Schools

UNG Announces Director for New Initiative

Sheila Caldwell joins university as head of Complete College Georgia.

Sheila Caldwell has joined the University of North Georgia (UNG) as a director for its new initiative, Complete College Georgia. She was formerly the state coordinator of high school initiatives for the Technical College System of Georgia.

Complete College was announced by Gov. Nathan Deal as a statewide initiative in following a 2011 study that found Georgia will need to increase the percentage of its population with some level of college completion from 42 percent to 60 percent to meet workforce needs. 

Dr. Al Panu, senior vice president for university affairs, said Caldwell's experience is an excellent fit for the needs of the new position at UNG.

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"Sheila Caldwell brings a complete and excellent background needed to perform an effective job as UNG's director of Complete College Georgia, a very important initiative to the success of this university, the region that we serve and the entire state," Panu said in a press release.   

Caldwell, who started on July 15, said she is eager to get to work.

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"I love this whole mission because I think it's really going to transform education," Caldwell said. 

Initiatives such as dual enrollment, in which high school students take college courses in conjunction with their own curriculum, and educating middle school students about courses needed to prepare for various career opportunities will help boost the initiative, she said. Institutions of higher education also need to improve, including instruction methods and reducing the time it takes to earn a degree.

Before her position at TCSG, Caldwell worked in admissions at Northwestern Business College, Illinois Institute of Art and Georgia Medical Institute. She also served as dual enrollment coordinator for Dekalb Technical College.

Caldwell has a bachelor's degree in marketing from Northern Illinois University and a master's degree in educational leadership from Argosy University. She currently is pursuing a doctoral degree in workforce education from the University of Georgia.


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