| FY 2000 Annual Report of the University System of Georgia | < Previous | Next > |
To Our Stakeholders Throughout Georgia:
My year as chairman of the Board of Regents was an especially exciting one for me, in part because we welcomed five new members to our 16-member board. Such change creates not only a new organizational dynamic; it also presents an opportunity to question existing practices and performance - something that I believe fosters achievement and success.
While we are incredibly proud of the University System of Georgia's recent progress, our goal is to implement fully the board's strategic plan, which includes achieving national preeminence for our System and its institutions. Therefore, during the past year our board employed the "continuous quality improvement" practices so widely utilized in the business sector. By committing to a "benchmarking initiative" -- a key theme of my tenure as chair -- the Board of Regents now has added assessment to our vision and actions.
Key questions we posed to the external consultants tapped to conduct the benchmarking project included: Where do we need to refocus our energies? Are our resources going to our core functions? How are we doing compared to our national peers? By seeking answers to these questions, we should be able to measure the University System's progress against the best practices of the nation's top-tier higher education institutions to give Georgia a competitive edge.
Perhaps one of the most important factors about the benchmarking effort is that we linked it with a broader state efficiency effort, and volunteered to join with Gov. Roy Barnes in his management review of all state agencies. Being the first agency to volunteer for the review garnered our board a special visit from the Governor at our November 1999 meeting -- a historic occasion for the Board of Regents.
During 1999-2000, we also continued to meet the many new operational challenges that come with the territory of operating a $4 billion plus educational enterprise. Those included:
Finally, we also assessed the economic impact of the University System on our state. Dr. Jeffrey Humphries, noted researcher in UGA's Terry College of Business, quantified the System's current impact at $7.7 billion. Considering that we're working hard at getting better, we should have an even higher return on the state's investment in the very near future.
Sincerely,
Regent Kenneth W. Cannestra, Chairman
Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia
July 1, 1999 - June 30, 2000
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©2001 University System of Georgia Board of Regents