Vol. 38, No. 4, May 2001
Vol. 38, No. 4, May 2001
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Indicating that it's time for new leadership to devise fresh solutions to old challenges, Chancellor Stephen R. Portch announced at the May meeting of the Board of Regents his intention to resign at the conclusion of a national search to name his successor.
"I told the board at my interview for the chancellor's position in 1994 that the next chancellor needed to be a strong and activist change agent," Portch said. "That being the case, I believed the next chancellor should serve no less than five years in office and no more than seven. This is the month for commencements - it's time for me to graduate finally!"
Portch said he will continue his work on behalf of the University System of Georgia "until a new chancellor is selected and in place." His immediate plans are to take educational leave for a year, but he added that he will remain accessible to help the board, the System and its institutions "in any way I can." Highly touted nationally, both as an educational leader and public speaker, Portch should have no shortage of activities to keep him engaged in the academic enterprise.
"Honoring Steve Portch's request to step down was one of the toughest decisions that the Board of Regents Executive Committee has ever had to make," said Board of Regents Chairman Glenn White. "We absolutely could not have asked for a better chancellor than he has been for Georgia for the past seven years. He has raised this System's aspirations and our performance with his keen vision, strategic planning and relentless implementation. We wish he would stay, but he truly deserves the opportunity to re-connect with his academic life. And we're delighted that we'll be able to call on him."
Portch acknowledged the System has made great strides during the past seven years. These accomplishments include:
Under Portch's leadership, the Board of Regents also raised academic standards across the System, elevating average SAT scores of entering freshmen from 981 to 1021, reducing USG remedial student enrollment from 30 percent to 16 percent, in-creasing first-year student retention from 66 percent to 71 percent, and issuing a guarantee on all teachers prepared in the University System.
Portch is quick to point out these achievements are collective. "I am proud that wherever you go in the nation now, people talk about the successes of higher education in Georgia," he said. "But I haven't taught a student in the System; I haven't provided any services to students; I haven't built a single building; I haven't cleaned a room nor mowed a lawn nor served a hamburger." Portch said the credit goes to the 30,000 employees of the University System, who've "responded magnificently" over the past seven years, as he has asked them to "work harder and smarter."
Portch also stressed that he has benefitted from working with an extremely cohesive and strategically directed board that has consistently supported his leadership. ¶
Chancellor Stephen R. Portch (center) received best wishes and thanks following his announcement from Board Chair Glenn White (left) and Vice Chair Hilton Howell Jr. (right) |
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The Board of Regents has mobilized to conduct an aggressive national search to fill the Chancellor's post.
The board has hired the nationally recognized executive search firm A.T. Kearney, Inc., to assist in the search process by identifying high-caliber candidates for the post. The board also has appointed a 14-member state-wide advisory committee to screen, review and assess applications, and provide feedback during the search process. The full Board of Regents, acting as a Committee of the Whole, will be responsible for identifying and interviewing candidates and finalists for the post.
"This is the single most important responsibility the Board of Regents has to perform," said Board Chair Glenn White. "The position of chancellor has far-reaching significance for Georgia's educational system, and we will conduct this search with thoroughness."
The board anticipates selecting a new chancellor this fall.
A.T. Kearney, based in Alexandria, Va., has conducted a number of highly successful national searches for the top executive posts of higher education systems, including the search in 1994 that brought Steven R. Portch to the Georgia system. The firm also has been involved in searches for the University of North Carolina, the University of California, the University of Virginia, Emory University and the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education, among others.
Shelly Weiss Storbeck, vice president and managing director for the Education Practice of A.T. Kearney, will lead the search process. The search is expected to be completed by the regents this fall. ¶
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BOARD FOCUS: Reshaping the Vision
Looking ahead to future challenges for higher education, the Board of Regents has begun updating the System's vision statement and long-term strategic plan. A retreat held at Kennesaw State University on May 8 provided an occasion for the board to measure its accomplishments since 1994, when its members produced "Access to Academic Excellence for the New Millennium: A Vision for the University System of Georgia." This vision statement and the 34 "guiding principles" that buttress it serve as the foundation for the board's efforts to enhance academic quality, policy direction and the state's economic development. "We agreed that this is still a powerful vision statement," said Board Chairman Glenn White. "It set some lofty goals, but a great deal of that work has been accomplished, so it needs to be updated and have new areas of emphasis added." White said the board decided also that its new strategic plan should cover five years rather than seven "in light of the fast pace of change in technology and other aspects of our environment.
After discussing the opportunities and challenges faced by the System, the Regents drafted a mission statement and a series of strategic goal statements to assure access to academic excellence (see below).
Portch is sending the draft vision and mission statements and the draft list of strategic goals to all USG presidents for review, asking them to discuss the documents during their retreat in early August. The documents will be approved at the August board meeting, and board members will work with the University System Office staff to develop an implementation schedule by January 2002. "We will want the new chancellor to help us finalize the plan, but we intend to have this work 80 percent complete to give the new chancellor a strong start," White said. "" ¶
Editor's Note: We will provide periodic updates on the Board of Regents' strategic planning process in future issues of The System Supplement.
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The University System of Georgia will assure access to academic excellence by:
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The 15 University System institutions that prepare teachers will have a new and higher bar to clear beginning in 2006. By then, their goal will be to achieve an 80 percent pass rate on the PRAXIS II exam - the test required for teacher certification in Georgia.
The PRAXIS II test, administered by the Professional Standards Commission (PSC), measures content knowledge. All teacher and educational leader candidates must pass the exam to become certified in Georgia. Currently the PRAXIS II pass rate among System colleges ranges from 44 to 92 percent. Among blacks and hispanics, pass rates range from a low of 17 percent to a high of 94 percent. The 80 percent goal approved by the Board of Regents at its April meeting applies not just to all teacher candidates from a particular System institution program, but to each demographic group the teacher candidates represent. This goal was one of two new principles added to the Regents' 1998 policy document "Principles and Actions for the Preparation of Educators for the Schools." The 10 original principles established the foundation for a comprehensive System effort to strengthen its teacher preparation programs.
"These policy revisions are designed to fine-tune and im-prove our efforts and are consistent with the spirit and the goals of the state's broader education reform efforts," said Dr. Jan Kettlewell, assistant vice chancellor for academic affairs and co-facilitator of the P-16 project. "Plus, requiring a higher percentage of the System's future teachers to pass the state certification test will support two of the System's goals: it will close the gap in pass rates between minority and non-minority students and increase the number of minority teachers we prepare."
System institutions are to use fall 2001 as the baseline for setting annual targets aimed at closing the pass rate gap between majority and minority groups by 2006, while maintaining or increasing the overall number of minority educators being prepared. Institutions needing assistance in meeting their goals may utilize System resources. In addition, System officers will work with appropriate agencies to resolve a number of issues that should lead to more accurate test data.
The board also adopted a new principle on educational leadership. The University System will collaborate with the Governor's office, the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, the PSC, the Georgia Department of Education, regional education service agencies, representatives from local schools, the Southern Regional Education Board, and private partners in the development and implementation of the Georgia Leadership Institute for School Improvement. The new Leadership Institute is based upon data that illustrates the strong influence school leadership has on creating a good environment for teaching, learning and student improvement. It is a response to recommendations from the Governor's Education Reform Study Commission and the Southern Regional Education Board that call for new models for the preparation of educational leaders. ¶
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Gainesville College is the first two-year institution in the University System to have funded an Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair. After a national search, college officials have announced the selection of Dr. James J. Lorence as an Eminent Scholar of History.
Currently a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Marathon County, Lorence will join Gainesville's faculty this fall. In addition to teaching history, he will work on history research activities focusing on the Gainesville-Hall County area and the state of Georgia, and serve as a community liaison.
Chancellor Stephen R. Portch, who came to the University System of Georgia from the University of Wisconsin System, said Lorence is "probably the most extraordinarily talented faculty member I've worked with. He excels in teaching, scholarship, collaborating with the public schools and working with community groups." ¶
The State University of West Georgia recently beat Emory University in the final round of the National Cross Examination Debate Association Competition to clinch its second consecutive national debate championship. West Georgia is the first institution in 14 years to have captured back-to-back NCEDA championships. ¶
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All systems are go for Georgia Tech's Michael J. Massimino as he prepares for duty as a mission specialist on the Nov. 19 launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
An associate professor in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Massimino is on leave from his teaching and research responsibilities through the end of the year. The 11-day mission involves upgrading and servicing the Hubble Space Telescope. Carrying a crew of seven, the shuttle will take off and land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Massimino joined the Georgia Tech faculty in 1995 to teach courses in human-machine systems engineering and conduct re-search on human-machine interfaces for space and aircraft systems in Tech's Center for Human-Machine Systems Research. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) selected Massimino as an astronaut candidate in 1996. He completed two years of training and evaluation before qualifying for flight assignment. This is his first mission.
For more information on Massimino and a link to NASA's mission overview, go to http://www.news-info.gatech.edu/news_releases/astronaut.html ¶
Georgia Perimeter College's men's tennis team easily conquered the competition at the National Junior College Athletic Association tournament in Tyler, Texas, in mid-May to capture its fourth consecutive national championship. Meanwhile, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) has named Georgia Southwestern State University men's and women's tennis coach Brennon Sewell the Wilson/ITA Coach of the Year. Under his guidance, GSSU's men's team, seeded second nationally, made it to the semifinals of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics' national tournament in Lexington, Ky., in late May. GSSU's Lady Hurricanes also did well, making it as far as the second round at the nationals. ¶
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Dr. Jacqueline Michael (holding flowers) retired April 30 as director of Pre-College Programs for the University System of Georgia. Michael accepted the Board of Regents post in 1996 after a long career at the State University of West Georgia. She had a significant impact on the lives of thousands of youths in at-risk situations who chose to pursue a college education as a result of the Post Secondary Readiness Enrichment Program (PREP) she helped launch, according to Chancellor Stephen R. Portch (second from right). The chancellor joined Jan Kettlewell (right), assistant vice chancellor for Academic Affairs, other University System Office personnel and several past colleagues of Michael's in wishing her well during a farewell reception at the System office. "You were a beacon of light for people who had no light," said Savannah State University Vice President for Academic Affairs Joseph H. (Pete) Silver (left), who worked with Michael at the Board of Regents in PREP's early days and helped to secure funding for the PREP pilot. ¶
| BOARD OF REGENTS | OFFICERS | ||||
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Glenn S. White Hilton Hatchett Howell, Jr. Juanita Powell Baranco Hugh C. Carter, Jr. Connie Cater
Michael J. Coles
Joe Frank Harris
John Hunt |
Donald M. Leebern, Jr.
Allene H. Magill Elridge W. McMillan Martin W. NeSmith J. Timothy Shelnut Joel O. Wooten, Jr. James D. Yancey |
Stephen R. Portch Gail S. Weber
William R. Bowes
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