2004 University Convocation Address
Dr. Dorothy Leland
Sept. 1, 2004
Travel with me for a moment in your imagination. Imagine that you work in a community of learning that has transformed itself in less than a decade to become one of the best colleges in its state. Imagine that a talented and caring faculty, staff and administration work there with you. Imagine also that student recruitment has made startling gains in terms of the quality of entering freshmen. Imagine a physical campus that exemplifies what many Americans' think a college campus should be. What would you think if someone told you that beneath this idyllic existence a troubling force is stirring, one that threatens to slow or stop your momentum and even to undo some of what you have accomplished?
I probably don't need to interpret this rather transparent narrative for you. As many of you have heard, after successive years of budget reductions and givebacks, another reduction is on the way. We have seen the percentage of our budget funded by the state decrease dramatically over the last few years. While this decrease in state financial support is partially attributable to an economic slump, some well-known higher education leaders are predicting that funding for public colleges and universities will never be at the level it was before the current economic crisis. This is because rising health care costs and the shifting of social service obligations from federal to state coffers will continue to require states to expend greater portions of the budget pie in these areas.More cynically, some people have dismissed our cries of economic hardship because we have not endured widespread layoffs or tolerated a diminution of the academic experience. But we – the people in the trenches – know better. We have been inventive and resourceful. We are working harder and longer. We are making personal and professional sacrifices not for economic advantage but because of our deep commitments to our students and to public higher education.
Since January I have spent my time listening and learning – listening to the pulse of this great institution while learning of your accomplishment and, most importantly, your aspirations. Call me an optimist, but I don't believe that our destiny is to be defeated by the funding challenges we face. That's why I am pledging to you my untiring efforts to strengthen the resource base that will enable us to fund our plans and dreams. While this will involve my continued efforts to persuade state officials to increase higher education appropriations, it is clear that we cannot look to the state alone. Indeed, strengthening our resource base requires lessening our dependence on state appropriations by working to create or expand alternative revenue streams. These alternative revenue streams include auxiliary enterprises, grants and contracts and --most importantly-- individual, corporate and foundation support.
As your president, I can be successful in strengthening the resource base of Georgia College only by becoming more external. I must spend more of my time cultivating the good will of politicians. I must tell our story and seek the support of individual donors and foundations – locally and across the state. I must work to build alumni support and the rate of annual giving. I must broker creative financial partnerships with business and industry. Most importantly, I must trust that you understand that I will miss being here but that my absences from campus will be for extraordinarily important reasons.
In the short term, we will approach the current budget situation prudently and humanely. Currently, we don't know the exact magnitude of the reduction or the extent to which increased revenue through tuition or other sources can be used to offset it. After consulting with the University Senate Budget and Planning Committee and members of my administrative leadership team, I have decided to implement several short-term expenditure reduction measures. The most important of these measures include a temporary hiring freeze and a freeze on purchases that exceed $300. These temporary measures will help us to build our reserves while we study the feasibility of longer-term cost reduction measures and consider carefully how to minimizing harm to our core mission.
A few weeks ago, I held an open meeting to hear your ideas regarding the principles that should guide us in making budget reduction decisions. I was so very impressed by what you told me. You urged us to focus on our core mission and the people who deliver it without forgetting that the beauty of our campus – the lawns and flowers and trees-- helps to sustain us as a community. You cautioned us not to kill cash cows and to avoid layoffs if possible. Most importantly, you advocated for "bottom up" budgeting that seeks department and division level deliberation into ways to best effect cost savings while continuing to provide students with a quality liberal arts education. I agree. Although the budget as a whole must be managed at the macro level, creative problem solving at the local level must also be supported and encouraged.
The opposite of "bottom up" is "top down." Although certain institutional decisions and actions will necessarily and rightly be made from the top, decision-making at all levels benefits from appropriate processes of consultation and collaboration. This is why I am so pleased that Georgia College is now beginning its second year of a governance system that is transforming the way in which policy decisions are made. We've are moving away from a top-down structure to a system in which faculty, staff, and student representatives actively participate in the policy making process. This is a healthy change, for it ensures that important deliberations benefit from the multiple frames and perspectives that expand our collective intelligence. Throughout the year, your senators will be making important decisions on your behalf and on behalf of the university. I encourage you to keep informed by visiting the University Senate Web site often and making your views known to your senators on matters under deliberation. (Top of The Info Page, scroll down under faculty/staff sites).
Just as the governance process represents a healthy shift away from a top-down policy making process, I believe that a shift away from a top-down management structure is equally important. As your president, my job is to see to oversee the operation and management of the institution as a whole and to provide the kind of leadership and supervision that will promote its efficient operation and continued excellence. I can do that best by delegating specific leadership and management responsibilities to my administrative team and by creating appropriate accountability systems, including meaningful, risk-free feedback from the community. Make no mistake: as dedicated and hardworking professionals, we would prefer to receive praise rather than criticism and approval rather than condemnation. But it is vital to remain open to hearing voices of difference and disagreement as well as voices of praise. It is equally vital to find ways to come together as a purposeful community once processes of debate and deliberation have ended and a course of action selected. Across our occasional disagreements and disappointments, we must also lift the spirit, build community and gain strength from each other.
Now, just for a few more moments, I want you to dream with me about the future of this wonderful university.
Imagine a campus with stately historic buildings that recently have been renovated. The cranes and trucks have left, the construction fences are down, and the scars on the landscape have healed. Students from diverse cultural, ethnic and economic backgrounds are assembling on the front campus for a community service project. They are learning that "reason, respect and responsibility" begins at home – on the campus and in the surrounding historic neighborhood. Financial incentive packages have enabled more faculty and staff to purchase homes near the campus, and teams of students, staff and faculty regularly participate in neighborhood repair and renovation projects. Downtown, an attractive range of businesses supports the city and the university, where the campus has also expanded through inventive partnerships with local organizations and businesses. Imagine a black box theatre and a store operated by business students that displays and sells the creative products of our students. Imagine walking and bicycle paths that stretch from Bobcat Village to the newly completed Oconee River Greenway.
At the heart of my dream is for Georgia College to become a nationally recognized public liberal arts university. This vision is not just a point of pride – a future bragging right (although presidents love to brag). More importantly, the vision is about fulfilling our public trust to the people of Georgia. It is about keeping Georgia's brightest students in Georgia by providing them with affordable access to a liberal arts learning environment of the highest quality.
I am convinced this vision is achievable if we keep ourselves focused and think and act strategically. We must be clear about our fundamental purpose and the educational values that sustain us. Consistent with our fundamental purpose and values, we must identify those things that we can do better than most everyone else. I like to think of these things as pillars of distinction – elements that support the superstructure and stand out as points of prominence. These pillars of distinction will include a selection of our academic programs as well as exemplary opportunities for students to grow as active learners, develop as informed and responsible citizens, and emerge as future leaders. We must capitalize on educational assets that we have by virtue of location and history, invest wisely in signature programs, and promote ourselves effectively.
My vision for Georgia College also includes elevating the stature of our off-campus graduate programs. As a state university, providing graduate programs responsive to area workforce needs is a critical part of our mission. Currently, we offer such programs in Macon and Warner Robbins, which together comprise one of Georgia's larger population areas. No one else can offer quality in graduate programming in this region at the price we charge, and our students there also deserve the very best that we can offer. This is why I also dream of a time in which we are recognized for the innovative ways in which we deliver high quality graduate education to working professionals. These programs will feature flexible delivery systems and innovative curricula and support creative local and regional partnerships.
This is my inaugural year at Georgia College and I have selected "Traditions and Transformations" as my theme. This institution has undergone many transformations and with each incarnation it has striven to achieve excellence in its mission. We have a rich tradition on which to draw and an exciting future to build.
So what, you ask, is the state of the University today? It is strong, stronger, I dare say, than ever. And that is because of the industry that you bring to the table every single day. You are the engine that has put us where we are today. We have the most qualified student body ever because you, all of you, have done the things that make the University attractive to potential students and that make it a place where they want to stay once they arrive. The heart of any institution is not building or dollars or programs, but people. It is because of you that we will become one of the nation's top liberal arts universities and an innovative provider of off-campus graduate programs. No doubt about it!
Thanks for your attention and continued dedication to excellence.
