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IHEnews Institute of Higher Education
—Thomas G. Dyer Dr. Ron Simpson has announced his retirement from the University of Georgia effective July 2001. He leaves a career in higher education that spans 40 years in three research universities where he touched the careers and lives of hundreds of faculty members and students. Recognizing that Dr. Simpson is a "teacher of teachers," the University System of Georgia awarded the 2001 Regents' Teaching Excellence Award to him in March. Other recognitions include Alumni Distinguished Professor at North Carolina State University, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Creative Research Medal_UGA.
Dr. Simpson came to the University of Georgia in 1981 as the founding director of the Office of Instructional Development (now the Office of Instructional Support and Development). During his tenure with OISD, he launched cutting-edge programs such as the Lilly Teaching Fellows Program and helped the University to become a national leader in faculty development. He continues to serve as the coordinator for the Governor's Teaching Fellows Program, started by Governor Zell Miller in 1995 to provide teaching support and assistance to faculty members across all of Georgia's public and private colleges.
With his commitment to teaching, it is not surprising that throughout his administrative career at the University of Georgia, he taught graduate-level courses, served on master's and doctoral committees in nine different areas, and directed more than a dozen doctoral dissertations.
In 1996, Dr. Simpson "retired" from OISD and returned to a full-time faculty position in the Institute of Higher Education where he is professor of higher education and science education. Since joining the Institute, Dr. Simpson has served as both Graduate Coordinator and as the Acting Director of the Institute of Higher Education.
On a national level, Dr. Simpson is active in several professional organizations in higher education and is the author of numerous research articles and professional publications. He has co-authored a leading textbook in his field entitled Science, Students, and Schools, published by John Wiley & Sons. He currently serves as editor of a national scholarly journal, Innovative Higher Education. He has served as an editorial board member for National Forum (Phi Kappa Phi), The Journal of Research in Science Teaching, The American Biology Teacher, The Science Teacher and other scholarly journals. He currently is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Higher Education Research and Development (Australia).
It was stated about him in a letter of nomination for the Regents' Teaching Award: "He is always ready to be a mentor and co-learner. He is constantly and carefully building a learning community among us." To that we will add, he is a colleague that will be missed.
IHE Faculty Visit British Universities
In late October, Institute Director, Ron Simpson, accompanied by IHE faculty member, Ed Simpson, traveled to the University of Oxford and spent a week in residence at Kellogg College where they met with faculty in New College, Oxford; the Department of Educational Studies, Oxford; Kingston University; the University of Westminster; the University of Surrey, the Association of Commonwealth Universities; as well as with colleagues at Kellogg College. The purpose of the trip was to explore possible cooperation on various journals, to investigate participation in an international conference, and to explore faculty and student exchanges. While in Oxford, the two visited UGA's newly acquired residential centre, a lovely Victorian home in the northern part of the city. The UGA at Oxford Centre has been reserved by the Institute for the first two weeks of December with the thought of having graduate students and faculty in residence as part of a comparative study of higher education. The course will be for credit and details will follow. If interested, please contact Dr. Ed Simpson for further information.
Annual Law Conference
The Institute of Higher Education and the UGA Teaching Academy are co-sponsoring the 32nd Annual Conference on Higher Education and the Law. The conference is designed to serve the needs of college and university presidents and vice-presidents, deans, faculty, student affairs administrators, consulting attorneys and other individuals concerned with the legal aspects of student, faculty, and administrative behavior in higher education. The conference will be held on July 16-17, 2001, at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education, University of Georgia.
Confirmed speakers and topics include:
Conference brochures will be distributed in early May. For more information, contact: Mel Hill, 706-583-0048; Nancy Breme, 706-542-1272; or Marc Sirotkin, 706-583-0454.
New Coordinators for GTF Program
Beginning Summer 2001, the Governor's Teaching Fellows Program will have two new co-coordinators: Marguerite Koepke, Associate Professor of Environmental Design at the University of Georgia, and Donald A. Misch, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Health Behavior at the Medical College of Georgia. Both participated in the GTF program in 1998-99. David Boop, a graduate assistant at the Institute, will be assisting the coordinators.
The Governor's Teaching Fellows Program is entering its seventh full year of operation with 161 participants to date that represent a cadre of disciplines from both public and private institutions of higher education across Georgia. We welcome Marguerite, Don, and David to the GTF program!
Campus Conversations
Steve Wrigley, Vice President for Government Relations at the University of Georgia, will be the guest speaker on April 24th at 4:00 p.m. in Room 101, Meigs Hall. Please join us for hors d'oeuvres following the presentation in the Commons Room. Catherine Little Finnegan (1996) is the new Associate Director of Assessment & Public Information, Advanced Learning Technologies for the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. This new unit has many responsibilities including the following four categories: 1) assessment of our online courses—process, product, and delivery; 2) assessment strategies employed within the eCore(tm) courses; 3) development and implementation of a System substantive change review process in collaboration with SACS; and 4) dissemination of information regarding what we do and how we do it. Her new address is 1865 West Broad Street, Athens, GA 30606-3539.
John Colson (1997) is the Director of Student Life at Waycross College where he supervises Counseling, Testing, SGA, Disability Services, Student Activities, clubs and organizations, recreational sports, and orientation.
Betty Rogers (1997) recently completed two publications in the field of mathematics. She is co-editor and contributor of a report by Project CLUME (Cooperative Learning in Undergraduate Mathematics Education) entitled "Cooperative Learning in Undergraduate Mathematics: Issues that Matter and Strategies that Work." The report discusses the strategies and challenges of cooperative learning for promoting student achievement in mathematics. Betty also revised the second edition of "Mathematics for Agriculture" which provides an agriculturally relevant review of basic arithmetic, statistical interpretation, and algebraic concepts.
Paul Baker (1983) is the new Vice President of Administration at Hampden Sydney College in Virginia. He will oversee the Offices of College Events, Registrar, Institutional Research and Assessment, Public Relations, and Publications. He will continue to coordinate the work of the Board of Trustees and the Administrative Cabinet, serve as the institutional liaison with a number of external agencies including SACS, and be responsible for college-wide long-range planning.
Tricia Kalivoda (1993) was promoted to Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs at UGA. She is responsible for campus-wide events such as Commencement, Honors Day, Charter Lectures, Administrative Leadership Workshops and other special activities. She will also continue as Adjunt Assistant Professor of Higher Education.
Jon Burke (1997) and his wife, Tami, announced the birth of their daughter Kaci Ann on December 4th. Jon is Dean of Students at Elizabethtown Community College in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.
Recent Institute Graduates
Kenneth C. Waldrop (10/30/00)—"An Examination of Governance Models in Higher Education in Divisions of Student Affairs"
Joyce A. Sansing (11/2/00)—"An Assessment of a Web-Based Instructional Program Developed for Georgia's Division of Family and Children Services"
Samuel G. Cash (11/6/00)—"Private, Voluntary Support of Public Research Universities in the United States: 1785-1958"
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"No one in the last 20 years has done more to promote the art of teaching, and to support the development of faculty members, than Ron Simpson."
Dr. Delmer Dunn, Regents Professor of Political Science at the University of Georgia, will become the new director of the Institute of Higher Education beginning July 1, 2001. His research has included studies of the media, financing presidential campaigns, and more recently, the relationship between politics and administration in democratic governments. Dr. Dunn has served as a Congressional Fellow in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. He was a Research Associate at The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., and is a former director of the Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia. Dr. Dunn received his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin.