Message from the dean: It's about the people

Any time you make a personal connection, you influence another person's life.

This is why the research conducted at the University of Georgia College of Education is so unique and so important. Our work may influence policy or change the way the market reacts to a product, but that's not our goal. Instead, our faculty are working to make lives better and create change on a personal level.

This, to me, is the definition of success.

When you are conducting research that affects someone personally, you know you are changing lives for the better. This could mean teaching someone a new way to solve a mathematics problem or read a book on their own. This could mean helping people overcome a disability or learn a new exercise to make staying healthy easier. Or, this could mean working with adults and organizations to empower new learners and provide more job opportunities in the future.

These are the ways in which the College of Education touches lives every day. No, we're not producing pills or fancy new electronics, but rather we're creating ideas and new ways of thinking that work their way into the fabric of everyday life. Our new thoughts become research that directly affects how we interact with one another, and directly affects lives to make them better.

In the following pages, find out more about the work that we do. I'm sure you will agree that our research is more than groundbreaking—it's personal. It's changing lives every day. Because it's about the people.