NEWS

The Pope Fellowship Program is attracting the best and brightest students hoping to become leaders in the caregiving field. As the 2008-09 application deadline arrived in mid-February, the RCI received a record number of applications from students desiring to pursue the Caregiving Specialist Certificate at Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW) in conjunction with their bachelor’s degree.

The John and Betty Pope Fellowship in Caregiving is a unique program of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving at GSW. The fellowship provides financial support for outstanding individuals pursuing training and careers in fields related to caregiving.

The "Caregiving Specialist Certificate" is an interdisciplinary program designed to prepare students for continued study, specialized work or a career in the caregiving field. The course of study requires 18 credits including 9 credits of required courses (Interdisciplinary Applications in Caregiving, Theory/ Research in Caregiving and a Caregiving Practicum) as well as 9 elective credits taken from Nursing, Psychology, Sociology, Special Education and elsewhere. This Certificate is currently the only one of its kind and represents a unique commitment of Georgia Southwestern State University to prepare leaders in the field of Caregiving. The certificate program can help students:

• Understand the societal challenges of caregiving including challenges to our health care system, the economy, communities and more.

• Expand their career options.

• Prepare them for leadership positions in the field.

• Receive assistance in finding a job or pursuing advanced training in the caregiving field.

In addition to pursing a bachelor’s degree in a caregiving field and being enrolled in the caregiver specialist certificate program, fellowship applicants were required to have a grade point average of 3.0 as well as an established interest in academic study related to caregiving or a record of outstanding professional or informal caregiving.

“We’re excited about the large number of applicants and the quality of applicants,” said Dr. Leisa Easom, who oversees the Pope Fellowship program. “The Pope Fellowship Program and the RCI have earned the reputation of supporting and encouraging leadership,” Easom added. “We are looking for students who will make valuable contributions in the future as leaders in the caregiving field.”

The 2008-09 Pope Fellows will be introduced in a later edition of the RCI E-Bulletin.