Chair's Remarks to the Board
August 6, 2003
Board of Regents Chair Joe Frank Harris
First, let me say that it is an honor to be asked by Governor Perdue to continue to serve on this board. It's important that we as a board work to support Gov. Perdue in his efforts to use education as one of the tools to help strengthen Georgia's economy.
And let me officially welcome our new members to this board. I hope you will find your service rewarding. But it won't be easy! As we move toward our shared vision of "Creating A More Educated Georgia," you will find the workload to be, at times, very demanding.
As I stated last month, I deeply appreciate the support each of you give to our Chancellor and in helping me fulfill my responsibilities as your chair. I look forward to working with each of you and with our new vice-chair, Joel Wooten. I also will continue to count on the support of Ms. Gail Weber and the staff of our Regents' office.
Finally, as I stated last August, I promise to come to our meetings prepared to work – and I continue to expect your individual dedication to our shared responsibilities. This commitment and dedication is even more critical today for a number of reasons.
More and more Georgians are looking to the University System to help them achieve academically and professionally. More and more Georgians are looking to our 34 colleges and universities to work with our public schools to prepare children for the competitive, global workplace. More and more Georgians are looking to the University System to serve as the economic engine that can help revive this state's economy. More and more Georgians are expecting us to use our resources to help solve the state's many challenges – from public health to transportation to water resources.
Yet these expectations come during lean economic times. As our chancellor stated so eloquently yesterday, this is not the time to "hunker down." I must commend our chancellor and presidents and all those on our campuses, and in the Regent's office, for their focus on addressing significant budget cuts. It has been difficult. It is our responsibility to maintain access, to strengthen academic quality, and to be good stewards of the resources at our disposal within the University System.
In light of these challenges, let me outline the areas on which I'd like the Board to focus during the coming year. Our emphasis will be on: quality; efficiency and effectiveness; and economic growth. And our efforts in these three areas will be made within the framework of our strategic plan. Dan Papp will be presenting the details of our efforts under this plan later this morning.
We have made good progress in these areas. But we cannot ease up. We must continue to enhance quality – we must develop even greater efficiencies – we must become even more accountable – and we must step up our economic development efforts.
Let me begin with quality. We must send the message to our students, our faculty and staff, our funding partners and the public that quality is paramount. We must not and will not allow difficult economic times to diminish what we do for our students and the state's citizens. We will not be second-rate in the services we provide and the programs that we offer. Our Strategic Plan encourages us to address quality issues. And I look forward to the next action steps that we will take.
We must aim for consistently high quality in everything that we do. Look where quality has put us. Today our students have record-high SAT scores. Our colleges and universities provide competitive environments for our students and faculty to engage in outstanding academic programs and research.
And that means we can offer Georgians the very best in higher education – across the board. In turn, that makes Georgia a more competitive place for business, for jobs and for investors. So quality must remain paramount – especially in lean budget times.
Public higher education is a public good that offers Georgia's best return investment for economic growth and individual prosperity. Maximizing that public good requires an agreement from our state officials to provide the needed resources that improve quality.
When budgets are tight, it can become easy to let quality slip, because that's the path of least resistance. But we are not going down that road. This leads me to my second area of focus: efficiency and effectiveness. We are not going to use quality and tight budgets as a shield.
There is no question that we can continue to improve our efficiency and effectiveness. Our Strategic Plan provides us with the framework with which to pursue greater efficiency and effectiveness in our operations – from our business practices to our programs to the development of facilities. We also have a number of other long-range efforts underway that promise to help us transform the way we operate. Our regionalization study has been completed and we are conducting an on-going statewide assessment of the entire System.
This Board also has been in the forefront of providing a high level of accountability to our funding partners and the public. We must continue that leadership effort if we are going to be successful in increasing our efficiency and effectiveness.
I know what it is to serve as governor during an economic downturn. I've been there. And I know how important it is for whoever sits in the governor's chair to feel that all of state government is working together to get through tough economic times. To Governor Perdue, I send a message that is based not just on my own past experience, but also in my role as this Board's chair. We will continue our history of working with the Governor's office and the General Assembly to address tough budget decisions. We are partners.
Our final area of focus for the coming year will be economic growth. Chancellor Meredith has said many times that the University System is the economic engine that can help revive Georgia's economy. We have the intellectual resources and talent to help make that possible. And our ability to impact workforce development, and to attract businesses to all corners of this state is directly related to the QUALITY we offer – and to the efficiency and effectiveness with which we deliver that quality.
Programs such as ICAPP Advantage have a great track record in helping ensure our students have the relevant skills for today's workplace and in creating employment opportunities for our students and alumni. We need to strengthen these efforts. Georgia LEADS, which we approved last year, also will reach out to provide Georgians with access to continuing and professional educational opportunities. As Georgia works to recover from economic recession – it is our duty and our goal to use these and other programs and resources in the University System to spur that recovery.
Last year I noted that one of our areas of focus would be partnerships. I haven't changed my opinion about how important partnerships will continue to be, and how they help impact our success.
I feel confident in our ability to meet these and other challenges that will be certain to appear. We have a great board – and new perspectives with the inclusion of new Regents Julie Hunt, W. Mansfield Jennings, Jr., Patrick Pittard, and M. Allan Vigil.
Our Chancellor continues to provide us with outstanding leadership and wise counsel. Our 34 presidents continue to demonstrate great leadership. Our faculty and staff throughout the System remain committed to excellence. And we have a talented and dedicated staff here in the University System Office.
All of us are in this great enterprise together. The choices we make over the next year will have lasting impacts on students for years to come – long after each of us no longer serves on this Board.
Some public education systems in other states during these tough times are making short-term choices that fail in the long-term. We've not done that in Georgia – and we're not going to do that on my watch as your Chair.
It's true that great institutions make their marks in times of difficulty. The challenges we face we know will make us stronger. Thank you for your support as we enter this new year of challenges.