Karen Owen, Dean
University College equips every student at the University of West Georgia (UWG) to become successful both academically and professionally. Our faculty and staff encourage and support every student to choose his or her pathway to success. University College empowers every student and supports every college and school at UWG.
University College serves as the home for academic and student support units including Academic Transition Programs, the Department of Student Success (i.e., Center for Academic Success and University Advising), and the Department of Multicultural Achievement.
University College also includes academic programs and departments, including the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, the Department of Civic Engagement and Public Service (housing the degree programs in Criminology and Political Science) and the Department of General Education, which houses First-Year Writing and First-Year Mathematics.
Department of Civic Engagement and Public Service
The purpose of the Department of Civic Engagement and Public Service is to promote the ideals of civic engagement and public service for students, faculty and staff through the lens of political science and criminology. The department seeks to offer students research and educational opportunities through collaborative efforts with campus groups, as well as local, state, regional, national and international organizations and government agencies, and to cultivate connections between scholars, practitioners, and the general public.
Department of General Education
The Department of General Education works to provide students with an outstanding academic foundation. GE faculty intend for students to graduate not only with essential reading, writing and quantitative skills, but also with the excitement of academic discovery in a variety of disciplines, a strong foundation in critical reasoning and a firm grounding in ethics. The educational purpose of the general education department is also to provide a diverse student body with opportunities to achieve academically, creatively, and professionally in their chosen fields.
Academic Transition Programs
University College is home to several of the university’s high-impact practices aimed to help foster the success of first-year students, including:
- First-Year Seminar (XIDS 2002, 2 credits: Area B2): A course intended to assist in students’ intellectual transition to UWG.
- Learning Communities: Communities of 22 or more students that take blocks of courses together around a theme (e.g. Film).
- Living-Learning Communities: Communities of 22 or more students that take blocks of courses together and share a residential community.
University College also houses the academic support unit: the Department of Student Success which includes the Center for Academic Success, University Advising, the University Writing Center, and the STEM Tutoring Center.
Department of Student Success
We specialize in providing students with the keys to be successful college students. We house two of the University’s tutoring facilities-the Center for Academic Success and the University Writing Center-as well as the Advising Center, where students go to receive advice throughout their academic advancement.
Center for Academic Success
The Center for Academic Success seeks to be a resource for students who want to be successful learners. The Center offers Peer Tutoring, Supplemental Instruction, Academic Coaching, Success workshops, and a number of employment opportunities for students.
The STEM Tutoring Center
The University Writing Center
TLC 1201
The University Writing Center (UWC) works to assist individuals within the UWG community in their pursuit to become better writers, thinkers, and scholars. The UWC offers assistance to writers from all disciplines at any level and is staffed by faculty and graduate writing consultants who provide guidance on a variety of writing-related concerns.
University Advising
University Advising supports students in their path to graduation by delivering information regarding advising and registration, providing appropriate course recommendations to keep students on track, and teaching students to use the tools for self-advisement that the University of West Georgia offers. To ensure students both maximize their use of UWG’s structures and resources and make timely progress through their degree requirements, all students are required to meet with their academic advisor each semester prior to registration.
Department of Multicultural Achievement
The Department of Multicultural Achievement provides curricular and co-curricular programming and services that facilitate retention and progression, while also promoting leadership skills, professional development, and cultural competency to meet the needs of UWG’s diverse student populations. DMA’s current initiatives include the African American Male Initiative (AAMI), the Multicultural Achievement Program (MAP), Achieve Atlanta, and the Goizueta Scholarship.
Center for Interdisciplinary Studies
The Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (CIDS) endeavors to catalyze, promote, and support modes of inquiry and learning at UWG that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries. It serves this mission in two primary ways: First, by assisting and providing administrative oversight in efforts to infuse and strengthen interdisciplinarity in the curriculum, including the development of new XIDS courses and interdisciplinary degree programs, coordinating the assessment of XIDS courses in the core curriculum, and supporting existing interdisciplinary majors and minors, including the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies (BIS), and minors in Africana Studies, Asian Studies, Classical Studies, Film Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Latin American Studies, and Women’s Studies. Second, the CIDS manages and administers the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies, including coordinating the advising and mentoring of BIS majors, managing individualized degree plans, coordinating with academic programs and departments to offer interdisciplinary pathways in Film, Forensic Science & Investigation, Natural Resources Management, Data Science, Religion, and Creative Writing, and Materials Science, Public Management and Society, Public Service, Music and Industry, and Music and Wellness, offering the introductory (XIDS 2000), theory and methods (XIDS 3000), and capstone (XIDS 4000) courses required by the Interdisciplinary Studies major, and supporting IDS majors in undertaking and presenting their capstone projects.
Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies
Embedded Certificates
Minor
Department of Civic Engagement and Public Service
Criminology Program
Professors:
V. Griffin, G. Lee, L. Pazzani (Program Coordinator)
Associate Professors:
A. Kolb, M. Mills (Graduate Coordinator), J. Nicholson (Internship Coordinator), E. Wentz, S. Williamson
Assistant Professor:
D. Ayers (Director of External Public Safety Partnerships)
Political Science Program
Professors:
A. Fleming (Chair), T. Hunter, S. Lee, H. Mbaye, J. Peralta, P. Rutledge, R. Schaefer
Associate Professors:
K. Barrett, D. McLean, K. Owen (Dean)
Instructor:
S. Drammeh
The general education mission of the Political Science Department is to help students develop an understanding of the basic values, institutions, political and legal processes and public policies of the American national and Georgia governments so that they can participate in government in a knowledgeable and intelligent fashion. The undergraduate program offers two academic degrees. The primary purpose of the B.A. program is to provide students with a general, liberal arts degree with a major in political science. Such a degree is appropriate for those students who want a broad liberal arts education, plan to attend graduate or law school, or wish to prepare for employment in government, political organizations, journalism or a private business with extensive public contracts. The primary purpose of the B.S. program is to give students an overview of the discipline and a more concentrated focus on a particular subfield of political science so that they are prepared for employment in the public sector or in nonprofit organizations or for professional programs in graduate school or law school. Finally, the department provides service courses related to domestic and international politics for students enrolled in related programs at West Georgia.
Bachelor of Science
Embedded Certificates
Minor
Other
Department of General Education
Chair, T. Schroer
First-Year Writing
Assistant Professor:
J. Harte
Senior Lecturers:
B. Adams (Program Coordinator), K Chaple, A. Dycus, A. Ellison, M. Jordan, J. Kesler, J. Loicano, M. McFarland, S. Morin, P. Murphy, J. Sewell, C. Shelnutt
Lecturers:
B. Baxter, M. Jackson
Instructor:
J. Steed
First-Year Mathematics
Professor:
S. Sykes (Crider Chair and Program Coordinator)
Assistant Professor:
C. Carmack
Senior Lecturer:
J. Bellon
Lecturers:
B. Brodsky, K. Carter, W. Gay, R. Johnson, S. Patel, N. Rehfuss
The Department of General Education houses the majority of the first-year writing and first-year math courses. The pedagogical mission of the Department of General Education is to provide a diverse student body with opportunities to achieve academically, creatively, and professionally in their chosen fields. We provide students with a balanced and dynamic academic foundation so that they graduate not only with essential reading, writing, and quantitative skills, but with the excitement of academic discovery in a variety of disciplines, a strong foundation in critical reasoning, and a firm grounding in ethics.
Goals:
To provide students with a transformative education that empowers them to achieve academic, professional, and personal excellence through core competencies in written and quantitative reasoning, including
- Preparing students to explore and understand an ever-growing body of knowledge across multiple disciplines
- Teaching students to communicate effectively and for a wide array of audiences and purposes
- Equipping students with problem-solving skills, research, and reasoning abilities from an integrated, multi-disciplinary perspective
- Engaging students in growth-model processes that place emphasis on learning, achieving excellence, and developing life-long skills