Chair's Report on Highlights of the Past Year
June 11, 2003
Remarks by Chair Joe Frank Harris
Thank you. Last year when I accepted the call of this Board to serve as Chair, I noted this would represent one of the most important roles I had undertaken. But I was honored then and am equally honored today to accept your invitation to serve as your Chair for another term. However, I accept this time with a more realistic understanding of the commitment!
But let me return to my initial thought of last year. Serving on this Board and as its Chair truly is as important a role as anyone can play. We have faced together a number of tough issues and decisions. We have led our University System through some very tough economic and budget times. This has not been easy, and I deeply appreciate the hard work, the dedication, and the leadership that each of you has shown. The hard truth is that these tough budget times are not over. We will face new decisions and new challenges as we work to preserve the quality that has been created by the state's investment in public higher education.
We lost a dear friend and a valued colleague in John Hunt. And we gained the strength and wisdom of John's wife, Julie, as she answered the call to service on this Board. We have also gained the service of two new Regents, W. Mansfield Jennings, Jr. of Hawkinsville and Patrick S. Pittard of Lakemont. I welcome these two new Regents to the Board. I know they will provide wise counsel and excellent service.
Over the past year, we have seen some rewarding moments that serve to keep us focused on who it is that we serve: our students. Record student enrollments in the fall and spring tell us that the demand for public higher education has never been greater. Record retention rates for sophomores and SAT scores for entering freshmen tell us that our quality continues to rise. And there are national indicators of how high the University System's quality has risen. U.S. News & World Report's ranking of the nation's top 20 public doctoral universities puts the Georgia Institute of Technology at number 9 and the University of Georgia at number 18.
Now, more than ever, the roles we play on this Board call for a combination of patience, perseverance, commitment, responsibility, wisdom, and decisiveness. There is the great example of General Eisenhower, with the responsibility on his shoulders for launching the invasion of Europe. The weather reports gave him no clear answers whether to give the go ahead or call for a delay. The only clear thing was that he would have to make the decision and bear the responsibility. None of us faces that severe a test today, but we do bear the responsibility to keep the University System of Georgia on course, regardless of the weather. We do have the responsibility to maintain the quality that Georgians deserve as well as the access to that quality. We do have the responsibility to meet our worthy goal: creating a more educated Georgia. And, working together as a Board and with our many partners in the Governor's Office, the General Assembly, and other state agencies and public and private organizations throughout the state, I have no doubt we will meet the high responsibilities we have and the demanding roles we fill.
Last year, I pledged that I would work hard. And I asked you to commit to coming prepared and ready to discuss and act on policy. I asked that we focus on three areas: the first year action plan of our strategic plan; the importance of operating with an eye on the future; and our educational partnerships. Let's review our record over the past year in these three areas.
Our first year action plan for the strategic plan set an ambitious timetable on all eleven strategic goals. There were 46 recommendations and at this stage, we have made significant progress on almost all of them. Over the course of the past year, almost every Board meeting has featured reports on activities and progress toward these goals. For example, you will hear later this morning reports from President James A. Burran of Dalton State College and the Vice Chancellor for Academic, Faculty, and Student Affairs, Frank A. Butler, relating to Goals 1, 2 and 3. And at the August meeting, you will hear a detailed report on all 46 recommendations from the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academics and Fiscal Affairs, Daniel S. Papp, if you can last that long!
But while we have made significant process, we do not act in vacuum. The budget situation has had an impact on our timetable and we have had to delay or postpone action on some of these recommendations. But, on balance, we have made extremely good progress – thanks to your oversight and the hard work of our Chancellor and the staff here in the University System Office and our presidents, faculty, and staff on our 34 campuses. I'm proud of the focus on our first year action plan. And I'm equally proud of the focus that has been placed on the two other areas I singled out: keeping an eye on the future and our educational partnerships. It's no accident that progress on these two areas is closely tied to our accomplishments in implementing the first year action plan. So, let me highlight some of these interrelated areas.
One of the ways we look to the future is by maintaining the quality of our academic programs and curriculum. And through our work over the past year on implementing comprehensive program review, we have taken major steps toward this goal.
In the future, public higher education will be held more and more accountable for programs and expenditures. Last fall, we debuted our new Web site, "USG by the Numbers" (http://info.usg.edu/), which is an important step in providing up-to-date information on the System to the public and our funding partners.
If we are going to be successful in creating a more educated Georgia, we have to involve more nontraditional students in higher education. Georgia's economic future depends on this. So, we were looking to the future when we approved the policy changes in continuing education and created the Georgia Lifelong Education and Economic Development Services ("Georgia LEADS") concept with its focus on lifelong learning.
A more educated Georgia also depends upon broad access to public higher education. And last month, we approved recommendations from the African-American Male Initiative. These recommendations will have a long-term impact on this group, who are currently underrepresented in our colleges and universities.
Over the past year, we heard presentations on research activities in our research universities. In addition, our research contracts and grants are close to the $800 million mark – a record. Our focus on the System's research activities is a critical eye on the future of the System and the state.
Another long-term focus is on funding. We must be more creative and innovative in identifying and securing alternative sources of funding for key System needs. Over the course of the year and at this meeting, we continued to review and approve programs for privatized housing on our campuses. This model approach helps us meet the housing needs of the record number of students we are seeing.
We must be more efficient in our use of existing dollars. Dollars saved through efficiency today means more dollars for instruction tomorrow. Toward this end, we have made good strides in terms of monitoring and reporting on institutional best practices. We have conducted a regionalization study that will lead to long-term efficiencies in our operations. And we have reorganized our audit reporting processes with the goal of helping our Chancellor and our presidents keep a focused eye on the future.
Our final area of focus was on partnerships. Last year, I noted, "Our success in creating a more educated Georgia will depend on our success in forging stronger partnerships." I said at the time that I believed this would prove to be the key to our efforts. Nothing that has happened in the past 12 months has caused me to change my opinion. Partnerships are still the critical element in our planning and actions. And I'm pleased to report today that we have enjoyed some positive successes in our partnership efforts. This Board has met with the boards of the Department of Technical and Adult Education and the Department of Education. Our University System Office staff and the staff on our campuses continue to strengthen existing relationships on many levels with the technical colleges, the K-12 schools, and the Department of Education. One of the most exciting partnerships has been the development of a math and science initiative with the Department of Education. This initiative will help us better prepare Georgia students for success in postsecondary education. And our partnership effort on this initiative has put us in the running for a $35 million National Science Foundation grant.
On balance, our report card for the past year has been good. Despite budgetary challenges, we have been able to move forward in these three key areas. The success we enjoy is due to the good work of our greatest asset: our people. As your Chair, it has been an honor and a privilege to lead the finest system of public higher education in this country. Thank you for your support over the past year. Thank you for your confidence in me for yet another year. I will do my best to continue to live up to your expectations. And again, let me close by asking God to guide our work and our decisions.