Vol. 38, No. 5, June 2001
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Each June, the Board of Regents updates its five-year Major Capital Out-lay Priority List, weighing the top facility needs identified by Uni-versity System of Geor-gia presidents against their adherence to 10 guiding principles for capital facilities.
These principles were approved by the board in 1997 as part of the regents' comprehen-sive planning process. Highest priority is given to instructional facilities, followed by academic support facilities, student support buildings, then finally administrative and infrastructure needs.
This year, the board added four new building projects to the list during the June board meeting, with laptop computers playing a supporting role in the process.
In all, 22 major construction projects totaling $504 million now comprise the capital list, which will be a major element in the regents' Fiscal Year 2003 budget request, submitted to the state's Office of Planning and Budget in September. The new projects were added to the end of the existing list, at numbers 19 through 22. The request will be utilized by Gov. Roy Barnes in developing budget recommendations to be considered by the state legislature when it convenes for the 2002 Legislative Session.
The revised Major Capital Outlay Projects List is de-signed to ac-commodate new funding requests from USG campuses, replacing the dollar amount of projects funded in the previous legislative funding cycle.
The four new projects approved for the list this year include:
The regents expedited the list-revision pro-cess this year with the support of wireless technology. Upon evaluation of the presidents' presentations, board members used laptop compu-ters to individually evaluate and rank the seven requested projects. The new high-tech approach reduced to a single day the annual review and approval process - the tabulation of which previously had been conducted manually over-night.
"Cutting-edge technology is at our disposal within the University System to increase our efficiency and effectiveness," said Chancellor Stephen R. Portch.
"The wireless computers allowed us to in-volve the regents in yet another level of the capital prioritization process, further empowering them in the decision making."
The seven projects, totaling $156.5 million in state funds and $24 million in campus funds, were screened from 21 proposals submitted by USG presidents. The same guiding principles for facil-ities that were used by the regents to eval-uate the project requests were used in the initial screening, with priority placed on facilities that ac-commodate existing and future enrollment growth and required academic programs.
During the June meeting, the board also reviewed and approved several other facilities-related agenda items, including:
From the list of 24 rank-ordered projects approved by the board in June 2000, the General Assembly funded the top six projects for construction in its Fiscal Year 2001 Supplemental Budget, at a cost of $91.3 million. While already funded for construction, these six projects still re-quire $4.8 million in additional funding to pay for the loose equipment associated with their operation. ¶
"Cutting-edge technology is at our disposal within the University System
to increase our efficiency and effectiveness."
- Chancellor Stephen Portch
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The following is the revised list of Major Capital Outlay Projects adopted by the Board of Regents on June 13, 2001:
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The Board of Regents elected new leadership for the 2002 fiscal year during its June meeting.
Hilton H. Howell Jr. was named chair of the University System of Georgia's 16-member governing body, and Joe Frank Harris was named vice chair. Both will assume office July 1, 2001, and will serve one-year terms through June 30, 2002.
Hilton H. Howell Jr.
Former Gov. Zell Miller appointed Howell to the Board of Regents as a member-at-large in 1997. In addition to his board appointment, Howell is a member of Gov. Roy Barnes' Com-mittee on Education Reform. Prior to being named a regent, Howell served from 1993 to 1997 on the board of the Georgia Department of Human Resources.
"Georgia is a state with a strong commitment to education, and I am proud to have been asked to serve in this leadership role for the University System of Georgia," Howell said. "I look forward to working with my fellow regents on a number of key public higher education issues during the coming year, including the selection of a new chancellor and completion of our next phase of strategic planning."
Howell is president and chief executive officer of Atlantic American Cor-poration, an insurance holding company. He also is executive vice president of Delta Life Insurance Company and Delta Fire & Casualty Company, as well as vice president, secretary and director of the Bull Run Corpora-tion. In addition, he serves as executive vice president and a director of Gray Communications Systems. Prior to locating to Atlanta with Atlantic American, Howell was in private law practice in Houston, Texas.
Howell earned a bachelor's degree in history in 1984 and a law degree (cum laude) in 1988 from Baylor University. He also holds a master's degree in business administration from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.
Joe Frank Harris
Harris served as Governor of Georgia for two terms from 1983-91. He was ap-pointed to the Board of Regents to represent the Seventh Congressional District in 1999 by Gov. Roy Barnes.
Harris' administration is known for having made improvements in education through the Quality Basic Education Act (QBE) and for enhancing the state's economic development activities. Before his gubernatorial election, Harris served 18 years as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives, the last eight as chairman of the Appropriations Committee. His fiscal management brought higher bond ratings for the state and, during his term as Governor, Georgia was rated among the country's top 15 best-managed states by Financial World.
"I am pleased to take on this im-portant responsibility on behalf of the University System of Georgia," Harris said. "Ensuring that public higher ed-ucation remains strong and responsive to the needs of this state's citizens is critical to Georgia's continued growth and prosperity."
Barred by law from seeking a third term as Governor, Harris returned to life as a private citizen in 1991. He is chairman of the Harris Georgia Cor-poration and a member of the boards of directors of AFLAC, Inc., and Bankhead Enterprises, Inc.
He is the first Distinguished Executive Fellow at Georgia State University, where he is a professor in the Department of Public Administra-tion and Urban Studies. The royalties from his autobiography, Joe Frank Harris: Personal Reflections on a Public Life, are being donated to the Georgia State University Foundation to support the Governor Joe Frank Harris Scholarship Fund. Harris earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Georgia. ¶
At the June board meeting, the leadership gavel was passed as the regents elected a new chair and vice chair for the 2002 Fiscal Year.
Left to right: Chancellor Stephen R. Portch, new Chair Hilton H. Howell, Jr., outgoing Chair Glenn S. White, and new Vice Chair Joe Frank Harris.
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Chancellor Stephen R. Portch has permanently appointed two senior vice chancellors and a vice chancellor, all of whom have been serving in their positions at the Board of Regents on an interim basis since Portch reorganized his executive staff last year.
The appointments all are effective July 1.
Thomas E. Daniel was named sen-ior vice chancellor for external activities and facilities. Daniel, who received his interim appointment last July, is a long-time administrator in the governing office of the 34-campus University System, having begun his USG tenure as special assistant to the chancellor in 1982. In July 1988, he was named vice chancellor of external affairs for the Board of Regents. He kept this title until his appointment as interim senior vice chancellor last summer. In each of these capacities, Daniel has led and overseen the University System of Georgia's governmental affairs activities and communication with the members of the Georgia General Assembly and other key constituencies.
Corlis P. Cummings was named sen-ior vice chancellor for support services. Last October, Portch chose Cummings as the interim head of the new Support Services division, composed of the Legal Affairs, Human Re-sources and Internal Audit offices, which support the entire University System.
Cummings joined the Board of Regents in 1995 as assistant vice chancellor for legal affairs, in charge of contracts. Before joining the re-gents, Cummings served as assistant city attorney with the City of Atlanta from 1991 to 1995.
William R. Bowes was named vice chancellor for fiscal affairs. Bowes is responsible for managing the annual budget development and allocation process for the University System and for overseeing the development and implementation of the Board of Re-gents' fiscal policies and procedures.
Before his interim appointment last October, Bowes served as associate vice chancellor for fiscal affairs, a position he held since being hired by the Board of Regents in 1995. Bowes has more than 20 years' experience in public higher education and government, all of which he gained prior to coming to Georgia in various positions in Connecticut. ¶
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Ongoing efforts by Dalton State College's Center for Continuing Education and the Dalton-area Latino Advisory Council to serve the growing Hispanic population in northwest Georgia have earned the college the 2001 Chancellor's Collaborative Award.
The award, established in 1995, recognizes outstanding examples of collaborative efforts by a person or unit within the University System. Chancellor Stephen R. Portch and his wife Barbara, donate funds to the University System of Georgia Foundation to make the $1,000 award possible. Programs or individuals are nominated by USG campus presidents and are evaluated by a committee composed of Board of Regents staff.
Dalton President James A. Burran accepted the award during the Board of Regents' June meeting. Accompanying Burran at the presentation were three charter members of the council: Ivette Moncus, a probation officer with Georgia Probation Services; Norberto Reyes, a Dalton business owner and executive board member of the Dalton-Whitfield Chamber of Commerce; and David Sargent, director of Dalton State College's Center for Continuing Education.
The Latino Advisory Council was formed in August 1998 to increase awareness of Dalton State College by the Latino community in Dalton and Whitfield counties and to develop non-credit training and educational programs to serve them. It is a collaborative effort among Dalton State College, Centro Latino, Inc. - a local community support group - and the Dalton-Whitfield Chamber of Commerce. ¶
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Georgia College & State University has been invited to participate in the prestigious Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges, joining institutions such as the College of Charleston, Mary Washington College in Virginia and the University of North Carolina at Asheville in the organization of publicly funded institutions with a strong dedication to liberal arts.
GCSU President Rosemary DePaolo accepted the unanimous invitation to become COPLAC's 18th member at the organization's annual conference at Evergreen State University in Olympia, Wash., on June 25.
The invitation is a milestone for GCSU, which has worked toward securing membership since being designated as Georgia's public liberal arts university in 1996.
"I'm thrilled," DePaolo said. "It is wonderful to be part of a fine group of public colleges, all dedicated to providing the highest quality of liberal arts education to bright students at state prices."
"This is great news for GCSU, the University System, and - perhaps most importantly - the state of Georgia," said Chancellor Stephen R. Portch. "The Board of Regents' Mission Review process identified the need for GCSU to be positioned as a leading public liberal arts university, and this board fully embraced that recommendation. COPLAC's invitation proves that the board's vote of confidence and the special initiative funding provided by Gov. Roy Barnes and the General Assembly are yielding excellent dividends."
Membership in COPLAC requires evidence of the university's dedication to its mission statement, curricular requirements, resource allocations and faculty hiring, promotion and tenure policies. Members also must show a focus on selective admissions, recognition of cultural and intellectual diversity, commitment to high-quality liberal arts education for those who may not achieve it otherwise, and on sustaining quality relations between students and faculty. ¶
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A new professional development program for Kennesaw State University employees has participants bonding while negotiating a 25-foot high tightrope and learning more about the university through discussions with retired employees and visits to local landmarks with which KSU has community ties.
The 23 secretaries, custodians, marketing directors, admissions staffers and others selected for this spring's inaugural KSU Excel program also attended meetings in the president's board room, took an extensive walking tour of the campus, heard from motivational speakers and grew more comfortable about working together.
"Our goal was to provide a concentrated one-week leadership development program focusing on managing change, networking, team-building, multi-cultural workplace effectiveness and other topics of relevance to today's higher education workplace," said Excel Co-Chair Bryan Ginn. "We also wanted to enhance participants' knowledge and understanding of KSU's organizational culture, strategic goals and objectives, and the overall mission of the university."
"It was the most incredible experience," said Sheryl Akridge, an administrative assistant in the registrar's office. "We learned so much about each other, the university and the communities that surround us. But perhaps most importantly, we learned alot about ourselves." ¶
His Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Carlton E. Brown, T. LaVerne Ricks-Brown[ contents ]
His Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II (seated), king of the Ashanti region of Ghana, was welcomed to Savannah State University on June 5-7 by President Carlton E. Brown and his wife, T. LaVerne Ricks-Brown (standing). The king and his delegation met with University System administrators and state and local government officials on the SSU campus to discuss educational and economic linkages between Ghana and the United States. Savannah State, which has agreements with three Ghanian universities for student and faculty exchanges and joint research projects, also hosted two international education symposiums during the king's visit. ¶
Last month, the final University System of Georgia campus finished incorporating its library holdings into the six-million book, web-based catalog of the USG library collections. This feat, three years in the making, was cause for major celebration among USG librarians and library staff.
They convened on the University of Georgia campus on June 4-5 to celebrate the achievement during the annual GALILEO Interconnected Libraries (GIL) Users Group Conference. The 220 attendees also focused on preparing for the next stages of the GIL project.
GIL is an on-line catalog and library management system for USG libraries that links every collection in the System. USG librarians use GIL to gather data on the growth and use of the collections that will guide future decision-making and the development of cooperative collections.
Next up is the implementation of universal borrowing, allowing USG library patrons to initiate requests for books from any computer in the System. For more information about GIL, please visit the GIL web site at http://gil.usg.edu/. ¶
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BOARD OF REGENTS OFFICERSGlenn S. White
Lawrenceville
CHAIR
Hilton Hatchett Howell, Jr.
Atlanta
VICE-CHAIR
Juanita Powell Baranco
Lithonia
Hugh C. Carter, Jr.
Atlanta
Connie Cater
Macon
Michael J. Coles
Kennesaw
Joe Frank Harris
Cartersville
John Hunt
Tifton
Donald M. Leebern, Jr.
Columbus
Allene H. Magill
Dalton
Elridge W. McMillan
Atlanta
Martin W. NeSmith
Claxton
J. Timothy Shelnut
Augusta
Joel O. Wooten, Jr.
Columbus
James D. Yancey
Columbus
Stephen R. Portch
CHANCELLOR
Gail S. Weber
SECRETARY TO THE BOARD
William R. Bowes
TREASURER
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