The Honors College is pleased to announce the latest addition to their staff, Stacey Rowland, manager of undergraduate research. Stacey’s 20-year career at the University of West Georgia has provided her with invaluable experience and allowed her to serve various departments, faculty and staff throughout the USG institutions. Her most recent role as Student Success Manager for the University System of Georgia Collaborative Programs eCore and eMajor allowed her to serve thousands of students in a heart-felt way. She oversaw the academic and technical support services for students enrolled in the program across nine affiliate institutions and worked alongside the advisors and student success team across the system to help facilitate student success in the program.
“I am very excited to be a part of the Honors College team and continuing my passion of working alongside students and facilitating undergraduate research opportunities for students,” she says. “I look forward to being part of an evolving experience as the students participate in research opportunities throughout their time on campus and watching the students grow as they work towards their academic and career goals.”
Stacey’s outstanding customer service and managerial skills earned her a UWG Employee of the Year Award for the Division of Academic Affairs in 1999. She has also distinguished herself as an award-winning student, earning the Richards College of Business Award of Excellence for Outstanding Academic Achievement in 2009, while working full-time and being a mother. Currently, Stacey is working on her MBA through UWG’s Richards College of Business.
Stacey has represented UWG at various national and international conferences over the years and made presentations on topics related to improving online student retention and best practices for supporting students in the online environment. As a previous UWG eCore advisor, Stacey was an integral part of the UWG Online team that was awarded the administration and academic oversight of the USG eCore Collaborative program in 2009.
Her research, completed in collaboration with Dr. Melanie Clay and Dr. Abbot Packard, helped increase the course completion rates of UWG students enrolled in the online program and became a key component in eCore student success for all eCore students across the institutions. The work was published in the Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, and titled “Improving Undergraduate Online Retention Through Gated Advisement and Redundant Communication.”
For eight years, Stacey served as conference manager of the International Conference on Distance Learning Administration, sponsored by UWG and the Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration. She also served as the managing editor and production editor of the Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration.
Stacey lives in Carrollton, Georgia, with her 12-year-old son, Clayton, and cat, Zoey. She has an older son, Caleb, who is serving our country in the Air Force and a daughter, Cameron, who is a third year journalism major at the University of Georgia.
