Chancellor's Report, October 11, 2006
Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr.
Board of Regents Meeting
Thank you Mr. Chairman. Let me join you in thanking President Rivers and his staff for the wonderful hospitality they have provided to us here at Fort Valley State University. We have had a wonderful time. I hope we have not been too "high maintenance" over the last two days. You and your team are to be commended on the great planning and flawless execution for this visit.
For my report today, I want to touch on just a few key items and recognize several institutional and personal accomplishments of note. As we continue to discuss the new capital process, it's important that we understand what a talented group of people we have in the University System Office and across the entire System in the facilities area. Last week, I spoke at the annual Facilities Officers Conference in Savannah. I should point out that Regent Potts was there for the entire conference. The Vice Chancellor for Facilities, Linda M. Daniels, and her staff organized an extremely effective conference, one that reflects much of what we are working to achieve in the System in terms of organizational and cultural change. In my remarks, I made a comment about the "there's a hole in your end of the boat" mentality that we are working to change. Our facilities folks are not guilty on this count. This conference pulls together architects, lawyers, plant operations, builders – anyone who is involved in the planning, design, construction, and maintenance of our facilities. The conference creates an environment where ideas are exchanged across the System and ways of working better together are explored. Linda and her team have done in microcosm what we are trying to achieve through many of our presidential projects at the System level. Throughout the University System, we must focus on creating the environment and context that helps individuals from all areas of our operations truly begin to understand that we are all in the same boat and that we must work better together.
Another issue with which we are dealing is the Regents' Test. As you are aware, committees composed of University System staff and others have been working for a number of months to better understand the pros and cons of this test. The work of these committees was coming to conclusion based upon a timeline suggested to you earlier, and I have to confess that I am the reason the recommendations are not before you. I had concerns after reviewing some recommendations, and more importantly, some of the Regents' Test materials and outcomes themselves, whether we were in fact addressing a symptom of a problem versus a root cause. Some of the data raised questions concerning just what value we are adding to those students who fail on the first try and continue to fail time and time again, despite our remediation efforts. These are questions that need answers if we are going to serve these students honestly. So, I've asked our staff to explore some of these issues more in depth in order to bring forward to you a recommendation that encompasses both the test itself and some of the broader issues related to it.
While we are on the issue of students, and consistent with our discussion this morning, we continue to focus a lot of time and attention on the students coming to us from Georgia's K-12 system. This nation needs more students graduating from high school ready to do college-level work. It also needs more students engaged in the math and sciences, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a reformed engineer. The work we are doing with the Partnership for Reform in Science and Mathematics ("PRISM") initiative addresses this fundamental pipeline issue. However, we must also formally recognize the University System's role in student preparation through our teacher education efforts. And with your approval of the new "Work in Schools" policy (Section 803.17 of The Policy Manual), we have made it clear that this Board considers teacher education a top System priority. With this policy, we are sending a message to our institutions that all faculty can and, where appropriate, should play a role in teacher education. Nothing is more important than our efforts to ensure that all Georgians have access to high-quality teaching. Such teaching will prepare students for a world in which a college degree is the key to individual success.
Working with the Department of Technical and Adult Education ("DTAE"), the University System will also launch this fall a public awareness campaign for the Georgia Helping Educate Reservists and their Offspring ("Georgia HERO") program. Georgia HERO, provided through the efforts of the Governor and General Assembly, is for Georgia-based military with combat experience as well as the children of these military personnel. This program will allow eligible participants to receive up to $2,000 a year for a maximum of $8,000 for the equivalent of four years of study at a DTAE college or public or private college or university in Georgia. You will see a series of ads jointly sponsored by us and DTAE that essentially state, "You have served us well; now, let us serve you well." We are excited about this and will be sending early copies of that marketing material to members of the legislature who were instrumental in passing this legislation as well as to other opinion and thought leaders.
Now, let me mention some accomplishments and changes of note. The faculty at Augusta State University ("AUSU") has voted unanimously to recommend that the College of Business Administration be named the James. M. Hull College of Business. President William A. Bloodworth, Jr. has approved the recommendation. Mr. Hull is an Augusta philanthropist who has made a $2 million cash gift to the university's foundation to benefit the business college. This is the single largest cash donation in the history of AUSU. I mention it here in the spirit of catalytic giving so that others will be inspired to have schools named after them. We are certainly appreciative of his gift.
Closer to home, the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Advanced Learning Technologies, Kris A. Biesinger, has received a commendation from Governor Sonny Perdue for her outstanding work in launching the GAcollege411 website. We loaned Kris to the Georgia Student Finance Commission for two years to help launch this important tool for students. She is now back in the University System Office working on some distance education efforts for me, because this is an area where I believe we can be a lot more effective in the marketplace to capture more of the distance education market in the State of Georgia, particularly in teacher education.
I am also pleased to announce that Dorothy Roberts has agreed to serve as interim Associate Vice Chancellor for Human Resources, following the retirement of William Wallace. Dorothy has more than 25 years experience in employee benefits administration, human resource management, cost containment, program design, and strategic planning. Before her arrival at the Board of Regents in fall 2005, Dorothy was Director of Benefits and Human Resources Customer Service at Georgia State University. You may also be interested to know that she served as Manager of Resource Administration for the Olympic Village under the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, where her primary role was staffing the Olympic Village. I should note that our new Secretary to the Board, Julia M. Murphy, was on Billy Payne's team for the 1996 Olympics. Individuals such as Dorothy Roberts and Kris Biesinger are good reminders of the outstanding quality and depth of experience we have on our campuses and in this System. It is also a reminder that we must not neglect to develop leadership in depth as we move forward. This will be one of my continuing priorities. As we move forward, we will be putting more of our resources into the training and development of our people. Quality people deserve quality leadership and growth opportunities within the organization, and we are committed to providing these.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my report.