Athens, Ga. – A former dean and a textiles professional each with more than 40 years of experience in industry have been named to the College of Family and Consumer Sciences newest professorships.
Sharon Y. Nickols, housing and consumer economics professor and former FACS dean, has been named the Janette McGarity Barber Distinguished Professor. Nickols has nearly 40 years in academia, beginning with serving as an instructor at Culver-Stockton College in 1967. She served on the faculty of Oklahoma State University from 1976-1986, including serving as director of the OSU Family Study Center for five years. Prior to joining UGA, she was director of the School of Human Resources and Family Studies and assistant director for the Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1986-1991. Nickols served as FACS dean from 1991 until her return to a full-time faculty position in June 2006.
The Barber professorship was established with a gift from J. Mac Barber in honor of his wife who died in 1999. Janette Barber earned her bachelor of science in home economics degree at UGA in 1938 and her master’s degree in 1966. After earning her bachelor’s degree, Barber served as a school nutrition director and taught home economics courses. In 1945, she joined the staff of the Georgia Department of Education as assistant supervisor of home economics and was the first person in the nation to be designated as a state adviser for the Future Homemakers of America programs, a position she retained until her retirement in 1970. She received the first Distinguished Alumni Award from what was then the College of Home Economics Alumni Association and is in the FACS Honor Hall of Recognition.
Charles S. Gilbert has been named the Georgia Soft Goods Education Foundation Distinguished Professor. Gilbert has more than 40 years of experience in the soft goods industry, including consulting experience with more than 150 companies in countries ranging from Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Nigeria, Mexico and throughout the United States. He founded his own consulting business in 1987 and has worked with soft goods companies on a variety of projects including developing work groups in cutting, sewing and warehousing of products; supervisory training programs and statistical quality control programs. He has also worked in academia, including helping establish the Apparel Research Center at Clemson University and the Apparel and Technology Research Center at California Polytechnic University at Pomona. Prior to founding his own firm, Gilbert spent 20 years with Summerour and Associates of Atlanta, where he began as an engineer in training and served as president of the company from 1979-1986.
The Georgia Soft Goods Education Foundation Professorship was established with a gift from GSGEF, an organization composed of members of the apparel and textile industry in Georgia and the southeast. With the internationalization of the soft goods industry, which includes all types of items made of fabrics, such as those used in backpacks and linens, as well as apparel and home furnishings, the focus of the professorship is to bring both industry and teaching experience to the college’s textiles, merchandising and interiors departments.
For more information on the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, see http://www.uga.edu/academics/facs.html.