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Vice President’s Message
Summer 2011
Public service and outreach is deeply ingrained at UGA. At the same time, we have one of the leading programs in the nation. Literally since the late 1920s, public service has led the university’s efforts to improve the quality of life in Georgia.
Whether through assisting a community to plan better, training officials to govern more effectively, or expanding a student’s horizons through a service-learning course, public service and outreach touches the lives of Georgians in every county.
During the last two years we have faced the most severe economic crisis since the 1930s. So in many ways the people of Georgia need our services more than ever. And it means we should be more creative than ever to ensure that our services are available.
But I am encouraged every day by the way you the faculty and staff in public service carry on your work. You do it with passion and a sense of mission, and I want you to know that I recognize the excellence of your work and the strength of spirit you bring to it. Without the work of the various outreach and extension programs at UGA, it is unlikely the people of Georgia would benefit fully from this great land-grant university. You are public servants in the true meaning of the word.
Last year we adopted a new strategic plan, which lays out three simple goals for the next five years. They are:
- Goal 1: Build Human and Community Capacity
- Goal 2: Enhance Learning and Research; and
- Goal 3: Create a Flexible Organizational Culture
Pursuing these goals will advance our mission to enhance the quality of life in Georgia by applying the knowledge of the University to the state’s evolving needs.
Goal 1, building capacity, is reflected in all the work that we do. It is essential that we leave something behind wherever we work. A primary purpose of our work is to strengthen individuals and communities so that they can lead on their own.
Goal 2 is critical for us. The great strength of a land-grant university is the combined power of its service, teaching and research functions. We in public service must take our connection to the University of Georgia very seriously. We want to provide more opportunities for students and faculty to engage in our work while learning from their knowledge as well.
Goal 3 we felt needed to be stated plainly – that we live in a dynamic age and need an organizational culture that reflects this age. It is in many ways the hardest goal to achieve because we tend to seek a comfort zone and remain in it. That is only human. The purpose of this goal is to remind us that we should seek innovation, that we must constantly assess whether what we are doing is relevant to the issues of the day.
In the past year we have made great progress toward each of these goals. To help verify that progress, earlier this year we received notice that the Carnegie Foundation had awarded UGA its Community Engagement Classification, which recognizes a university’s commitment to reaching beyond its borders to address issues in an interactive way. The Carnegie designation confirms that our public service and outreach programs are among the nation’s best.
We have made progress toward these goals in many other ways, and I want to mention just a few. The State Botanical Garden continued its strong leadership in private fundraising by completing the campaign for the Horticulture Complex. The complex greatly improves the Garden’s ability to support its daily activities and overall mission. The Garden’s success demonstrates how to utilize private support to advance our mission. We will need more deliberate strategies for raising private donations in the coming years.
We made great strides the past year to strengthen our relationships with academic departments and students. The Office of Service Learning established new awards to recognize faculty excellence in teaching and research, the Vice President’s Office has new initiatives to engage undergraduate and graduate students in all of our units, and the State Botanical Garden involved more than 2,600 UGA students in its classes and field trips.
Public service faculty in the colleges and schools continue to do great work and receive recognition for it. Kathy Thompson, public service associate in the College of Education, was selected as director of Georgia’s Teacher Quality Higher Education State Program, a federal grant program. Other school and college based faculty members continue to blend teaching, research and service to enhance service learning and community-based research opportunities for students.
The Marine Extension Service continued its fine record of linking research to direct community impact. Its program to raise awareness about the health implications of mercury contamination gained national recognition recently when Good Morning America’s co-host Sam Champion had a sample of his hair tested to determine his mercury levels, which turned out to be twice the level EPA recommends. Champion on national television encouraged women of child bearing age to have their hair tested for mercury by the University of Georgia. I volunteered to have my hair tested but Randy Walker said he didn’t think I had enough to offer a large enough sample to secure a legitimate result.
In all of these ways, and many others, we have expanded our relations on campus, providing new opportunities for faculty and students to enhance their instruction and research.
Much was accomplished in the past year toward building capacity among Georgia’s communities. The Vinson Institute conducted the 27th Biennial Institute, its nationally recognized orientation program for new legislators. Vinson has also been selected by Governor Deal to assist with two of his administration’s key initiatives, the Competitiveness Council and the Water Supply Task Force. These selections recognize Vinson’s place as the leading university-based institute of government in the nation.
The Fanning Institute became the home of GLISI, the Georgia Leadership Institute for School Improvement, which offers advanced leadership courses to local school officials. This signature program fits with the nationally-known leadership expertise at Fanning and enjoys private funding support to help it carry out its work.
At the Small Business Development Center work goes on every day to assist business owners in strengthening their firms. In addition, recently our SBDC helped encourage Google to select Atlanta as the site of its “train-the-trainer” program to show companies how to expand their marketing activities. Google established a certification program to train individuals in its methods and five SBDC faculty members were selected to be among the first trainees. It is these kinds of partnerships that not only enhance our capacity building efforts but also display the kind of organizational flexibility that we must pursue in the future.
Blending the goals of capacity building, enhancing ties to the academic community, and creating a flexible organization, the Georgia Center has completed a remarkable task. The Independent and Distance Learning (IDL) faculty and staff have worked with the Georgia Center’s WebID to convert IDL’s print courses to Web-based offerings. During 2010, the project was completed, and 41 University of Georgia academic departments now offer approximately 100 courses online through IDL. This project recognizes the need to adapt to today’s students as well as provides greater access to instructional offerings.
And in a significant milestone toward Goal 1, the Archway Partnership in June will “graduate” its first community, Colquitt County, and is initiating discussions for the next location in Southwest Georgia. The graduation recognizes that the Colquitt community has developed the capacity to continue identifying needs and implementing solutions to meet those needs. Archway has enhanced academic ties by providing several UGA colleges and schools with opportunities for student internships and faculty research in Colquitt County, and the College of Public Health will partner with the county to improve understanding of public health issues there.
Just these few examples, I hope, demonstrate the vigor of public service and outreach at UGA. Your efforts are on the cutting edge of using knowledge to help build stronger communities all over Georgia.
I would like to conclude where I began, and that is with a reminder that our work is important. Thank you again for all of your hard work and for your dedication to public service and to the University of Georgia.
(This message is an excerpt from the annual State of PSO address given by former interim Vice President Steve Wrigley on April 12, 2011.)
