Tuesday, September 5, 2000
Three Yamacraw professors join UGA
Stackhouse, sculptor-painter, named to Lamar Dodd Chair
Strengthening connections
New technology fee improves learning, student services
By Larry B. Dendy
ldendy@uga.edu

UGA students who began paying a new technology fee this semester will soon start seeing a payoff in improved instruction and student services, as the university begins spending more than $4 million to upgrade computers and other technology.
The $75-per-semester fee, authorized earlier this year by the University System Board of Regents, is designed to help UGA erase a $5 million annual deficit in technology needs related to classroom instruction and student services. The deficit was identified by a faculty-student study committee, which recommended the fee to help overcome the shortfall.
Funds generated by the fee will be used to replace computers and supplies in computer labs, upgrade audio-visual equipment in classrooms, install advanced computer hardware and software for instruction, and pay for technical support and specialized training for classroom personnel.
The funds are being allocated among the university’s academic schools and colleges based on needs identified in those units. Money is also being distributed to the libraries, to student affairs offices and to special instructional programs operated by the office of the vice president for instruction.
Students began paying the technology fee this semester along with fees for transportation, health, athletics and student activities. The fee will generate about $4.5 million during the current academic year and about $5 million next year when it is also assessed for summer semester.
“The technology fee has a very specific purpose--to strengthen learning opportunities and improve other services for students,” says Karen Holbrook, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “The university is committed to providing the best possible learning environment for our students, and this is an important step in that direction.”
Holbrook says distribution of fees from this semester is already under way, based on requests from academic and student service units. The largest allocation for this academic year is $1.97 million to replace machines and supplies in computer labs in 10 schools and colleges, and in student organization offices, the libraries and University Computing and Network Services.
Holbrook says the university also hopes to move forward rapidly with plans to install modems in residence halls.
The university’s need to enhance technology for instruction and student services was spotlighted more than two years ago when a committee of faculty and students identified needs totaling more than $5 million.
The committee recommended levying a technology fee, and the board of regents earlier this year approved the university’s request for the fee.
William K. Jackson, director of the Office of Instructional Support and Development and a member of the committee, says the university’s Instructional Technology Advisory Committee conducted a follow-up survey that further identified pressing technology needs.
Another committee composed of students and faculty used the survey’s findings to determine the first distribution of fee-generated funds.
Jackson says this year’s allocations should eliminate about 90 percent of the annual technology deficit for instruction and student services identified in the initial study. The university has larger shortfalls in other areas of technology, but they cannot be addressed by the technology fee because it is restricted to instruction and student services, Jackson says.
He says the fee will be subject to a periodic review by the university and the board of regents.
Use of fees
  • $1.97 million to replace machines in computer labs in 10 schools and colleges, student organization offices, the libraries and University Computing and Networking Services.
  • $611,500 to upgrade classrooms and equipment in five schools and colleges, Instructional Support and Development, Air Force ROTC and the Gwinnett Center.
  • $347,500 for special technology needs in three schools and colleges, UCNS and computer literacy classes.
  • $197,450 for advanced hardware and software in five schools and colleges and the Gwinnett Center.
  • $167,400 for technology-based courses in the colleges of business and education.
  • $122,150 to replace technology fees now assessed in the colleges of business and of agricultural and environmental sciences.
  • $80,000 for technical support and training for personnel in the Learning Disabilities Center, the Office of Instructional Support and Development, the College of Family and Consumer Sciences and the Gwinnett Center.
  • $41,500 for extended computer lab hours in the College of Pharmacy, School of Social Work and Gwinnett Center.
  • $37,500 for new computer labs in the Warnell School of Forest Resources and the Office of International Education.
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