Georgia Southern President to step down
Susan Herbst, executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer of the University System of Georgia (USG), announced today that she has accepted the decision of Georgia Southern University President Bruce Grube to step down as president, effective June 30, 2009. Dr. Grube has served the University System in this role since July 1, 1999.
Herbst praised Grube’s leadership, saying, “During Dr. Grube’s tenure, Georgia Southern University has made tremendous progress in nearly all areas. He has expanded university facilities, beautified the campus, introduced the most sophisticated practices in higher education, and inspired his faculty, staff, and students. Most important has been his keen and unyielding focus on academic excellence and achievement.”
Under Grube’s leadership, Georgia Southern University was designated a Carnegie Doctoral/Research University, and the institution has been featured in U.S. News &World Report’s “Best Colleges” guide. In addition, the institution was recently named one of the “Top 100 Best Values” by Kiplinger. While at Georgia Southern, Grube also oversaw the introduction of new ways to learn. The first Internet-based courses were introduced in 1999, and the University now offers undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees online.
After the end of his tenure as president, Grube will take one year of educational leave to prepare to return to the classroom as a professor of political science in the 2010-2011 academic year at Georgia Southern University. In addition, he also will serve as a consultant and mentor with the University System of Georgia where he will work with the newest presidents of the 35 USG colleges and universities.
Board of Regents Chair Richard Tucker will initiate a national search process to identify candidates for the position of President at Georgia Southern University. Details of that process will be announced in the coming months.
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Board of Regents approves ethics policy for the University System
The Board of Regents approved a revision to its policy manual that establishes for the first time a unified Ethics Policy for the University System of Georgia (USG).
“There are a multitude of documents in existence throughout the University System that govern personal conduct in various ways, but the new Ethics Policy provides a comprehensive, overarching framework for improving our overall risk management of all the varied resources entrusted to our care,” said Ron Stark, the USG’s chief audit officer and associate vice chancellor for internal audit. “The University System of Georgia is committed to the highest ethical and professional standards of conduct in pursuit of its mission to create a more educated Georgia. This universal policy will help bring all 35 USG campuses into compliance with federal and state regulations and the System’s code of conduct.”
The new Ethics Policy – available online at www.usg.edu/compliance/ethics/ – is part of a three-pronged approach the University System is taking to enhance compliance with state and federal regulations and minimize misconduct by USG faculty, staff, administrators, vendors, contractors, and members of the Board of Regents. The other two elements of this effort involve the development of enterprise risk management and compliance programs. The former is designed to identify and mitigate significant financial, operational, and compliance risks, and the latter helps to prevent and detect noncompliance with laws, rules, and regulations through education, a hotline, and other measures.
The new policy summarizes in one location the various rules, policies, and procedures governing the Board of Regents and its employees, who will receive training as part of the implementation plan.
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Enrollment climbs
When the University System of Georgia (USG) Board of Regents adopted a new strategic plan in August 2007, the plan predicted an additional 100,000 students enrolling in Georgia’s 35 public colleges and universities by 2020. The numbers in the board’s fall 2008 enrollment report, released today, show the system is on track to reach and perhaps surpass that prediction, with a record 282,978 students.
And 46,711 of those students this fall are first-time freshmen. This group increased 9.6 percent over fall 2007 and is evidence of the increasing demand on public higher education resources by Georgians.
The overall numbers represent a gain of 12,956 students from fall 2007, or an increase of 4.8 percent. This follows a gain of 10,077 students from fall 2006 to fall 2007. To put the gains in perspective, the USG has grown by 32,319 students, or 12.9 percent, in the last five years.
“We have added the equivalent of another University of Georgia to the system over the past five years,” says USG Chancellor Erroll B. Davis, Jr. “This represents significant growth, during a period in which we are challenged to serve more students at a high level of quality with diminished resources.” For example, a new USG analysis shows that the number of faculty and staff in the system to serve students has decreased by 18 percent per 1000 students from fall 2000 to fall 2007, while over the same period, enrollment increased 31.5 percent.
The system’s full-time equivalent enrollment (FTE) for fall 2008 is 247,168, an increase of 5.1 percent over fall 2007, adding 11,982 more FTE students. This increase is above the overall enrollment increase of 4.8 percent, which indicates that more students are taking additional hours of courses, compared to students in fall 2007.
The full USG fall 2008 enrollment report is available on the web at: http://www.usg.edu/research/students/enroll/fy2009/fall08.pdf.
Nov 17, 2008
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