Almost every adult wants to build their credentials for higher-paying positions, but many don’t know where to get quality training in their field.
Consider an easy and convenient way to beef up your skills and your resume by taking professional development continuing education courses from The University of Georgia.
Every year, hundreds of people (including moms!) add “The University of Georgia” to their resumes without ever attending a class on the Athens campus. The Georgia Center for Continuing Education (a.k.a. “The Georgia Center”) sponsors hundreds of professional development courses to prepare adults with skills businesses need in their workforce.
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The courses cover a huge range of specialized topics, from Agile Project Management to Web Analytics and Search Engine Marketing. Many of the courses award those that complete them with a certificate that may prove valuable to their careers. Most of UGA’s professional development courses are online, so anyone, including stay-at-home moms, can study any time, anywhere.
For those who prefer to interact face-to-face with the instructor and fellow participants, the Georgia Center annually offers more than 100 classroom “continuing ed” courses, mainly at UGA’s Gwinnett campus. (Did that raise an eyebrow? Yep, UGA has a campus in metro Atlanta devoted to continuing education – it’s a modern, three-story building overlooking I-85 at the Old Peachtree exit.)
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Instructors are experts in their fields.
Dr. Lois J. Ricci, who teaches a certificate course in Professional Gerontology at the Gwinnett campus, exemplifies the expertise of the instructors recruited by the Georgia Center. She holds masters degrees in gerontology and nursing education and a doctorate in adult education.
Likewise, American Sign Language courses, which are taught by Dr. Ashia James at Athens and Gwinnett campuses, have also proven popular with teachers and social workers.
“Some of the courses get surprisingly high enrollment because they are so unique, and taught by highly acclaimed experts. Often, people can’t find the kind of training we offer anywhere else,” said Denise Logan, head of the Georgia Center’s Professional & Personal Development Department.
One example: UGA’s legal and medical interpreter courses for people fluent in English and Spanish, or English and Korean, have had great success at the Gwinnett campus.
Course offerings keep changing.
As part of its public service and outreach mission, the Georgia Center has been offering professional development courses for almost 60 years (20 years in Gwinnett County).
Course planners at the Georgia Center are constantly partnering with experts to expand the curriculum with new courses that keep pace with today’s economy.
For example, course planners saw that businesses need to develop new skills for engaging “social consumers.” At the time, few universities were offering an online certificate course in social media marketing for business professionals. The online courses available were either quite expensive, or open only to students enrolled in degree programs.
The Georgia Center worked with Tom Reichert, head of the advertising and public relations department at UGA’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, to create an online certificate course, Using Social Media to Build Business. Four Grady faculty experts authored the course, which was launched in the spring of 2013.
Business Analysis Certificate is another new course added this year at the Gwinnett campus. Enrollees learn how to help their organizations change by identifying inefficiencies in business processes and recommending solutions.
Forensic Accounting Certificate is a new course slated for 2014. The instructor, Jeff DeLancey, is a CPA with extensive experience in forensic accounting engagements to detect fraud and asset misappropriation.
Great learning opportunities coming up!
In addition to a multitude of start-anytime online courses, UGA has dozens of classroom courses and instructor-led online courses scheduled for the next few months.
Which ones are best suited to bolster your career? Find out at UGA’s easy-to-use online catalog of professional courses. Or go to www.UGAKeepLearning.com.
