GAINESVILLE, GA -- The American Council on Education, representing 1,800 accredited, degree-granting colleges and universities, today presented two local colleges with a national recognition award. At the June 12 ACE Invitational Symposium on Academic Excellence and Cost Management in Fairfax, Va. Brenau University and Gainesville College were honored for their collaboration, which resulted in the Gainesville Theatre Alliance.
The award recognizes colleges and universities that have taken initiatives to improve the quality of higher education while controlling costs. The ACE program received more than 120 entries and the panel of judges selected 19 finalists and then seven award winners. Brenau was the only private college to be so honored.
GTA director Jim Hammond, Brenau President John Burd, Gainesville College President Martha Nesbitt and Brenau Vice President for Academic Affairs Helen Ray traveled to Washington to receive the award and to discuss the joint program at the symposium with colleagues from across the country. In addition to being featured at the awards ceremony, the national award winners will be highlighted in a publication of effective practices that will be available to U.S. colleges and universities and to the news media.
?We are rightfully proud,? Burd said. ?Brenau was the only small private college among the award winners. The important thing is not the award, but the fact that our collaboration has produced an excellent, nationally-recognized theatre program at substantial cost savings for each institution.?
The alliance began more than 20 years ago when Brenau University and Gainesville College combined their theatre programs. The initiative enables Brenau, Gainesville College and the Northeast Georgia community to pool financial support and resources to create the program. Students and faculty from both institutions work together with theatre professionals and members of the community to produce three main stage and two touring repertory productions each year. GTA programs and services are the result of a clearly defined mission focusing on three major priorities: quality productions, education and accessibility.
?Few communities in this country have access to the exceptional level of theatre produced by Gainesville Theatre Alliance,? Nesbitt said.
The program was showcased at the Kennedy Center in 1990 as a winner of the American College Theatre Festival, and ranked twice in the last five years as the number one theatre in the state by the Georgia Council for the Arts.
Gainesville Theatre Alliance points with pride to the achievements of its graduates, who include Tony nominee Joanne Camp, Artistic Co-director of New York's Pearl Theatre, and Yale graduate Sandra Williams, who served as Athol Fugard's stage manager of choice for a number of years. Another graduate, Austin Jones, recently graduated from the highly competitive graduate acting program at Yale.
The American Council on Education (ACE), founded in 1918, is the nation's coordinating higher education association. ACE is dedicated to the belief that equal educational opportunity and a strong higher education system are essential cornerstones of a democratic society. As colleges and universities search for ways to reduce the cost of higher education without negatively affecting quality, the symposium rewards and gives recognition to those institutions that are leading the way in this arena.
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