not to blacks. It is into this circle that Lola, the mixed-race artist engaged to a black college professor, hopes to cross.
The staged reading did not forgo the violence of the race riot, and included a scene in which, during the riot, 2 white men beat a black man and leave him for dead.
John Inscoe, History professor at UGA, Editor of the New Georgia Encyclopedia and of Hudson's 1999 Thornwell Jacobs article for the Georgia Historical Quarterly, came to the JCLRC auditorium on Clarkston campus for the reading. Inscoe was pleased to see its transformation to the stage, saying "it captured and imagined the racial tension very well."
"For a white man to have written that book," Inscoe said, "published two years after the race riot, is exceptional in and of itself."
The Law of the White Circle, in fact, suggested intermarriage as the long-term solution to the racial strife. Jacobs' book, after decades off the press, was reprinted last year at the centennial of the Atlanta race riot. In its adaptation for the stage, one of its social comments is very clear in its last line. After the tale is told, and the present-day students leave the library in conversation, our frame of reference says, "Everybody just needs to think outside… the circle."
"I think the last line was a painful, appropriate way of making the point that we haven't yet solved the problem," Inscoe said. "I hope it will go far."
Another staged reading will be on March 15 at the Decatur campus in B1190 at 2 p.m., with another planned for later this spring.
Spartans, spears and skin--Oh my!
by Jennifer Johnson
The Collegian
Issue date: 3/1/07
The fiction:
In a style reminiscent of Robert Rodriguez' 2005 smash hit, Sin City, another Frank Miller comic comes to the big screen in the form of 300, about the titular-numbered group of Spartans and their King facing an army of more than a quarter-million invading Persians in the ancient battle of Thermopylae.
The depiction of one of history's most heroic battles is essentially a highly stylized blood-bath with heart-thumping action and biting one-liners ("Tonight, we dine in hell!"), some of which are essentially historically accurate ("Then we will fight in the shade!", being the response to the enemy's arrows being so numerous that their launch will block out the sun).
300 is departure for the lead, Phantom of The Opera's Gerard Butler, who spends most of the movie being fierce and bearded in a cape and loin cloth while portraying the Spartan King Leonidas.
The film is dark and bold, with stunning special effects and sweeping battle scenes. It's got an R-rating for sexuality and its abundant violence and gore, so be sure to leave the little ones at home.
The fact:
In 480, at the pass at Thermopylae, Greek soldiers gathered to defend their city-states from a Persian army almost 35 times its size.
The narrow, rocky terrain was Greece's best defense and for three days, beat back invading forces at this point.
On the third and final day of battle, the Greeks were betrayed by the local shepherd Ephialtes, who showed the forces of the Persian King Xerces an alternate route over the rocky terrain that lead to the rear of the Greek's position.
Upon finding his men nearly surrounded, King Leonidas, his 300 Spartans (and a handful of Thespians and Thebans) covered the retreat of Greek forces southward where allies were building defenses.
Sacrificing themselves in battle, the elite Spartans killed scores more Persians before falling to the enemy's arrows. The body of the Spartan King was found among the corpses of his men.
Though the battle was lost, Greek forces at the sea battle of Salamis and in the next year at Plataea, used 'Thermopylae' as their war-cry and defeated the Persians.
Editor's note: This article ran with fiction and fact side-by-side.
The Collegian
Issue date: 3/1/07
The fiction:
In a style reminiscent of Robert Rodriguez' 2005 smash hit, Sin City, another Frank Miller comic comes to the big screen in the form of 300, about the titular-numbered group of Spartans and their King facing an army of more than a quarter-million invading Persians in the ancient battle of Thermopylae.
The depiction of one of history's most heroic battles is essentially a highly stylized blood-bath with heart-thumping action and biting one-liners ("Tonight, we dine in hell!"), some of which are essentially historically accurate ("Then we will fight in the shade!", being the response to the enemy's arrows being so numerous that their launch will block out the sun).
300 is departure for the lead, Phantom of The Opera's Gerard Butler, who spends most of the movie being fierce and bearded in a cape and loin cloth while portraying the Spartan King Leonidas.
The film is dark and bold, with stunning special effects and sweeping battle scenes. It's got an R-rating for sexuality and its abundant violence and gore, so be sure to leave the little ones at home.
The fact:
In 480, at the pass at Thermopylae, Greek soldiers gathered to defend their city-states from a Persian army almost 35 times its size.
The narrow, rocky terrain was Greece's best defense and for three days, beat back invading forces at this point.
On the third and final day of battle, the Greeks were betrayed by the local shepherd Ephialtes, who showed the forces of the Persian King Xerces an alternate route over the rocky terrain that lead to the rear of the Greek's position.
Upon finding his men nearly surrounded, King Leonidas, his 300 Spartans (and a handful of Thespians and Thebans) covered the retreat of Greek forces southward where allies were building defenses.
Sacrificing themselves in battle, the elite Spartans killed scores more Persians before falling to the enemy's arrows. The body of the Spartan King was found among the corpses of his men.
Though the battle was lost, Greek forces at the sea battle of Salamis and in the next year at Plataea, used 'Thermopylae' as their war-cry and defeated the Persians.
Editor's note: This article ran with fiction and fact side-by-side.
Thinking of making a major change?
by Jennifer Johnson
The Collegian
Issue date: 3/1/07
"I changed my major, like, three or four times," says Ashley, a former GSU student now taking classes at the Clarkston campus. "I kept changing my mind and spent a lot of money trying to figure it all out. That's why I came here."
Ashley is just one of the hundreds of GPC students who are still trying to figure out the next step in their academic careers.
Thai Her, adviser in the Decatur Campus advising and counseling office, estimates that in a week, an average of eight to fourteen students will come into his office to change their majors-and these forms are also available online. "Most of those who are non-traditional students come with a major-they know where they are going," said Her.
But what if students don't know where they're going?
"If you choose a major that truly interests you and pushes you to learn, you'll gain a great set of skills that you can use in any career." Says Mike Yank, co-editor of Fishing For
A Major, who recommends students do a little soul-searching and class-shopping before narrowing it down to one major.
Her also estimates that 25-30% of the students who come in to change their majors are doing the General Studies program of study, which tends to be the major of the undeclared while they take classes to figure out what they'd like to do with their lives.
GPC is the perfect place for that. While it's true that four-year universities don't have
General Studies majors, you're not enrolled in a four-year institution, and your life does not have to be planned out immediately. Before you decide, go on and take your core classes, the classes that are covered by most (if not all) of the programs of study that GPC offers.
Choosing a major is a big decision, and though students are encouraged do that soul-searching, they are also encouraged to pick and stick to a program of study and take the classes required. Depending on the classes you take, a change of major could mean credit hours that don't help you graduate. Veasna Lewis was an education major when she first applied to GPC, then began taking classes required of nursing majors before formally changing her major to general studies. When she applied for graduation last Fall, Lewis was surprised to learn that because of her change of major, classes that she'd taken no longer count.
"Now I have to take a science or a math to cover the chemistry I already took," Lewis says, describing the lecture class that is no longer on her program of study. "For me to get
credit, I would have to take Chemistry 1611 to get credit for the Chemistry 1951 class I already took but that's not on my class list. It's the exact same class," Lewis explained.
Lewis had hoped to graduate with her associates' before having her first child last September, but ended up facing additional semesters at GPC because of this confusion.
Her advice to other students? "Do not change your major. You're just going to be taking classes for no reason, and it's not gonna count."
So does your major really determine the rest of your life?
"It's a myth that major equals a career," says Shelley O'Hara, the author of What Can You Do With A Major In English? "Your major prepares you for a career, but not just for one career." In her 2001 book, O'Hara stresses the fact that no matter what your major, you could very well end up in a career very different from the classes you took. A history major could very well go to Medical School, she reasons, as a nursing major could transfer to GSU to get a B.A. in Creative Writing.
The Sweet Life author Lynn York, who signed her new book March 1 at Chapter 11 Books at Ansley Mall, graduated with a degree in English Literature and French from
Duke University, but thought that she couldn't get a good job with a French degree so went back to school. After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin with an M.B.A. and a masters in Communication, she went out into the job market and succeeded in her new field. But she wasn't really happy. So she wrote a book.
"I'm not so sure it's about major," said the author, explaining the link between her first degree and her current occupation. "For me, it's mostly about vocabulary."
If you're thinking of changing your major, visit GPC's 'What can I do with this major? 'Website (www.gpc.edu/~lawacs/majors/default.html) which has a listing of all the majors and possible jobs associated with each. Something similar is also available in your campus' Advising and Counseling office.
Whatever major you choose, be sure to double check your program advisement forms at www.gpc.edu/~acadaff/advisement/AdvisingForms.html to avoid taking any classes that don't count towards graduation.
If you have any questions about what classes you should be taking, or want to find out more about the different majors offered by Georgia Perimeter, visit your campus's Advising and Counseling Office and make an appointment to speak with an adviser before your next semester begins. The telephone numbers for each campus are:
Clarkston 678-891-3300
Decatur 678-891-2350
Dunwoody 770-274-5110
Rockdale 770-278-1240
Lawrenceville 678-407-5297
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)