The University of Georgia has been offering personal and professional continuing education courses in Gwinnett County for 30 years.
“It is top-quality education that you can use, close to home,” said Shirley Chesley, program coordinator/developer for UGA/Gwinnett campus continuing education. “Our students come to us for many reasons. They know that the skills they learn will be ones that they can put to use on the job right away.”
With a mission to be accessible to nontraditional and working professionals, Chesley says the school looks for instructors who are strong subject matter experts and who understand the principles of adult education.
“We develop our programs with three things in mind: that the content is accurate and right for today’s market; that students will benefit from networking with one another; and that we know exactly how students can use the information they learn here,” she said.
The Korean/English medical interpreter certificate program, for example, is a 40-hour training program designed for bilingual people who work, or want to work, in a medical or health care setting. Students learn medical terminology, the ethics of interpreting and the cultural aspects of Korean health care. Tuition for the program, which starts in March 2012, is $929 and $899 for those who register before March 2.
“There’s a growing need for interpreters and translators in metro Atlanta and we see many people working in these jobs,” Chesley said. “Koreans are Georgia’s second-largest international population.”
The Gwinnett campus also offers certificates in Spanish/English medical interpreting, legal interpreting and education interpreting. Next May, the school will debut a Spanish/English business interpreting program.
In December, the UGA Gwinnett Campus will offer three income tax courses: the Federal Tax Update, the Top 50 Mistakes Practitioners Make and How to Fix Them, and a 1040 Individual Tax Return Refresher Course ($239 each).
“The courses are for CPAs, enrolled agents with the IRS, tax preparers and anyone who wants to know the latest tax trends and changes to the law for next year,” Chesley said.
Other popular courses include the Lean Sigma Green Belt Certification program, a 36-hour project-driven, quality-improvement program for all industries (starts January 2012, $3,599), and an eight-week paralegal program (begins February 2012, $1,189). The school also offers certificates in grant writing, project management and conference and meeting management.
“One of our newer programs is a gerontology certificate program, a multidisciplinary approach to the issues of aging, which will be useful for anyone working with the elderly, which is a growing part of our population,” Chesley said.
In addition to courses, the campus sponsors community events. On April 24, the campus will host an Administrative Professionals Day at a cost of about $160.
“We collaborate with the local chapter of the International Association of Administrative Professionals to bring in speakers and plan breakout sessions that are full of practical information that participants can use to do their jobs better,” said Venus Stone, program coordinator. “It will be breakfast, lunch and full day of networking and learning.”
To learn more about the UGA Gwinnett Campus, go to http://uga.edu/gwinnett or call 678-985-6800.
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