In September, Brenau University will celebrate its expanded Downtown Campus, featuring the Downtown Center and the Gainesville Renaissance, with events focused on science and the arts.
“Brenau is expanding its footprint in downtown Gainesville to coalesce into a true downtown campus location focused on health sciences,” Brenau President Anne Skleder said. “The university’s revitalization of the former Georgia Mountains Center and the addition of the Gainesville Renaissance are changing the look of downtown.”
This spring, the Lynn J. Darby School of Psychology and Adolescent Counseling at Brenau University moved into its home on the second floor of the Gainesville Renaissance. The move facilitates expansion of the school’s counseling clinic and academic programs, which includes plans to add a doctorate in fall 2023.
“I’m grateful to Doug and Kay Ivester for another extraordinary gift,” Skleder said. “Their generosity and commitment to the people of Gainesville and Hall County focuses their extremely generous investment in education and the health sciences. We are humbled to be stewards of their investment.”
In September, Brenau will hold two events in the Charles D. Walters Theatre on the Square at the Brenau Downtown Center to celebrate the downtown expansion.
On Thursday, Sept. 15, Brenau will welcome Dr. Stephen Chew of Samford University for the inaugural Lynn J. Darby School Symposium. Chew will present Preparing Adolescents to Be Academically Successful and will discuss what psychologists have discovered about how people learn and how this knowledge can promote academic success.
Chew was the 2011 U.S. Professor of the Year for the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. He is the recipient of the 2018 American Psychological Foundation’s Charles L. Brewer Distinguished Teaching of Psychology Award, the top teaching award within psychology, the Psi Chi Distinguished Member Award, and a fellow of the American Psychological Association.
“Brenau is very pleased and honored to welcome Dr. Chew, a professor of considerable renown in the field of psychology,” Dr. Jim Eck, provost and vice president of academic affairs, said. “Knowing how to learn effectively can promote a sense of academic self-efficacy and mastery among adolescents. Furthermore, it is a life skill that will help students in college and careers.”
Tickets for the event, which will take place from 7-8:30 p.m., are free but registration is required. One continuing education unit is available for psychologists and licensed professional counselors who attend.
On Friday, Sept. 16, Brenau will switch gears to celebrate the arts with a professional production of The Great American Songbook.
This live, original musical revue celebrating 30 of the greatest songs of all time stars a professional cast from Broadway and beyond. The Great American Songbook is a musical journey featuring works written by George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and others, and performed by legendary singers such as Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Judy Garland and Bing Crosby, to name a few.
General Admission tickets are $10.
