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Latest budget information
Arch News - August 7, 2009
Response to Board of Regents request for UGA budget plan
Arch News - July 22, 2009
Budget update
University of Georgia President Michael F. Adams gave a budget update to the UGA community during the April 23 meeting of the University Council at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel. A video presentation and talking points are available for viewing.
Arch News - April 22, 2009
Upcoming budget presentation
Arch News - April 10, 2009
Status of the FY10 state budget
UGA president provides budget update
University of Georgia President Michael F. Adams gave members of University Council an update on UGA’s budget Thursday, Dec. 4 in wake of recent actions by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents to help meet an anticipated directive from state officials to increase the budget cut to 8 percent from the current 6 percent.
View December 4, 2008 Budget Update
Public forum on University Budget
On Wednesday, Sept. 17, President Michael F. Adams and other senior university officials delivered a presentation about the impact of current economic challenges and responded to questions from the audience. Links to archived video of the first budget forum on Sept. 5.
View September 1, 2008 forum online →
View September 5, 2008 forum online →
President's talking points [pdf] →
UGA Fiscal Update [ppt] →
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| L. Travis Canova delivers the commencement address at UGA's spring ceremony on May 14. |
L. Travis Canova of Rome was the student speaker for University of Georgia undergraduate commencement May 14 in UGA's Sanford Stadium. Canova, who received a bachelor's degree in business administration, was chosen by fellow students to represent his graduating class in the commencement exercises. A participant in the Leonard Leadership Scholars Program in UGA's Terry College of Business, Canova was in the Honors Program and was president of Blue Key honor society and a member of the Arch Society, Sphinx and Leadership UGA. Canova urged graduates to follow their dreams, reminding them that "life is too short to be little."
Following is Canova's speech in its entirety.
Just eight days ago I became a proud uncle for the first time and it sure brings back memories.
As little kids we dreamed of running and chasing after our big brothers and sisters – but we got pushed down for being too little or too annoying – I was one of the latter.
We dreamed of playing GI Joe in our backyard fortresses, but instead we got stuck in time out or, at best, we sat in dad’s lap listening to the Little Engine that Could. We couldn’t actually read – but we made up our own stories anyway.
We wanted to fly, we wanted to soar. All we had were superman capes and swing sets.
We dreamed of riding bikes up huge mountains and sailing the ocean seas, only to find ourselves rolling down grass hills and swimming in above ground plastic pools, broken wheels and deflated floaties.
We dreamed of being presidents and princesses, first ladies and firemen but our parents’ clothes were just too big.
We were only kids, but even then we knew “life was too short to live little lives.”
Almost overnight, high school arrived, and we dreamed more than any thing else to make that varsity team. We played JV instead.
We wanted to go to the homecoming dance with that beautiful brown-eyed girl. She already had a date – at least that’s what she told me.
Oh, the audacity of dreams.
We finally got that beautiful girl to say yes to our prom invitation and we finally made varsity.
Now, whether or not she danced with me and whether or not coach ever gave me any playing time remain an entirely different story.
Things never worked out quite as we planned.
Yet, daily, by almost a magical process, with a little bit of optimism and perseverance, we ultimately did all of these things and more. And after all, there was a little truth to that story our dad read us.
Finally, we were on our way to college, acting like we were grown ups. To get a degree. To secure a job. To maybe find a spouse and hopefully one day build a family. But for as much as we wanted to learn and grow up, we needed to have a good time.
As much as we wanted to make our parents proud, we needed our independence.
Now, four years later – five years later if you’re like me – we are still left asking questions. Where has all the time gone? Where is yesterday?
We sit out here, in the midst of our families, next to our friends and fellow grads – in the heat – not knowing exactly how we feel.
I don’t know whether to celebrate or be sad. Whether to hold on or say goodbye. Whether to go back to the comfort of our hometowns or set out to a new place in an unfamiliar world.
What I know best, and what I think we all probably know best, is where we come from. Home for me is a place called Rome.
Some have called it the City of Seven Hills – well, I explored them all – at least when I could get out of the house, and out of my mom's protective grasp. Sorry mom. I remember my buddies and I riding bikes all over town, past the YMCA, around the dogwood trees, and over to Bojangles for biscuits – and, of course, to all the places we’re always told to stay away from.
We road up Second Avenue, right up to the edge of the train tracks. Dust stirring and sparks flying. We look to our right; we can’t see it and but we hear it coming. We rush to put our pennies down on the track.
I think that every curious kid wonders where that train comes from. Where is it going? When will it come again?
We ask ourselves: how do we get out of here and go there?
To a place where we can learn, grow, experience, see the world. To understand people different than ourselves.
I remember my first day at UGA. We embrace our families one last time, kiss our mom. Being a new, tough college guy, some of us only shake our dad’s hand. Sorry dad.
But underneath that smile of confidence was really just insecurity.
We make the long walk up the hill to our dorm. Where are we going, what are we really doing?
Do I have anything in common with the cowboy that lives next door, or the kid in his boxers singing in the elevator? Or the girl who keeps setting off the fire alarm because she doesn’t know how to microwave popcorn?
That first day we were looking to find things in common. The first thing we’d ask was: where are you from?
I meet people from places I’ve never even heard of or knew existed: Metter, Georgia, Blakely, even Bonaire. One girl says she’s from Nashville. Thinking I’m smooth, I tell her, “Oh yeah, I hear y’all have good country music.” I was wrong – evidently South Georgia has a Nashville too.
We still have our differences. Some of us are fifth generation Georgia grads. Others of us are the first to graduate at all. All of us are fortunate.
Some of us have been handed the torch from our parents, preserving and perpetuating an already bright legacy. Others of us are pioneers, forging new paths, building a new legacy from the ground up. All of us have equally tough challenges that await us.
In spite of our differences, we have shared experiences that make up our university community.
From North Campus Frisbee golf to trivia nights at Wild Wing. Bolton dining hall to Sons of Italy.
Georgia/Florida to a New Orleans bowl game and all the way to our first studies abroad. From the Tate Preachers that get us riled up, to the street performers that get our dollars – there’s one man playing Top Gun on the Bagpipes and we befriend another named Jazzy J.
And, on occasion, from Washington Street to Bourbon Street – but don’t worry President Adams, never, ever on a school night.
But for as many differences as we may have, we have all learned the ability to get along,
the importance of giving every single person a chance, because in the end, we do have a little more in common than we first thought – we all have a valuable story to tell, unique with its own beginning and an ending that we are still writing today.
In our time here at UGA, we have endured many crises together. We have seen towers fall. Nations crumble. Leaders ousted. Yes, these have caused pain and hurt, but being hopeful we dared not to let these bruises turn to scars.
Yes, these are uncertain times, but it’s been no different for every other class of graduates in our nation’s history. And if my freshman history class confirmed anything, it is that in the midst of struggle lies opportunity.
Our fallen classmates – who some of us knew well and whose faces we can vividly see today – confirm that life is too short, too short to live little lives, and after all, there is power in those child-like dreams.
May we remember, in this place of celebration, what is truly important.
Not the fact that we come from different places. Not even our majors. What is truly important are the men and women that we have become, men and women who are capable of dreaming big, who will undoubtedly add value to our families and answer the needs of our communities.
Here we are today, in Sanford Stadium, a fitting place. We hear the echoes of great victories from the past – not only from valiant football teams, but from daring graduates.
Their voices join together and remind us: “Life is too short to live little lives.”
As kids, we dreamed, only to fall short – at least initially. As we get older, we sometimes become more hesitant to take risks or think creatively – don’t do that. We have learned that every aspiration has its own setbacks and every action has its own critics, but we must dream and act anyway.
Because we have come too far, worked too hard, and been given too much to be content with acting small.
And who knows, maybe we’ll get more than we first asked for.
We came to Athens to study and we found a home.
We came to meet new friends and we expanded our family.
We came to get a degree, and instead we got something far more valuable, an education.
In closing, as we leave here today, may we never become so grown up that we forget what it was like to dream as a kid.
Never travel so far that we forget the places we’ve been.
And I hope we never get so caught up that we forget the people that have contributed so much to who we are today. Thank you.
Congratulations and best of luck to you. It’s been a real pleasure.
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