Office of Public Relations:                                           For more information, contact: Stephen E. Snyder

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August 4, 2009

Two visiting fellows join RCI

            AMERICUS—Myrtle Habersham, associate director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) Office of Management Planning, and Clarice Davis, M.P.H., director of Community Outreach and Education in the Alabama public health system, will begin appointments as visiting fellows with the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving (RCI) in August.

             “We are extremely pleased to have two highly qualified professionals joining us as Visiting Policy Fellows in 2009. Their interest in working with the Institute at GSW is a testament to the increasing importance of caregiving as a social policy issue, and to the growing reputation of RCI as a forward-looking Institute working on creative solutions to the caregiving crisis”, said Rick Birkel, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Rosalynn Carter Institute. “Both of these individuals bring passion and expertise to our work. In addition to their professional skills, they each have personal caregiving experience to draw on and a special interest in caregiving as an issue of growing importance to the African American community”.

            Habersham has been approved as a Visiting Senior Policy Fellow for a one-year Interagency Personnel Agreement (IPA) with the RCI, which is a unit of Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW). Prior to her position in the FHFA, Habersham served in progressively responsible roles as a senior administrator within the Social Security Administration. She also served as deputy director to a Bush Administration appointee. In her career, Habersham has twice been awarded the Presidential Award of Excellence. She was referred to for this position by former colleague and Georgia Southwestern Foundation Chairman Rudolph Patterson.

            While serving as Visiting Senior Policy Fellow, Habersham will live in her hometown of Atlanta with an office at Emory University. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from Clark Atlanta University. Habersham’s appointment begins Monday, August 10.

             Davis is a Lister Hill Fellow with the University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB). She has served as director of Community Outreach and Education in Alabama for more than 20 years. Davis is currently working on her doctorate in public health policy at UAB, and her application for the Lister Hill Fellowship was selected from a large and highly-qualified pool of applicants. The Lister Hill Fellowship is highly regarded at UAB, in Alabama and around the U.S.  It is named after Sen. Lister Hill from Alabama who was the co-author of the Hospital Survey and Construction act, also known as the Hill-Burton Act. That legislation supports construction of public hospitals in the U.S. The Fellowship also comes with a six-month stipend.

            Davis will be taking leave from her job in Alabama throughout the life of the Fellowship and will become a temporary resident of Americus. She earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Birmingham Southern College and a Master of Public Health in health promotion from UAB. Davis’ appointment began Monday, August 3.

            Myrtle Habersham, left, and Clarice Davis join the RCI in this Fall as Visiting Senior Policy Fellows.

 - GSW -