A professional with extensive childcare experience in the university setting has been selected to direct the new University Childcare Center, located on the UGA Health Sciences Campus. Classes will begin at the center on Jan. 3.
Nadia Perez was a child development specialist at the Michigan State University Child Development Laboratory, where she managed student classrooms and supervised university students who were enrolled in child development curriculum courses, while instructing children through developmentally appropriate practices.
Through Michigan State and the SunWah Foundation, she served as principal of the 3e International School in Beijing, China. Her responsibilities there included staff supervision, curriculum development and implementation, and operational leadership for nursery through early elementary classrooms.
Perez also served as an accreditation coordinator for the National Association for the Education of Young Children in Washington, D.C. The University Childcare Center will follow NAEYC standards in the areas of curriculum and staffing, including student to teacher ratios, class sizes and continuing education for teachers. She earned her master’s degree in family and consumer sciences with an emphasis in family life education from Western Michigan University.
Childcare will be available to children of faculty, staff and students as well as from the community if space allows. The center will serve up to 146 children ages 6 weeks through 4 years.
