THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIAPUBLIC SERVICE AND OUTREACH
STRATEGIC PLAN
JULY 1, 1999
PREFACE
Ernest L. Boyer in his Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate, Carnegie Foundation, states the most important obligation now confronting the nation’s colleges and universities is to break out of the tired old teaching versus research debate and define, in more creative ways, what it means to be a scholar.
Can America’s colleges and universities, with all the richness of their resources, be of greater service to the nation and the world? Can we define scholarship in ways that respond more adequately to the urgent new realities both within the academy and beyond?
€troubled schools€pollution€urban decay€neglected children€acid rain
From the article: “Surge in Continuing Education Brings Profits for Corporate University,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, continuing education, long neglected in academe, is finally stepping into the limelight. With increasing demands for part-time postbaccalaureate programs, adult students now account for nearly half of all college enrollments, according to the College Board. Continuing education programs are gaining respect as they become important sources of revenue:
€New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies now brings in about $92 million per year in revenue, up from about $3 million in the early 1970s. The school has 107 certificate programs.€More than half of the 16,000 students at Johns Hopkins, which has four continuing education centers in the Baltimore-Washington region, are in part-time post-baccalaureate programs. Two-thirds of all the masters’ degrees awarded by Johns Hopkins are earned by part-time students. €Berkeley Worldwide, a continuing education program for foreign students run by the University of California at Berkeley, found that in addition to language instruction many foreign students were sticking around to earn certificates in business or engineering and to pursue internships. Berkeley Worldwide accounted for about 40 percent of the $45 million in revenue generated during 1997 by Berkeley Extension.
Remarks by Alan Greenspan, American Council on Education, February 16, 1999
Time, July 20, 1998
Knowledge is replacing capital, labor, and natural resources as the competitive advantage of the future. With two-thirds of our high school graduates now enrolling in college and a growing proportion of adult workers seeking opportunities for retooling, our institutions of higher learning now bear the overwhelming responsibility for ensuring that our society is prepared for the demands of rapid economic change.
Employee education is growing at a rate 100 times that of academia. Corporate universities such as McDonald’s Hamburger University, American Express Quality University, and Hart Schaffner & Marx University--”Suits U” -- are springing up across the country. Annual investments in employee training are estimated at $30-70 billion.
Perhaps the most frequently cited measures of the success of colleges and universities have been the emergence of significant centers of commercial innovation and entrepreneurship--Silicon Valley, the Research Triangle.
USAID gives credit to American Universities as a power full force in the developing Brazilian system of higher education which contributed to Brazil’s powerful economic program. Brazil is now among the world’s ten most powerful economic nations.
When one adds the fall of the Iron Curtain and the resultant demand for help in developing democracies and strengthening local government, it is apparent that there is a substantial role of the University of Georgia in the areas of University, economic, and governmental development, and democratization.
INITIATIVE I: Strengthen the culture of engagement (public service and outreach) in which the University of Georgia faculty and students collaborate with Georgia citizens to improve the quality of life and economic well being.
Areas of Priority:
I.Encourage entrepreneurial faculty efforts to leverage the University’s unique assets to commercialize research, incubate business opportunities, and spawn the transfer of technology.
A.Create a University Technology Transfer Office to coordinate and support such efforts. This office should be established as soon as possible in order to enhance and support current opportunities which offer significant potential economic impact. Projected cost of this office is approximately $250,000.
B.The office should be structured to provide a partnership to include Public Service and Outreach faculty, including Business Outreach Services, Carl Vinson Institute, and other units with experience and expertise in this area.
C.Expand current successes in obtaining contracts and grants with state and federal agencies.
II.Develop new models for identifying the critical needs of the state and Georgia communities and direct the resources of the University to address them.
A.Areas of attention should include, but not be limited to, workforce development, smart growth, K-12 education, poverty, urban and rural development, and natural and environmental resources.
B.Design and implement intentional strategies and efforts to foster the awareness of the strengths and resources in substantive policy areas of the University of Georgia among both public and private sectors.
C.Develop capacity to organize and deploy rapid response teams to address current and prospective issues.
III.Enrich the student experience in teaching, research, and public service through the creation of an Office of Student Service Learning.
A.Provide increased permanent funding for student engagement activities/grants. The grant pool should be increased to $100,000; also, the individual grant amount should be raised to a maximum of $2,500.
B.Assign graduate assistants to support student engagement efforts.
C.Total cost to establish the office approximately $285.000.
INITIATIVE II: Engage the University of Georgia with Georgia’s citizens to develop a learning society prepared for rapid social and economic change.
Areas of Priority:
1.Establish non-traditional access for students throughout the state (also see Strategic Plan for Georgia Center for Continuing Education
A.Establish a School for Continuing Education and Professional Studies to expand the rich tradition of non-credit programs with a full complement of academic credit (and certificate) programs. The School will focus content on areas relevant to the market demands of jobs in the state and will use a combination of distance learning, residential and on-site delivery providing access to all citizens of Georgia.
B.Resources needed would primarily be for needs assessment, curricula development, faculty involvement, course/program delivery, and evaluation. Based on enrollments, tuition and fees, projected start up would cost $2.25 million graduated over a three-year period (500T, 750T, 1M.) After start up, the School should be financially viable.
2.Expand the public’s access to University expertise and resources through the creation of twelve University of Georgia Service, Resource and Technology Centers, one for each of the State’s Development Regions.
A.Building on the foundation established by University Business Outreach Services offices, these centers would be staffed with faculty with expertise in but not limited to: Leadership, Information Systems, Economic Development, Education, Community Development, Government/public administration, and Engagement of local communities.
B.The centers will increase the engagement of University in studying and addressing real-life community problems. The centers will coordinate the distance education and advanced information technology for the University and provide an access point for students, perspective students, and parents.
C.One center should be established immediately at a cost of approximately $360,000 and serve as the pilot for the development of future centers.
3.Establish a business and higher education council in Athens as the prototype for other councils throughout the state.
A.The University would partner with local business and industry in developing and delivering education, training, and agricultural development programs to assist business and industry in their efforts to remain economically competitive.
INITIATIVE III: Engage the University of Georgia and State with domestic and international institutions for collaborative research, technology transfer, technical assistance, faculty and student exchange and service learning within the international arena.
Areas of Priority:
1.Strengthen targeted international universities by assisting in the development of effective outreach programs including, but not limited to, agricultural development, democratization of local government, government official training, and economic development.
A.Focus efforts in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Africa by maintaining and strengthening the many current agreements and contracts with universities of the three regions.
B.Assist faculty, staff, and students in developing proposals and identifying funding sources in obtaining grants and contracts in support of their international work accomplished with existing resources.
C.Utilize the numerous strong relationships with Latin American and European Universities to provide exchange, study abroad, outreach, and research opportunities.
D.Assist in student exchange to obtain meaningful international opportunities including: student service learning, home stays, and other program logistics.
Budget: $60,000 for one position to facilitate student international engagement.
2.Engage State Agencies, business, banking, and agriculture in international development including trade.
A.Strengthen and expand the universities’ network of the state’s international trade partners for Georgia’s economic development, including state and federal agencies and international organizations and the Atlanta Consular Corps.
B.Partner with other organizations to conduct an extensive world trade conference in the state at least annually.
3.Engage the citizens of Georgia and non-governmental organizations in international development.
A.Maximize the exposure and utilization of visiting international scholars and dignitaries to make them available to a wider audience of Georgia citizens.
B.Design and initiate symposiums, citizen exchange, travel, and lecturer to enhance the international knowledge of Georgia’s citizens.
Budget: $60,000 for one position to facilitate citizen international engagement.
C.Maintain the Universities strong partnership with Partners of the Americas, the largest and most effective international development partnership in the world.
INITIATIVE IV: Evaluate the current hiring, promotion and tenure system to ensure the scholarship of engagement is given equitable value with research and teaching including international outreach.
A.Require evidence of engaged scholarship including Public Service and Outreach in post-tenure review.
B.Reward collaborative working relationships between academic faculty and public service faculty to develop scholarship of application and traditional academic research.
C.Award Graduate Research Assistantships in the area of engagement and application scholarship.
D.Ask the Provost establish a University Committee in the Fall 1999 equally representative of academic and public service faculty. The report would be due in the Fall 2000. Budget: $50-75,000.
