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Summit of Excellence

  • Description
  • Curriculum

UGA’s Summit of Excellence is an annual event to help genealogy enthusiasts improve their research skills and knowledge. The three-day virtual conference includes a variety of presentations and workshops for all experience levels. The conference begins with a “Getting Started Day,” with a focus on genealogy basics. In the following days, participants can explore more advanced topics through themed tracks like “Records” and “International,” with multiple expert-led sessions happening at the same time. This format lets attendees choose sessions that match their interests.  And if participants are interested in more than one session during a time slot, recordings of the sessions will be available for later viewing.

The Summit of Excellence is dedicated to offering educational resources to help participants sharpen their genealogical research skills.

This listing is for the full conference. Looking for the free Getting Started Day? Click here.

Time (MT) Class Title – Getting Started – September 4, 2025 Instructor
9:00 am The Census Survey: The First Step in Your Research Janice M. Sellers
10:30 am Writing and Publishing Your Family History: A Beginner’s Guide Diane Henriks
12:00 pm Genealogy 102: Going Deeper with Skills, Sources & Strategies Lisa Vogele
1:30 pm Exploring Methods and Strategies in autosomal DNA Investigations Aimee Rose-Haynes
3:00 pm Organizing Your Genealogy Research for Beginners: Best Practices for Keeping Track of Sources and Documents Alina Khuda
4:30 pm Smart Starts: AI Tools Every Genealogist Should Know Edward Swierczewski
Time (MT) Class Title – September 5, 2025 Instructor
9:00 am ‘Land for the people’: Researching Irish 19th Century Land Records David Ryan
Putting Clues in Context: Using Locality, Culture, and History Tools and Timelines to Break Through Jonelle Hilleary
10:30 am Ann Aldrich: 9 Children Without a Mother Kelly Richardson, AG, APR
Behind Bars! Using Prison Records for Genealogical Research Karen J. Matheson, AG(R)
12:00 pm Society Briefs, Village News … or the other “Gossip Columns Mary Risseeuw
“To Catch a Serial Killer: A Visual Case Study of Investigative Genetic Genealogy” Allan Westreich, Ph.D.
1:30 pm Charting Your Family’s Past: The Power of Maps in Genealogy Amy Rose Ward
Never Shall I Forget: Conducting Holocaust Research Adina Newman
3:00 pm Alienation of Affection: Divorce in the United States Christine Cohen
Jumping into German and Austro-Hungarian Family Research Stephen Wendt
4:30 pm Leaving Liverpool Seema Kenney
Six Degrees of Genealogical Confidence Robert M. Call
Time (MT) Class Title – September 6, 2025 Instructor
9:00 am Land for the Landless: Homestead Records and How to Use Them in Your Research Amber Oldenburg
Squeezing All the Facts Out of Your DNA Matches Kate Penney Howard
10:30 am Unlocking Family History: Researching Courthouse Records for Genealogical Discoveries Larry W. Thomas
Introduction to Heraldry Kassidy Price
12:00 pm Tracing Heritage: Navigating the Various Rolls Used in Native American Genealogy/td> Linda Debe
Case Study: Finding a Father for Great Grandmother Flora Patricia Coleman
1:30 pm Exploring the Library of Congress Digital Collections Karen A. Fortin
Online Resources for Black American Genealogy Janice M. Sellers
3:00 pm Creating an Ancestor Sketch Thomas MacEntee
How to Find Your Norwegian Ancestors? A case study. Liv Marit Haakenstad
4:30 pm Bridging the Atlantic: US and UK Resources for Researching Colonial America Diane L. Richard
Paper Trail Meets DNA: Solving Tough Cases with a Combined Approach Kathryn Moore
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Price: $125; 10% off for UGA Members!
Course details
Lectures 1
Basic info

September 4th is a Free Getting Started Day!

On September 5th-6th, we will have two daily tracks with exciting classes!

This listing is for the full conference. Looking for the free Getting Started Day? Click here.