| The 12 universities in the Southeastern
Conference, with a tradition in intercollegiate athletics, are joining
forces to strengthen academic programs at conference schools.
The presidents, chancellors and provosts from the 12 SEC institutions
have created an organization named the Southeastern Conference Academic
Consortium to coordinate efforts to bolster teaching, research,
public service and other educational activities at the schools.
SECAC is an adjunct to the SEC during its first year but eventually
will be a separate entity with its own staff and budget.
The creation of SECAC puts the SEC in the forefront of a national
trend in collegiate athletics toward greater emphasis on academic
achievement, according to UGA President Michael F. Adams, chair
of the SEC presidents and chancellors.
“This new organization is an important component of the SEC’s
commitment to excellence in both athletics and academics,”
Adams says. “It will provide the member institutions with
a forum and mechanism to advance our collective academic goals.
I am pleased to see the energy and effort demonstrated by the academic
leadership of the universities in our conference.”
Participation in SECAC is voluntary, and all 12 member schools
are supporting the consortium with financial contributions and by
sharing information and working cooperatively to improve academics
throughout the conference, according to SEC commissioner Mike Slive.
“This academic consortium will provide an opportunity for
our schools to work together to enhance and share academic resources,”
says Slive. “This consortium will operate parallel to, but
separate from, the athletic side of the conference. Students will
benefit by shared courses, library resources, research and facilities.
In this way the conference will work together, not only to enhance
athletic programs, but also to enhance academic resources in a cooperative
environment involving not just athletics, but all aspects of the
university.”
The Southeastern Conference, formed in 1933, includes the universities
of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and
South Carolina, and Auburn, Louisiana State, Mississippi State and
Vanderbilt universities. The league sanctions championship play
in nine men’s sports and 11 women’s sports. League
headquarters are in Birmingham.
The SEC schools have adopted a memorandum of understanding that
creates SECAC and sets out possible initiatives in several academic
areas in which the schools may participate. The initiatives include
study-abroad programs and joint purchasing agreements for library
holdings.
The SECAC chair will be the provost at the university whose president
or chancellor is the current SEC president. That makes UGA provost
Arnett C. Mace Jr. the first SECAC chair.
“The first initiatives undertaken by SECAC cover areas that
are central to the academic mission of each member school,”
says Mace. “Not every school will participate in every initiative,
but they have all agreed to be involved in one or more of these
efforts. By working cooperatively, they will mutually enhance the
academic strength of all the schools.”
In its first year SECAC is functioning as an arm of the SEC and
Mace is organizing and coordinating its activities with assistance
from an SEC staff member to handle administrative tasks. Plans are
for the consortium to become a separate entity with a salaried executive
director and a board of directors composed of the provosts at all
member schools.
|
