A Year of Change and Transition
Remarks by Board of Regents Chair J. Timothy Shelnut
Board of Regents Meeting
Wednesday, June 7, 2006
Let me begin by saying I am honored to have served as chair of this board during the past year. This assignment has been one of the most exhilarating, and indeed one of the most challenging assignments I have taken on during my ENTIRE CAREER.
In fact, this job has such a tremendous impact on those who accept the role, that I asked Arlethia Perry-Johnson if she would do a little bit of research for me on how it affects the aging process.
I wanted to give Regent Vigil an accurate sense of what he can expect during his year as chair. So, Allan, here's what you can look forward to . . .
This is a current photo of me, as I approach the end of my year as chair. Not to shabby, most would say!
But here's the shocker! This is a picture of me taken last year at this time, as I prepared to assume the chairmanship! Full head of hair . . . no obvious stress . . . just full of promise, looking forward to the future!
So, Allan, I wish you the best of luck. At least you already have a head start with the white hair . . . No one will be the wiser a year later about the toll the job takes on you as chair!
On a more serious note, I think we have had an extremely productive year as a board. Much has been accomplished during the past twelve months, which I will refer to as "A Year of Change and Transition."
Last August I outlined for you several goals and objectives that I wanted us to focus on as a board. We have addressed each and every one of those challenges and priorities – several of them with boldness and innovation.
I cited that our most important priority as a board would be filling the chancellor vacancy. Whenever there is change in the chancellor's post, such transitions present serious implications for the University System as a whole. So, hiring an effective chancellor is our greatest responsibility.
We took on that responsibility with great focus, dedication and expediency -- and I am pleased with the result.
During the search period, we were well served by Corlis Cummings as interim chancellor.
Corlis' appointment marked a milestone for the University System – our first female and our first African American to serve in the chancellor's post. And the University System moved forward under her strong and steady leadership.
Then our national search netted us an outstanding leader in Erroll Davis Jr. – thanks to the good management skills of our search chair, Regent Elridge McMillan.
This board was bold and daring enough to seek applications from leaders in all fields, and then selected a businessman to lead our System to new levels of excellence and achievement.
Erroll chooses not to focus on the fact that he is an African-American -- but today I choose to use my chairman's prerogative!
Our national search resulted in the identification of approximately 50 qualified candidates who expressed strong interest in serving as the chancellor of the University System.
Erroll emerged strongly from that pool of candidates, and impressed this board with his intellect, his experience, and his vision . . . and he earned your unanimous approval to be named chancellor.
And while Erroll does not want to dwell on his race, the fact that he is an African American is important.
His appointment as chancellor is a major historic milestone for the Board of Regents, of which each and every one of us can be extremely proud!
It points to just how far we have come as a System!
More importantly, Erroll has rapidly assumed the reins over the past four months, and is quickly establishing solid plans with measurable outcomes to achieve this board's stated goals and objectives. And I'd like to thank him for his leadership.
Another key priority that I cited last year was the need to accommodate rising enrollment. I am very pleased to note that Governor Perdue and the General Assembly fully funded our funding formula, to the tune of $1.67 billion.
Overall, this was a superb year for the University System in terms of legislative support. We received our highest appropriation in history -- $1.93 billion. This represents an increase of 6.6 percent, or $120 million in new dollars over last fiscal year.
These dollars were sorely needed to address student enrollment, which has climbed in leaps and bounds.
I was pleased to see at last month's board meeting that the additional funds were strategically directed toward pressing priorities in the System, such as $3.1 million for getting our newest institution -- Georgia Gwinnett College -- up and running.
Gwinnett just admitted its first three students last month for the Fall 2006 semester, so our 35th institution is now officially up and running!
Strategic funding also was directed at hiring 250 new faculty on our campuses [$24 million] . . . and addressing key workforce shortages in the state, such as nursing [a total of $4.9 million], among other key goals. These allocations are in line with the chancellor's strategy of letting our priorities drive our budget, which makes excellent business sense.
Besides focusing on these very important priorities of hiring a chancellor and helping to secure our legislative funding, as you know, I also established four task forces at the beginning of my tenure to address some key challenges and opportunities facing the System and our board.
I'd like to give you a status report on what we accomplished during the past year in those areas.
I'll begin with our focus on students: Our emphasis on increasing student retention, progression and graduation was chaired by Dr. Dan Papp. This task force identified and articulated the barriers to retention and graduation faced by many of our students. Their finding were shared and discussed with you in major reports to this board delivered by System Office staff.
In addition, all USG presidents were notified that this is a key priority and a major area of accountability with which this board is concerned.
More specifically, it resulted in the allocation of $2.2 million in funding to five USG institutions [Kennesaw State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, University of West Georgia, and Valdosta State] that were determined to have the best opportunity to enhance student retention and graduation through strengthened faculty advising, expansion of freshman learning communities, and other best practices.
I believe this is a good start, however, I would like to see us direct continued attention to these challenges.
We must not only achieve national rates of retention and graduation; my desire is for us to surpass the national averages.
So, we still have a lot of critical work to do in these areas on behalf of students.
I believe the new Guaranteed Tuition Program will be a tremendous benefit in increasing on-time graduation of students. Students now will have the ability to plan for college expenses with certainty, removing the "surprises" from college planning.
So, I strongly applaud this innovative new incentive program and look forward to the positive impact it will have on students and their parents.
We also focused on "expanding our communications efforts" during the past year. Regent Pat Pittard chaired this Task Force, joined by Regents Bill Cleveland and Wanda Rodwell, and Arlethia Perry-Johnson, our associate vice chancellor for Media & Publications, staffed this important project.
I am pleased with the progress we made on the communications front, with the development of our new on-line e-newsletter, "Linkages."
With this new publication, we have an opportunity to disseminate System news and information to our strategic audiences in an unfiltered manner.
Also, under this project, we have launched the comprehensive, statewide Constituent Survey, that will allow us to secure feedback from legislators, business leaders, the general public, and faculty, staff and students on our campuses.
The goal of this effort is to assess how well we serve and communicate with our key audiences, so that we may shape effective communications strategies based on the feedback we receive. I am looking forward to the outcomes of that project, when the board receives a report at the September meeting.
Yesterday, you heard the details of our proposed strategy for addressing the growing demand for construction of new facilities for the University System. This was one of our major task force efforts, chaired by Regent Allan Vigil, and staffed by Linda Daniels, our Vice Chancellor of Facilities.
Among other tasks, I asked this committee to assess the effectiveness of the Board of Regents' current capital priority selection process, and to identify ways to get ahead of the future demand for facilities.
The report we heard at yesterday's Committee of the Whole meeting is one outcome of this group's hard work over the past several months. You heard the details of our "transitional strategy" for next year's capital budget request.
We are moving away from the annual "procession of presidents making presentations" to outline their capital needs -- only to make it onto a capital priority list that has grown so lengthy that the time between earning a slot and initiating construction continues to grow longer and longer.
It's imperative that we do things differently and better, so many people rolled up their sleeves to devise a new approach to our capital demands. That included shaping and securing approval for new legislation to assist with this challenge.
SB 562 created the Georgia Higher Education Facilities Authority (GHEFA) – the new agency created to assist the University System and the Department of Technical and Adult Education (DTAE) with financing some capital projects -- which should be instrumental in streamlining our facilities bonding process.
I am looking forward to the impact this new authority will have, and to how our proposed changes in the capital prioritization process will be received in the next legislative session.
This must remain a continuing priority for us as a board, because effectively meeting our facilities needs is critical to our successful operation.
The final "opportunity" that we identified last year was the need to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the total impact of the University System on the State of Georgia.
Georgia Tech President Dr. Wayne Clough chaired this task force, and Joy Hymel, executive director of our Office of Economic Development, staffed it.
I am extremely pleased with the outcome of that initiative.
In the increasing competition for state dollars, it is imperative that we effectively evaluate and communicate the return on the investment made in the University System.
Not only do we educate more than a quarter million degree-seeking students each year -- and about a million continuing education students annually -- but we produce doctors, dentists, lawyers and entrepreneurs.
We operate hospitals, educate teachers and support farmers. We train law-enforcement officers, commercialize new technologies, and provide cultural events for communities throughout our state.
Our faculty and scientists conduct leading-edge research and our employees provide thousands of hours of community service.
The bottom line is that the University System is responsible for the creation of 130,000 jobs annually, and provides a 15:1 return on the more than a billion dollars the state invests each year in the University System.
So, with the success of the Total Impact initiative, we can now say definitely that the return on investment in the University System is $23 billion.
I am certain that figure will continue to grow in the future, and I hope we will continue to effectively measure, assess and communicate our impact to our funding partners and constituents.
I mentioned that this was a year of change and transition. We also oversaw the appointment of new presidents at several University System institutions.
Many of you served on the Special Regents Committees that helped to select these presidents, and I'd like to thank you for that special service.
We accepted the resignations of two long-serving presidents: Dr. Betty Siegel, after her illustrious 25-year tenure as president of Kennesaw State University; Dr. Harold Wade, who has served Atlanta Metropolitan College well for more than a decade; and Dr. Barbara Losty, who also has provided 10 years of solid leadership at Waycross College.
Our own senior vice chancellor for academics and fiscal affairs, Dr. Daniel Papp, will be taking on the KSU presidency, representing another transition in his critical role here in the System office.
We also named Dr. Daniel Kaufmann as the first president of Georgia Gwinnett
College;
Dr. Everette Freeman as the new president of Albany State University;
Dr. Larry Eugene Rivers as the new president at Fort Valley State University;
Dr. David Bridges as the new president of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College;
and
Dr. Torri Lilly as the new president of South Georgia College.
And while our year of transition presented many challenges and opportunities for us to address, our challenges paled in comparison to the hurdles faced by our neighbors, family and friends who contended with the wrath of Hurricane Katrina.
This University System responded compassionately to those who lives were shaken by that hurricane – both in terms of human outreach and community service, as well as in addressing the educational needs of students who were impacted by that natural disaster. And we are continuing to do so, thanks to this board's actions.
So, while we were a System and a board on the move, we were not too busy to care . . . or to display compassion. And that matters to Georgians.
So, in closing, I'd like to say "thank you" to my fellow board members for this unparalleled leadership opportunity.
In particular, I'd like to thank Regent Pat Pittard for his dedicated service as vice chair during the past year, and for giving of his time and talent.
I'd also like to thank each of you, personally, for your hard work and contributions to our success as a board, both individually and collectively.
This is a position that requires an incredible amount of staffing support, and I know that I will get into trouble if I try to start naming specific individuals.
But, I would be remiss if I did not thank our board secretary, Ms. Gail Weber, for all that she does for us on a daily basis to make the board function so effectively. So, Gail, I thank you for your efforts!
I look forward to passing the chair's gavel on to Regent Vigil, and to continuing to serve as a member of this esteemed Board of Regents. It presents a rich opportunity to give back to a state that has given so much to me.
Thank you. That concludes my remarks.