in this column, I addressed the important relationships our system has statewide and "community-deep" through our technical-college boards of directors and our state board. We focused on the leadership conference, where it was clear that Governor Barnes, Lieutenant Governor Taylor, and our legislative leaders are deeply involved in the success of our system. In this issue, through our interview with my friend Michael Thurmond, Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Labor, we touch on another segment of partnerships, those with other state agencies. (This is our second Executive Profile, a part of this newsletter that gives all of you who are part of our system an opportunity to, in a way, listen in on an in-depth conversation with people who are important to us. Be sure to take a look at the complete interview.)

As you may recall, in the first issue my focus was the outstanding quality of our faculty and staff throughout the technical college system. In our next issue, we will begin a focus on another extremely significant part of the way our system works: our partnerships with business and industry.

Summer, bringing as it does the beginning of our fiscal year, is an appropriate time to focus on a few specific recent events important to our agency and to enjoy looking ahead to the near future. Speaking of fiscal year, I hope all of you have had a chance to see our agency's most recent annual report. While maintaining on the Internet the traditional version that we have relied on for the last four years, we also published a version that summarizes events and highlights and focuses on six "Profiles of Success" that serve as examples of what we help people accomplish.This report is posted on the web at www.dtae.org/public/01report. Please take a look, too, at our most recent Results magazine and our Quick Start newsletter, also posted on our web site. Our system is accomplishing good things all over Georgia, and it is important to me that you are aware of what is happening throughout Georgia as a result of our technical colleges and other programs and services.

"Around the State" features recent news from some of our technical colleges; here, I'd like to point out some state-level news. This year's GOAL — as you know, the Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership, the way each year we honor one outstanding student from each school and then one statewide — and Rick Perkins Award (honoring our teachers) celebration again afforded us a chance to congratulate those who represent the best of the very fine students and teachers that make up our system. Top winners this year are Johnathan Haley (GOAL), a nursing student at Athens Technical College, and Michelle Earley, a business office technology instructor at Coosa Valley Technical College.

Another item of state-level news that I'd like to point out to you pertains to honors for two of our State Board members, Gwen Goodman and Edgar Rhodes.

The event celebrating Savannah Technical College’s first named building, Gwen Goodman Hall, was a great occasion. State Board member Goodman’s longstanding and continuing commit-ment and service to Savannah and all of Georgia make this honor a most fitting tribute.

Gwen Goodman Hall is on the Savannah Technical College campus. Renovated last year, the building houses the Allied Health programs, including classroom and laboratory space for Dental Assisting, Surgical Technology, Medical Assisting, and Practical Nursing; classroom/restaurant space and kitchen for Culinary Arts; classroom and laboratory space for Early Childhood Care & Education, including a day care center; classroom and laboratory for Cosmetology; and classroom and laboratory space for Drafting and Electronics/Computer Engineering Technology.

The Edgar Rhodes Center for Animal and Dairy Science on the University of Georgia campus honors board member Rhodes, a 1938 UGA graduate. The Center, finished in 1998, houses offices for 4-H and extension-service programs, laboratories, a meat-science center, retail space and classrooms.

It was a pleasure to congratulate State Board member Edgar Rhodes at the ceremo-ny honoring him at the Edgar Rhodes Center for Animal and Dairy Science on the University of Georgia campus in Athens.

Edgar Rhodes started out as a vocational-agriculture teacher, later running a lumber business and working in Haralson County as a farmer and a banker. Gwen Goodman has had a distinguished career in government and education, including teaching and administration and service on the Board of Education in Savannah/Chatham County and as a county commissioner and a city alderman. These two board members contribute a great deal to our system through their service on our board; it is good to know that they have been honored in so significant a way, in so appropriate a form.

COMING NEXT ISSUE:

Our fall issue features our first in
a series focusing on our bursiness
and industry partnerships throughout
Georgia. Strong business and community
support in the Columbus area is key to the
growing economic strength of the area.

Columbus Technical
College Library

Previous Issues:
Vol. 1, No. 1
Vol. 1, No. 2

From the Commissioner
Summer 2002 - Vol. 1, No. 3

Published quarterly by the
Georgia Department of
Technical and Adult Education
1800 Century Place,
Atlanta, GA 30045

Kenneth H. Breeden,
Commissioner

Editor:
Donna Maddock-Cowart
dm-c@mindspring.com