ROME, Ga. -- Berry College is accepting applications for its Preparing Leaders for Ultimate Success (PLUS) program.

The summer session helps high school students prepare for college by teaching them study skills and hosting workshops about selecting a college and finding possible career paths.

To be accepted to PLUS, a high school senior must be nominated by his or her guidance counselor and fill out an application. The deadline is Monday, Apr. 15.

PLUS runs from June 23-29 and costs $275, which includes instruction, dining, educational trips and lodging in a Berry College dorm.

Learn more and apply at berry.edu.

ROME, Ga. -- Curtis Reed will begin his "Take me Back to Georgia: A Celebration in Song" tour on March 30 in Rome.

An official for the Greater Rome Convention & Visitors Bureau said the concert's benefits will go to music and arts programs of Floyd County schools.

Two concerts will be held that Saturday, one at 2:30 p.m. and the other at 7:00 p.m.  Many students will help out during the performances by singing background vocals for Reed. 

A Pepperhill High School student celebrated the tour by creating digital art that has been placed on some products sold at Rome's Last Stop Gift Shop. Grafton Flock is a junior. He plans to pursue graphic design and marketing in his future career.

ROME, Ga. -- Dr. Kathy Brittain Richardson, a professor of communication at Berry College, has been named the school's new provost.

Richardson succeeds Katherine Whatley, who recently became senior VP for academic programs with the Council of Independent Colleges.

Richardson has been a Berry faculty member since 1986 and served as interim provost during the 2007-08 school year. She became Berry's acting provost last fall.

She earned a B.A. in communication and religion/philosophy from Shorter College, and a master's in journalism and doctorate in mass communication from the University of Georgia. Richardson also completed graduate coursework in communication at the University of Oklahoma.