Georgia College garners national, state awards

Three national college ranking organizations placed Georgia College among top regional colleges of the South and, separately, on a comprehensive list of national colleges of distinction.

The U.S. News and World Report ranked it 12th out of the public regional universities in the South and 36th out of 127 Southern regional universities both private and public.

“It’s a recognition of Georgia College’s academic excellence and potential,” said Stas Preczewski, interim president of GC. Another college ranking source, The Princeton Review listed GC as “A Best in the Southeast” in their annual ranking.

GC was also named a College of Distinction on the Colleges of Distinction website, along with 200 other colleges, and was the only public university awarded.

“I see it as a reflection of the community that we have here,” said Andrew Burton, who is a master’s student in education.“It’s a spiral upwards. High quality rankings mean high quality faculty and staff, which attracts high quality students and allows for high quality facilities and programs to be put in place,” Preczewski said.

The student population and reputation is a large factor of college rankings and ratings. Works produced by students, as well as their activities within the community, contribute to the college’s rankings. Work put out by faculty, such as academic papers, is also considered in rankings. School resources such the student-run journal, The Peacock’s Feet, and The Corinthian, the scholarly journal which gives publishing opportunities to graduate and undergraduate students, contribute to these rankings.

The volunteer hours of students and colleges not only affects ratings, but the degree to which public colleges and universities receive funding from state and national governments.
GC is currently on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, and has been for two years.

“I’m proud to attend this school and I’m proud to have a degree for this college come December. I think GC is a great place,” said Ami Ingwersen, senior sociology major. According to the Honor Roll’s website, the honor is a distinction that annually recognizes institutions of higher education for their commitment to and achievement in community service and increases the public’s awareness of the contributions that colleges and their students make to local communities and the nation as a whole. This is the highest federal honor an institution can receive for volunteer service. As a result of these rankings, GC can look for improvements in multiple areas in the future.

“We can anticipate an increase in the number of applicants, the number and quality of faculty, increase in the approval of grants and donors, (which) all contribute to the spiral upwards,” Preczewski said.

Posted by MarkWatkins on Sep 29 2011. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.