The system supplement: a report of the Georgia Board of Regents, Vol. 44, no. 6 (Aug. 2007)

The
System Suppleme7nt5 A report of the Georgia Board of Regents 8 Vol. 44, No. 6 8 August 2007 "Creating a Mo re Educated Georgia"

Regents Approve New Strategic Plan for University System

Six Goals Focus on Building System's Capacity to Meet State's Needs

What do you give yourself when you reach the grand old age of 75? If you're the Board of Regents, you give yourself a plan of action that sets a course for Georgia's public colleges and universities well into the future.

On Aug. 8, the same day that

the board celebrated its 75th dia-

mond

The full text of the new Strategic Plan can be found at: www.usg.edu/regents/strategic/

jubilee (see page 2), the Univer-

sity Sys-

tem of Georgia's governing board

approved a new six-point Stra-

tegic Plan, which has as its cen-

tral theme building the System's

capacity to ensure it is ready to

meet the state's growing needs for

higher education, research and

economic development.

The new plan also has a theme of building on excellence in all areas of the System, from the classroom, to research, to support services and general operations, along with a continuing push to ensure a diverse enterprise in terms of students, faculty and staff.

"This System has done an excellent job of creating broad educational opportunities for Georgians," said Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr. "But as we look to the future, our actions must be driven by broad policy designed to educate more Georgians to higher levels than at any time in our history. And we must act in ways that clearly demonstrate our willingness to be measured for performance and assure our funding partners of our prudent and efficient use of resources. This plan gives us the structure to increase the value we add to the state."
USG Chief Operating Officer Rob Watts, who has led the planning efforts, outlined the six strategic goals in a presentation during the regents' monthly meeting today. The board has been involved in the planning process during the past year.
The six strategic goals are:
Renew excellence in undergraduate education to meet students' 21st century needs. This will be achieved by restructuring the System's core curriculum

(those courses all students must take), increasing college graduation rates, ensuring high quality academic advisement for students, increasing study abroad participation, and supporting and rewarding faculty members who make meaningful contributions to undergraduate student learning and success.
Create enrollment capacity in the University System to meet the needs of 100,000 additional students by 2020. Under this goal, officials will target increasing the diversity of the USG's enrollment and closing enrollment gaps for under-represented groups, increasing the use of two-year access colleges to meet higher education needs in underserved areas, creating a more robust sector of comprehensive (four-year) universities, increasing the joint use of facilities among USG institutions, and increasing the use and reach of distance education.
See "Strategic Plan" Page 2 ...

Doctors, Math/Science Teachers at Head of Class in $2.3B FY09 Budget Request

Georgia needs more doctors, mathematicians and scientists, along with teachers in mathematics and science, and the Board of Regents wants to take action to ensure the state gets them.
A key part of the record $2.3 billion Fiscal Year 2009 budget request for the University System of Georgia (USG) approved by the regents at their August meeting includes recommendations for $7.2 million to expand the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) and $10 million for the Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM) Initiative.

The regents also approved a recommendation for $215 million to build needed University System facilities. The FY09 budget proposal and capital recommendations now go to the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget.
"This budget request is truly strategic in outlook," said Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr. "Both in the enhancements we are proposing and the buildings we are recommending to Gov. Sonny Perdue, we are following the blueprint of the board's new Strategic Plan. Our overall policy objectives are driving our budget request to

ensure we meet the state's highest priorities in a timely and efficient m a n n e r. "
MCG Expansion
The proposed $7.2 million in the FY09 budget request for the Medical College of Georgia expansion would be added to $2.8 million in planning dollars previously appropriated for this effort by the General Assembly in the FY08 budget. The additional dollars will enable MCG to rapidly assemble key components of a significant expansion of class size, such as
See "Budget Request" Page 4 ...

75
At left, Board Chairman Allan Vigil, Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr. and Gov. Sonny Perdue with the proclamation honoring the University System. Below, procession of dignitaries down to the South Atrium of the Capitol to start the ceremony.

Diamond Jubilation Over USG's
75
Outstanding Years

The Board of Regents celebrated the Diamond Jubilee of the University System of Georgia (USG) during a ceremony at the State Capitol on Aug. 8 in which Gov. Sonny Perdue referred to the USG's 35 institutions as "the crown jewels of our state's higher education."
Highlights of the program celebrating the board's 75th anniversary included Regent Elridge McMillan quoting from Alfred Tennyson's poem "Ulysses" and
Nelson Mandela's autobiography "Long Walk to Freedom" and Georgia State University student Chenelle Marshall telling her inspirational story to an audience that included former Gov. Carl Sanders, legislators, regents, USG presidents and staff.

Gov. Perdue presented the following proclamation:
Whereas: As the governing body of the University System of Georgia, the Board of Regents makes a significant contribution to the state by providing equal opportunity and top quality higher education programs for all persons who enroll at any of the System's 35 institutions; and

Photos by Carolyn Richardson, Georgia State University

See "Diamond Jubilee" Page 6 ...

Strategic Plan
Continued from P. 1 ...
Increase the USG's participation in research and economic development to the benefit of a global Georgia. The University System will build on the fact that all 35 institutions are economic engines in their communities and the state. This will mean making the System's research universities even more competitive for federal research funds. The USG also will increase the numbers of health profession graduates and create a long-tem, systemlevel academic plan for workforce development.
Strengthen the USG's partnerships with the state's other education agencies, with a key focus on the Alliance of Education Agency Heads that is working to increase the high

school graduation rate and postsecondary enrollment rates. In addition, the USG will create a closer working relationship with the Department of Technical and Adult Education.
Maintain affordability so that money is not a barrier to participation in the benefits of higher education by continuing a tradition of low tuition rates and by working to establish a need-based financial aid program. This goal also will focus on Chancellor Davis' desire to increase revenue sources from areas other than state funding and tuition.
Increase efficiency by working as a system to focus on business functions, developing a leadership culture, engaging in workforce process improvements and establishing accountability metrics.
-- 2 --

Now that the regents have approved the broad goals, Watts said the next step is to utilize individuals in the University System Office and on the 35 campuses to develop specific action steps, measurable outcomes, and timelines. Each of the regents also will participate in the ongoing development and implementation of the plan by serving on one of six Strategic Planning Oversight Committees created by Board Chairman Allan Vigil this year. Each Oversight Committee will monitor the progress being made to achieve one of the six goals.
Over the coming months, Chancellor Davis will meet with System presidents, the heads of private foundations, business leaders, legislators, community leaders and news media to discuss the Strategic Plan and how it is designed to strengthen the state's ability to be globally competitive. Q

USG Digest
The Medical College of Georgia has received a two-year planning grant to help establish an Augusta network linking the medically underserved to health care.The network will also link providers with the resources needed to deliver quality care.The $200,500 Healthcare Georgia Foundation grant enables the MCG School of Nursing to establish the network model for Richmond County after assessing community needs and gathering input. MCG School of Nursing leaders are collaborating with a 15-member executive board of community stakeholders to create a network that can eventually be replicated elsewhere.The ultimate goal is for the network to gain Federally Qualified Healthcare Center status and be eligible for federal funding.
The Pre-Engineering program at Valdosta State University was one of 10 in the nation that recently were awarded a 2007 HP Technologyfor Teaching Leadershipaward designed to transform and improve learning in the classroom through innovative uses of technology. In 2006,VSU received a $69,000 Technologyfor Teaching Initiative grant to use for its project, "Using Mobile Technologyto ImproveVisualization, Technical Communication, andAnalytical Skills of Engineering and Science Students and to Facilitate Student Learning," This effort uses HP resources in teaching fundamental engineering,physics,geology, and biology courses.Leadership awards, like VSU's 2007 award, are additional,higher value grants awarded to HPTechnologyfor Teaching grant recipients whose projects demonstrate success in their first year of i m p l e m e n t a t i o n .
VSU was selected for reinvestment because of its success in using HP technolo gyto enhance instruction,demonstrating a measurable, positiveimpact on student achievement,and proposing innovative plans to expand their programs to have broader impact on student success.VSU will use Tablet PC technology to engage students in classroom and field-based activities to improve their visualizations and analytical skills related to engineering and science courses and make better connection
The
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ASSOCIATE VICE CHANCELLOR
Diane Payne
PUBLICATIONS DIRECTOR
To Provide Feedback
write to: diane.payne@usg.edu

ON CAMPUS

Wesley Wicker: `Son of the University System'

Editor's Note: As the Board of Regents has celebrated the 75th anniversary of the creation of the University System of Georgia throughout 2007, several stories of multi-generational links to particular institutions within the University System have come to light. The story below struck us as especially compelling in that it involves 100 years of one family's history in building, attending and working for a total of five different campuses.
By Wesley K. Wicker Executive Director Kennsaw State University Foundation & Vice President, University Advancement
Ihave family ties to three different University System of Georgia (USG) institutions and have spent 13 years of my career working for the System first at Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW) in Americus, then at the University of Georgia (UGA) and now, Kennesaw State University. So, I guess you could say that I'm truly a "son of the University System."
I am one of 10 family members who have graduated from Georgia S o u t h w e s t e r n .
My grandfather, George Madison Wicker, was a member of the first

graduating class in 1910 at Georgia Southwestern College (then called the Third District Agricultural and Mechanical School). He not only enrolled in the school's first class in 1908, but he worked on the construction crew that built the first campus buildings.

When the family farm-

house burned in Andersonville, the Wicker fami-

Wes Wicker

ly moved to Americus in the 1920s

because my grandmother Ruth

Clapp Wicker, one of UGA's earliest

home-economics students wanted to

be close to the local community col-

lege. She knew that education would

open the door of opportunity for her

c h i l d r e n .

My father, George Stanley Wicker Jr., his brother, David J. Wicker, and their three sisters, Mary Elizabeth Wicker, Ruth Wicker Sanderson, and Dorothy Wicker Collier, all attended and graduated from Georgia Southwestern College. Except for my father, they all subsequently earned degrees at the University of Georgia.

See "Wesley Wicker," Page 5 ...

What I Did on My Summer Vacation: Student Internships

So, what did you do this summer?
Unlike many young people, when University System of Georgia (USG) students who have secured unusual summer internships are asked this question, they won't have to respond with the typical litany of leisurely activities.
Instead of simply relaxing and recharging their batteries, they have been gaining valuable on-the-job experience in environments to which their peers may never gain access. Here are two examples:
Georgia Southern University student Katrina Corley served an internship with NASA, working with the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) program at the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
"I am developing a Web application for UAS flight projects that are flown at the Kennedy Space Center, Patrick Air Force Base and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station," said

Corley, a mechanical engineering major.
Corley, who expects to graduate from college in 2009, is enrolled in the Regents Engineering Transfer Program (RETP), which allows prospective engineering students to conduct their first two years of study at a participating USG institution and then complete the program with two years at Georgia Tech.
Georgia Tech senior Maria Celina Iglesia was one of 60 students nationwide chosen from a pool of more than 1,300 applicants for an internship at the U.S. Department of Labor's Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS) in Washington, D.C. VETS' mission is to provide veterans and transitioning service members with the resources and services to succeed in the 21st century workforce by maximizing their employment opportunities and protecting their employment rights.
See "Internships," Page 4 ...

-- 3 --

Budget Request
Continued from P. 1 ...
additional teachers and temporary space, once the planning process is c o m p l e t e .
"The planning process will help us identify the best framework and timeframe for additional, quality expansion," said D r. Daniel W. Rahn, MCG president and USG senior vice chancellor for health and medical programs. "Clearly the state has a compelling need for more physicians and we must move efficiently and effectively to meet those needs." Expansion planning includes examining the school's home base in Augusta as well as clinical campuses in Albany and Savannah and a potential fouryear satellite campus in Athens.
Rahn said that Georgia needs the additional physicians, as the state ranks ninth in the country in population but 37th nationally in the supply of physicians, and 35th in the number of medical students to population.
STEM Initiative
The $10 million STEM initiative is designed to meet increasing state and national personnel shortages of students graduating in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines, as well as a shortage of middle and high school teachers in these fields.
Jan Kettlewell, associate vice chancellor for P-16 initiatives, who is heading up the STEM effort, said the "math plus science equals success" initiative will have three interconnected strategies: to increase both the level of preparation for and interest by K-12 students in majoring in STEM disciplines in college; to increase the academic success of STEM majors in college; and to produce more and better science and math teachers for the K-12 system.
The goal of the initiative is to increase the number of bachelor's

degrees awarded in the STEM disciplines from 4,726 in 2006 to at least 7,200 by 2013. Over the same time period, the number of math teachers the System produces will increase from 411 annually to 750 and the number of science teachers from 267 to 590.
The STEM initiative is structured as a public-private partnership and will seek a one-to-one match of private funds for the $10 million public investment. Private dollars will be used for scholarships and for service-cancelable loans equal to full tuition and fees to attract traditional and non-traditional students to prepare to become middle and high school science and math teachers.
Formula Funds
In addition to the recommendations for MCG and STEM, key features of the $2.3 billion FY09 budget request are $116.6 million in new dollars generated by increases in the USG's base funding formula. Most of the increase in the formula funding $81 million is the result of a 3.6 percent increase in the number of college credit hours taken by the USG's 260,000 students.
The formula increase also includes increased funds for building maintenance and operations ($9.7 million) and additional funds to cover increases in the costs for electricity ($2.8 million), retiree fringe benefits ($4.7 million), and health insurance premiums ($18.1 m i l l i o n ) .
The FY09 Budget request also includes $17.5 million in cash for needed major repairs and renovations (MRR) to the System's 3,115 buildings. This requested amount, when added to $17.5 million in cash already in the current base budget and an associated $35 million in general obligation bonds requested by the regents as part of the capital outlay package, will provide the University System with a total of $70 million for MRR proj e c t s .

Capital Funds
The $215 million requested for new capital construction in FY09 is the first time the Regents have utilized a new strategic capital model approved by the board last year.
Designed to be more responsive and dynamic than the former process, the new model is strategic in nature, data driven, and is based upon each institution's current enrollment, anticipated enrollment growth, total square footage on campus, the age and condition of current facilities, as well as the priorities of the board as reflected in its new Strategic Plan. Q
Construction Funding
Included in the $215 million capital request is $191.5 million to construct or upgrade nine facilities, six of which support the regents' focus on medicine and the mathematics and science fields. The nine projects are:
Medical College of Georgia School of Dentistry, $70 million;
Southern Polytechnic State University Engineering Technology Center, $38 million;
Valdosta State University Math and Computer Science building renovation, $4.5 million;
University of West Georgia northwest campus infrastructure improvements, $2 million;
Clayton State University Business/Health Science building remediation, $9 million;
Georgia Southern University Health and Human Sciences building renovation, $4 million;
Georgia Tech Innovative Learning Resource Center, $50 million;
Skidaway Institute of Oceanography Marine operations infrastructure, $1.2 million; and
Georgia State University and Georgia Perimeter College academic facility at the Alpharetta Center, $12.8 million. Q

Student Internships
Continued from P. 3 ...
"Working for the Department of Labor is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a college student," the economics major said. "It is extremely interesting to

observe the public sector in such a unique way."
"The Labor Department's summer interns learn about public service and how to succeed in a large organization and are gaining valuable experience that can help them become America's future

leaders," said U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao.
Working closely with staff members, Iglesia has been studying contracts and procurements, looking at contract initiation and working on cost-analysis development. Q

-- 4 --

University System Waives Student Fees for Combat Veterans

The Board of Regents in August approved a measure waiving mandatory fees for any Georgia residents who have seen combat in recent years as
active members of the Georgia National Guard or the U.S. Military Reserves, effective immediately.
"This waiver could save eligible veterans $200-600 per semester in fees assessed to all students for such things as student health services, parking, technology and intercollegiate athletics," said University System of Georgia (USG) Vice Chancellor for Fiscal Affairs William R. Bowes. "Waiving these fees aligns with the University System's ongoing Customer Service Initiative and is the latest benefit we are extending in order to be of better service to our veterans. We

intend the waiver to complement federal educational benefits available to reservists and National Guardsmen."
Currently, through the Georgia HERO (Helping Educate Reservists and their Offspring) Scholarship Program, administered by the Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC), members of the Georgia National Guard and the U.S. Military Reserves who have seen combat and their offspring may qualify to receive up to $8,000 each to attend college in the University System of Georgia. Veterans who qualify for HERO Scholarship are eligible for the mandatory-fee waiver, Bowes noted.
In March, 2007, the USG made it "faster, friendlier and easier" for military personnel to obtain college degrees by launching the Georgia Military Education Initiative (MEI), a coordinated System-wide approach to expanding the degree programs, courses and support services available to every branch of the military. The goal of this initiative is to address the unique challenges that make it difficult to provide college

degree programs to military personnel a population frequently on the move and out of reach of a USG campus through traditional means. Using the inherent strengths of various USG institutions in a collaborative manner, System officials are rapidly expanding support with flexible, high-demand, quality programs.
The mandatory-fee waiver approved today is available to Georgia residents who are active members of the Georgia National Guard or the U.S. Military Reserves and have:
served in a combat zone for at least 181 consecutive days since Sept.11, 2001; or
received full disability as a result of injuries suffered in combat during that time; or
were evacuated from a combat zone due to severe injuries suffered during any time while on active duty.
The waiver does not apply to fees charged for housing, food service, electives nor any special fees, user or application fees. Q

Wesley Wicker
Continued from P. 3 ...

was the Georgia College for Women. Since they were twins, they were quite a novelty on cam-

When I finished my doctorate at UGA, I became a third-generation graduate of that institution as well.

Dad broke with tradition by winning a competitive scholarship to Emory University.

pus and their pictures are all over the yearbooks in the early 1940s.
My father fought in

Dr. Henry King Stanford, who was interim president at UGA when I attended graduate school

My father was

World War II and the

there (and my father's roommate

proud of his affiliation

Korean War and worked in at Emory), hooded me. I think I

with Georgia

the Pentagon after the war. may hold the distinction of being

S o u t h w e s t e r n .

On retiring, he served on the only graduate ever to have

Amazingly, his small

the Board of Directors of

been hooded by the subject of his

class included Judge

the GSW Alumni Associa- or her dissertation. Q

Griffin Bell, Georgia

tion for 20 years.

Chief Justice Robert

He received the

Jordan, and Senator

Most Oustanding

Johnny Isakson's

Alumni Award

mother, among others.

and holds lifetime

As the 1937 class pres- George S. Wicker Jr.. membership on

ident at Southwestern, the author's father.

the board.

dad erected the flagpole in front of the administration building that still stands today. The class raised money for the purchase of the flag and the pole during the depths of the Depress i o n .

I became one of GSW's first "ThirdGeneration" graduates when I received my Master of Education degree in 1985. I was the college's director of alum-

My mother, Margaret Keel Wicker, and her twin sister, Myrtle Keel Tillman, both graduated from Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville when it

ni affairs at the time, and later enjoyed organizing and hosting the 50th Anniversary of my father's class.

The author's mother, Margaret Keel Wicker (second from right), and her twin sister, Myrtle Keel Tillman (far right), with their roommates outside the Health Sciences Building at Georgia College & State University in the 1940s.

-- 5 --

Reunited
Four regents emeriti and the executive secretary emerita of the Board of Regents were honored for their service and presented with engraved Brumby rockers during the August board meeting. Regents Michael Coles (not pictured), Julie Hunt (seated), Tim Shelnut (at left), and Joel Wooten (at right) and former Executive Secretary Gail Weber Mewborn (standing) were saluted by Regent Richard Tucker, chair of the University System of Georgia Foundation, which purchased the rockers. "Between them, these people have contributed a total of 46 years of dedicated service to the University System of Georgia," Tucker said, noting that he is "proud to call them my friends." Q
Diamond Jubilee
Continued from P. 2 ...
Whereas: The University System of Georgia serves as a catalyst in transforming the lives of hundreds of thousands of Georgians and serves as the primary vehicle driving the state's growth and vitality through teaching, research and service; and
Whereas: Through special programs, the University System of Georgia prepares students to be part of a global, highly educated workforce that continually contributes to the economic growth of the State of Georgia; and

Whereas: The University System of Georgia has, for 75 outstanding years, fulfilled its mission of providing a strong, academically-excellent system of public higher education for all Georgians; Now therefore: I, Sonny Perdue, Governor of the State of Georgia, do hereby recognize the University System of Georgia and its governing Board of Regents for 75 years of excellent service to this state and its citizens.
In witness thereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the Executive Department to be affixed this eighth day of August in the year of our Lord two thousand seven. Q

B O A R D OF REGENTS
Allan Vigil McDonough
CHAIR
William H. Cleveland, M.D. Atlanta
VICE CHAIR
Kenneth R. Bernard Jr. Douglasville
James A. Bishop Sea Island
Hugh A. Carter, Jr. Atlanta
Robert F. Hatcher Macon
Felton Jenkins Madison
W. Mansfield Jennings Jr. Hawkinsville
James R. Jolly Dalton
Donald M. Leebern Jr. Columbus
Elridge W. McMillan Atlanta
Patrick S. Pittard Lakemont
Doreen Stiles Poitevint Bainbridge
Willis J. Potts Jr. Rome
Wanda Yancey Rodwell Stone Mountain
Benjamin Tarbutton III Sandersville
Richard L. Tucker Duluth
O F F I C E R S
Erroll B. Davis Jr. CHANCELLOR
Julia M. Murphy SECRETARY TO THE BOARD
William R. Bowes TREASURER

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