Chair's Remarks to the Board
Board of Regents Chair Hilton Howell
Tuesday, August 8, 2001
To my fellow board members, I'd like to thank you for electing me to serve for the upcoming year as chairman of this board.
I consider this appointment to be a high honor, and I sincerely appreciate the vote of confidence and the camaraderie that your selection represents. I can assure you that the business of this board will receive my undivided attention, and highest priority in the ensuing year.
And personally, I am humbled by the privilege to serve and to serve together with Governor Joe Frank Harris as your vice-chairman. His service to the people of Georgia already has been so significant and I am so grateful that he has agreed to take up this new challenge during this critical year of transition for our system.
I also want to thank our immediate past chairman, Glenn White, for the pleasure of serving as his vice-chair for the past year (present gavel).
I also look forward to your continued support and collaboration as we embark on a new year of challenges and changes.
Since 1997, I have immensely enjoyed the public service that we perform together as members of the Board of Regents.
It has been particularly gratifying for me to get to know each of you better as we have served together on board committees and traveled throughout Georgia to our University System campuses, working hard to build a preeminent system of public higher education for our state.
Each of you gives so much of your time and talents because - I believe - we all recognize how vital the work of this board is to the current and future success of Georgia and her citizens.
We each have unique strengths and perspectives which -- when combined -- strengthen our decision making and policy setting, fostering positive outcomes for all of our state's citizens. This blend of experience and skills is what allows us to effectively balance our mission of access and excellence in higher education.
For me, the greatest honor during my time on this Board will be to have served in the company of individuals of the caliber and dedication of those who have served and are serving presently on this board.
Throughout my year as chairman, I will strive to build on that highly collaborative work model which has been this board's hallmark and so integral to our success.
And in so doing, I'd like to ask for your commitment and support in addressing three critical challenges which will face our board in the coming year:
First, there will be no more important work for us as a board than that of selecting, acclimating and orienting a new chancellor. I am not exaggerating when I say the future of our state and our children depend upon it.
In my view, there is no more solemn responsibility for this board to discharge than in choosing our new leader.
We must ensure that higher education continues to build on the momentum we have attained over the past seven years under the outstanding leadership of Stephen Portch.
All of us know intimately his enviable record of achievement for our System. I won't reiterate the milestones reached here. Suffice it to say that he has brought higher education in Georgia to a pinnacle of success and repute it has never enjoyed before.
As Regent McMillan said, paraphrasing Shakespeare, in learning of Stephen's departure: "Here was a (man)! when comes such another?"
His will be large shoes to fill, but fill them we must and fill them we will. Fortunately, the achievements of this board led by Stephen Portch, and nurtured by far-sighted Governor's and a supportive legislature, and a unified, "System-focused" Board of Regents, have significantly raised the profile of higher education in Georgia, to make our chancellorship one of the most attractive in the nation.
We are successfully recruiting from a national pool of high-ranking and highly successful academic leaders who can build on the vigorous strength of this University System. I am certain that the collective wisdom of this board will choose a worthy successor to Chancellor Portch.
Upon his or her appointment, our next challenge will be to orient and acclimate our new chancellor so that we have a seamless and successful transition in leadership.
Throughout this transition, our role will be to communicate forcefully and effectively the need to create a more educated Georgia. That is and must remain our central concern. We must keep our eyes on the well being of our students - the end all and be all of our existence.
Within the University System, that means we must address, particularly, our deficiencies among under-represented student populations, such as non-traditional (adult) students and African-American males.
Our benchmarking efforts addressed our enrollment challenges in these two key groups.
Enhancing the enrollment of both will be critical if we are to significantly increase the number of Georgians who hold baccalaureate degrees.
Second, we must continue to balance the critical need to increase college completion rates without reducing our admissions standards. There are no easy answers, but we must respond to the challenge.
To support these goals, we will seek support from the legislature to expand access to higher education via a special funding initiative that you will hear more about when we present our budget request at next month's board meeting.
I had the opportunity to hear the System presidents discuss their support for renewed efforts to increase retention and graduation rates at their meetings last week at Callaway Gardens, and this concern is among their top priorities.
Finally, as we tackle this and other critical policy concerns, our board is expected to undergo a transformation.
Georgia's growth during the past decade has led to the happy creation of two new congressional districts. That will also lead to the appointment of two new members of the Board of Regents.
Once again, I know this board will, as it always has, welcome, orient and embrace new members.
Yet, even as we tackle these political changes, we must remain laser-focused on our strategic plan for the future direction of the University System.
This plan, the first stage of which we are set to act upon at tomorrow's meeting, is our blueprint for continued progress and eventual national preeminence. It builds on the solid work achieved by my friend Glenn White, during his chairmanship last year.
Each and every one of you will be needed to assume a leadership role in our efforts. Whether you are asked to chair a committee, to communicate with a legislative leader, to organize a campus visit by a group of regents, or to spread the "good word" on behalf of the University System -- every contribution will count toward the good of the whole.
I look forward to working with you and representing our board during the coming year.
Regent Hilton Howell