Atlanta — April 17, 2002

The campus of Kennesaw State University provided the kick-off site today for the University System of Georgia’s “Knowledge Is Power Tour.” The 12-stop tour will provide the state’s business leaders with a chance to meet the system’s new chancellor, Thomas C. Meredith, and an opportunity to learn how the University System boosts Georgia’s economic growth.

Sponsored by ICAPP (Intellectual Capital Partnership Program) – the University System’s economic development initiative – the tour will highlight the University System’s existing and proposed efforts to encourage regional and statewide economic development by utilizing the intellectual capital on its 34 campuses to meet business needs.

“Today will be a two-way street of information exchange,” Meredith said in remarks to the group of metro-Atlanta business leaders. “Our challenge is to work together to turn knowledge into the type of power that can transform lives, businesses and communities.”

In addition to hearing from the chancellor and beneficiaries of the ICAPP program, attendees will be asked to provide feedback to System officials and campus representatives on the business community’s needs and perceptions of public higher education.

Since the creation of ICAPP six years ago as a “one-stop shop” for business needs, a number of programs oriented toward enhancing the state’s economic development have been unveiled by the University System of Georgia. These include fast-track programs to meet the need for highly educated knowledge workers and the use of technology to identify employees in key fields such as computer science, engineering and information technology. ICAPP also has been instrumental in creating programs to match employees with businesses through the System’s on-line GeorgiaHire website.

“Knowledge Is Power Tour” attendees will receive background on these programs as well as information on upcoming plans by the University System to increase commercialization activity statewide. The tour, which will continue through this October, will visit the state’s 12 economic regions with support from the System’s 34 colleges and universities and private industry.

The complete “Knowledge Is Power Tour” schedule is as follows: April 17, Kennesaw State University; April 23, Augusta State University; May 1, Gainesville College; June 4, University of Georgia; August 28, Macon State College; August 29, Albany State University; Sept. 25, Coastal Georgia Center, Savannah; Oct. 1, Columbus State University; Oct. 3, Dalton State College; Oct. 9, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College; Oct. 29, Clayton College & State University; and Oct. 30 East Georgia College.

For more information on the “Knowledge Is Power Tour,” phone the ICAPP office at (404) 656-2275 or visit the ICAPP website at http://www.icapp.org.

« News Releases