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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Atlanta, GA | Posted: January 15, 2015
Laura Diamond
Georgia Tech Media Relations
404-894-6016
About the Faces of Manufacturing
Each month, GaMEP will highlight a different person as the Face of Manufacturing. Those chosen as the Face of Manufacturingwill be selected by a 12-member committee comprised of representatives from Georgia Tech, economic development groups, manufacturing companies, and related associations.
Contact Information: Katie Takacs, katie.takacs@innovate.gatech.edu
Summary Sentence:
Faces of Manufacturing program designed to honor the hard-working, dedicated people throughout the state who work within or are affected by the industry.
Full Summary:
The Faces of Manufacturing campaign is designed to highlight the critical role the industry plays in Georgia’s economic vitality.
Faces of Manufacturing iconRhonda Beasley isn’t one to back down from a challenge or hard work. It’s a philosophy that’s taken her from welder on the third shift to human resources manager at Roper Corp. in LaFayette, Ga.
“There were times I thought, ‘I can’t do this,’” Beasley said, recounting her journey in manufacturing. But just as quickly she thought, “‘yes, I can.’”
The Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) is proud to announce Beasley as the first Face of Manufacturing, a program designed to honor the hard-working, dedicated people throughout the state who work within or are affected by the industry.
Each month, GaMEP, a unit of Georgia Institute of Technology’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, will profile a Georgian who is involved in manufacturing for the Faces of Manufacturing campaign. The idea is designed to highlight the critical role the industry plays in the state’s economic vitality. The nearly 10,000 manufacturers in the state employ 486,000 people with a total manufacturing output of $53 billion a year.
But the Faces of Manufacturingis about more than just numbers. It’s to share the compelling stories of those who work in manufacturing, such as Beasley, who went back to school to get her bachelor’s and master’s degrees while working full-time and raising her two young sons as a single mother.
“We know manufacturing contributes a lot to Georgia’s economy,” said GaMEP Director Karen J. Fite. “But on a deeper level, it makes a difference in the Georgia communities our manufacturers call home; and more than that, it changes the lives of so many Georgians and their families. Rhonda Beasley and her family are a great example.”
A strong proponent of manufacturing careers, Beasley touts how it has changed her life. She also tells how the industry itself has changed and offers countless options in engineering and other specialties as career choices, especially for women.
“It’s important that kids know there are great careers in manufacturing,” Beasley said.
