December 2000: Vol. 80, No. 1December 2000: Vol. 80, No. 1A vision for UGA's future
 Michael F. Adams |
little more than three years ago, when I was inaugurated as the 21st president of the University of Georgia, I spoke of this institution as "a place of hope and vision." The hope lives in the eyes of each student, in the teaching and research of our faculty, and in the service we conduct.
Today, we can talk more specifically about that vision. For about 18 months, we have been engaged in a strategic planning process. While I instigated the process and urged and encouraged participation from everyone, I have deliberately stayed out of the development of the plan, knowing that a strategic plan handed down from the President's Office would be neither appropriate nor effective. Each of the 26 units—the 13 colleges and schools, as well as the vice presidential areas—submitted individual strategic plans, which served as resource material for the institutional plan.
Strategic planning requires some difficult choices about our areas of excellence, our potential for excellence in other areas, and how our limited resources will be distributed. At its core, this is a plan for putting a new focus on our traditional missions of teaching, research, and public service.
The 215-year history of the University of Georgia is the foundation upon which we carry out our missions. But just as we have renovated some of the historic buildings on North Campus, we must also be prepared to update our missions. The poet Michael Cibenko said, "One problem with gazing too frequently into the past is that we may turn around to find that the future has run out on us." I believe that this strategic plan will ensure that we take full advantage of the opportunities coming our way in the future.
First, we must enhance the total student learning experience. I have said many times that there is as much to learn outside the classroom as there is inside it; one of the great values of a residential college experience is the opportunity to learn life skills. The pendulum at UGA, unfortunately, has swung away from residential life over the past three decades. Today, fewer than one in five students lives on campus. The vibrant and energizing campus environment, a feature of institutions such as UNC-Chapel Hill, Michigan, and UVA, is largely absent at UGA—and the entire institution suffers.
We must attract students back to campus and we must be prepared to house them. We must create a campus community that encourages students to mingle in common spaces, to share a cup of coffee with a professor, to attend concerts or visit the art museum. To do that, we will significantly increase the number of residence halls on campus. The Student Learning Center, under construction near the University Bookstore and Tate Student Center, will be a centerpiece for the campus, a place where students can learn and log on, listen and laugh. When completed, it will allow us to expand the Tate Center and bookstore, offering even more student services.
Second, we must maximize our research opportunities. UGA researchers are literally creating tomorrow today; their inquiries and investigations address the range of human and societal needs from medicine to education to social work to agriculture and much, much more. Conducting research is one of the great responsibilities, and equally great opportunities, of the University of Georgia.
But conducting effective and groundbreaking research requires a significant investment on the part of the institution. Scientific research especially brings with it tremendous infrastructure costs in facilities, utilities and, of course, computer technology and power. If UGA is to fulfill its research mission in the 21st century, we must improve the infrastructure and increase the amount of dedicated research space. Another critical component of the research mission is quality graduate students, who assist faculty members with their projects. We will increase the scholarship and fellowship pool in order to attract and retain the best and brightest graduate students.
Finally, as one of the first land-grant institutions in this country, we have a tradition of public service to uphold. In recent years, our outreach efforts have expanded far beyond the borders of the state of Georgia. In the 21st century, our service will truly be global. We will extend our expertise to people around the world and we will prepare our students for the global economy they will enter when they leave campus.
Francis Bacon once said, "A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds." We are making opportunities at the University of Georgia. You will hear more about the details of the strategic plan in the coming months; you will also hear about our fundraising efforts to support the goals of the plan. I hope each of you will be as enthused by our vision as I am.
