Thank you all of you for being here today.
Last fall, we were delighted to welcome new senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, Risa Palm. She came to us from the State University of New York system.
In her first academic year with us, she has made great strides at elevating the education and research profile of Georgia State. You'll hear more about those initiatives later, but right now I'd like to thank Provost Palm for her hard work and dedication to Georgia State.
As we gathered about this time last year, for what is believed to have been the first State of the University address in the history of Georgia State University, we recounted GSU through the years, from its founding in 1913 to its designation as a research institution in 1995, and beyond.
Today, I will to focus on some of our accomplishments over the past year, where we are today, and where we are headed in the future.
This is a very exciting time at Georgia State University. Over the past year, we have accomplished a lot together.
Our students, our faculty, our staff, our alumni and friends have done much to bring kudos and accolades to GSU.
But at the same time, we continue to navigate through an economic storm of epic proportions.
Last August, the Board of Regents directed universities to turn in budget reduction plans, and mandatory furlough days were required parts of those plans. We also reduced our work force and made other significant cuts.
I know that the cuts and the furlough days were a hardship.
At every step of the way we have communicated through email updates and in town hall meetings to keep you apprised of the changing budgetary environment, and we will continue to do so as we encounter significant new information or challenges.
You may have seen in the media recently that state revenues for March were up slightly, for the first time since the global economic recession hit Georgia.
This is an encouraging sign that the economy is improving, and similarly we are hearing anecdotal stories of economic improvement.
However, we are a long way from where we want to be.
Yes, there are signs that the storm is starting to lift, but most predictions are that Georgia is at least 18 months away from being clearly on its way to recovery.
And at this time it is far from clear exactly what that recovery will look like.
There is not much more that I can say at this time about the budget and what it will mean for GSU in the coming year.
The legislature is expected to complete its work one week from today, and in May the Board of Regents will set tuition for the coming year.
I am expecting that we will be in a position to provide you with a more complete picture of the budget for the year ahead in late May.
One thing that we do know is that as we go forward our goal cannot be to maintain the status quo,even during these difficult times.
To borrow a phrase from Professor Peter Lyons in our School of Social Work, we must be working to make ourselves - proactively ready - for the opportunities that will arise when the economy is once again robust.
It has been a tremendous year for our students. Our student body continues to grow in both size and quality. This past fall we enrolled a record 30, 431 students, and the entering freshmen class was both our largest ever and our best prepared.
Furthermore, both our freshmen to sophomore retention rate and our six-year graduation rate have continued to increase.
Over the last ten years our retention rate has improved by almost 10% and the graduation rate has increased by 21%.
Our current rates place Georgia State 5th in retention rates and 6th in graduation rates among our 17 peer institutions.
We have established the foundation from which we continue to work toward setting the standard for institutions like ours, but we still have a ways to go before that goal will be achieved.
Much of our progress in retention and graduation rates has been made over the past five years as the university has used data to drive and evaluate its programs, and the improvements have touched almost all of the demographics within the Georgia State student body.
In a report released in January, The Education Trust cited Georgia State as a "top gainer" nationally for raising minority student graduation rates.
The University was also cited by The Education Trust for making major gains in improving the graduation rates for its low-income students, and overall for eliminating the so-called achievement gap.
I think the following quote from an Education Trust Press release basically says it all about how GSU is fast becoming a national model for others to follow:
"Georgia State's example demonstrates that public institutions can strive for access and success simultaneously. Institutions should see these as twin goals, not an either-or proposition."
It is with great respect for, and appreciation of, our students that I tell everyone who will listen that GSU has the most interesting student body in the nation.
Georgia State's students are diverse in just about every way imaginable - such as race, ethnicity, nationality, age, socio-demographic status, and they distinguish themselves in what and how they achieve.
While we point with pride to the increasing quality of our incoming students, and to the improvements in retention and graduation, what is most important is that our students are using their GSU educations to demonstrate our collective quality on the national stage.
Consider the following four examples:
For the fifth consecutive year, Georgia State students took home the top prize of "Outstanding Delegation" from the largest Model United Nations simulation in the world.
Likewise, our Model Arab League Team took the top award - "Outstanding Delegation" - at the National Model Arab League Conference in Washington, DC.
A Robinson College of Business student team took second place at the Americas Regional competition of the Global Investment Research Challenge.
And, most recently, a moot court team from our College of Law, arguing before a group of judges that included Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, bested more than 36 teams to captures the national title in the 25th Annual Dean Jerome Prince Memorial Evidence Competition.
The achievements of these students should be points of tremendous pride for our campus community.
It is one thing to brag about the numbers that students enter our university with - such as grade point averages, SAT, and LSAT scores - but what truly matters are the achievements spurred by their GSU educations.
Many members of Model UN, Model Arab League, the Global Investment Research Challenge, and moot court teams are with us here today.
They have distinguished Georgia State on the national stage.
Let's give them a round of applause!
Next, I commend Greg Abt and his leadership team for all that the Student Government Association has accomplished over the past year. Greg, you certainly have elevated the importance and relevance of SGA and we have enjoyed working with you and your team.
Let's give Greg and the SGA leadership a round of applause.
At the same time, I look forward to working with SGA president-elect James Dutton. We have already met and have started to lay the groundwork for another productive year with SGA and the senior leadership of the university. James is an example of the expanding scope and impact SGA has at GSU. He was a member of the Georgia State Model UN team we recognized a few moments ago, and this spring both he and his mother will graduate from GSU with their respective bachelors degrees.
But James is not leaving us, at least not yet. - This fall he will enroll in the GSU College of Law to begin his studies toward the J.D. degree. So he'll be a first-year law student AND president of SGA. I'm not sure James will have time to sleep during the coming year, but I am certain that he will find a way to manage his daunting workload.
At the beginning of this academic year we opened the freshman residence and dining hall.
We'll start the upcoming academic year with the opening of our first-ever Greek housing facilities.These are townhouse style units adjacent to the freshman hall.They will open at 100-percent capacity, a testament to the desire of more and more of our students to immerse themselves in the complete college experience.
Another part of the complete college experience that many students look for when selecting the college of their choice is a competitive intercollegiate athletics program.
During the past year our program, under the leadership of Athletic Director Cheryl Levick, distinguished itself in numerous ways.
For example, last year our 303 student-athletes completed the year with an overall GPA of 3.03.
To that academic achievement they added three conference championships, in Baseball, Women's Golf, and Women's Tennis; tying two other schools for the most Colonial Athletic Association Championships won last year.
And, this past weekend Women's Golf repeated as conference champions - Kudos to coach Cathy Mant and her team, and to sophomore Charlotte Lorentzen for winning the CAA Tournament medalist.
Also, Kudos to senior Brittany Graham, of Women's Basketball, for being the first Georgia State Panther to earn the CAA's Dean Ehlers Award.
The Ehlers Award in women's basketball recognizes the student-athlete who "embodies the highest standards of leadership, integrity and sportsmanship, in conjunction with their academic and athletic achievements."
Let's recognize Brittany, Charlotte, the Women's Golf Team, and all of student-athletes who are distinguishing themselves both in the classroom and in athletic competition with a round of applause.
These examples of our SGA leaders, student teams that compete in academic competitions, and our student-athletes are just a few examples of how our students are making the most of the outstanding opportunities that GSU affords to those who commit themselves to making a difference in this world.
We have countless other students doing amazing work at Georgia State, in the Atlanta community, and beyond.
Georgia State is blessed with some truly amazing staff.
There are many unsung heroes at the university, but recently we had the pleasure of celebrating some of those heroes at our GSU Service Recognition Ceremony.
We are thankful for the literally thousands of individuals who dedicate their careers to making GSU the best that it can be.
It is gratifying to recognize those who go the extra mile in serving GSU with our Sparks awards.
And, this year it was particularly gratifying not only to recognize the recipients of our President's Awards for Community Service and Social Action, but to do so by naming those awards the Patton Awards in honor of President Emeritus Carl Patton for his initiative and commitment in establishing these awards.
I want to take this opportunity also to say a few words about our alumni.
Earlier this spring, we hosted more than 200 people at the ribbon cutting of our brand new Parker H. Petit Science Center, named after GSU alum Pete Petit.
We had a number of dignitaries, including representatives from local, state and federal government as well as the Board of Regents in attendance.
This state-of-the-art facility provides GSU with much needed teaching and research spaces for advancing our programs in the health and life sciences.
We thank Pete, who has an MBA from the Robinson College of Business, for his most generous support, and we are also thankful for the gifts from many other donors who made this world-class facility a reality.
Also this year, we welcomed Christina Million, a GSU alumnus, to lead our Alumni Association.
Christina has hit the ground running, working diligently to grow the alumni association in scope and impact. Thank you, Christina.
Unfortunately, we also lost some shining stars over the past year.
Earnest G. Welch, Georgia State's oldest alumnus and namesake of the School of Art and Design, passed away in December 2009.
He was 103 years old.
A prominent businessman, Welch chose to reinvent himself - at the age of 80, mind you - by enrolling at Georgia State to study photography. He taught himself to use a computer in his 90s, and earned his bachelor of fine arts degree at age 93. Upon his death, the estate of Ernest G. Welch made a very generous donation to the school, so that others may be enlightened by the arts. And we are grateful to the Welch family. Thank you.
In February, we were saddened to learn of the death of GSU alumnae Diane Caves. Caves graduated from Georgia State in 2007, and she was enrolled in Georgia State's MPH program out of the Institute of Public Health.
While on a three-week assignment for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to improve HIV/AIDS programs, Caves was killed in the earthquake that rocked Haiti.
Caves died while trying to make the world a better place, and we honor her life and the legacy of good work she leaves.
I invite you to join me now in a moment of silence to remember and honor Diane Caves, Ernest Welch and the other members of the Georgia State family who passed away in the past year.
For nearly a hundred years Georgia State faculty have done an incredible job of preparing both traditional and non-traditional students for life beyond college.
The fruits of their labors are evident in the successes of our students and alumni.
I now want to say a few words about research and scholarly accomplishments of our faculty, before turning our attention to the future.
Congratulations to V. Kumar, the Richard and Susan Lenny Chair in Marketing, and Executive Director of the Center for Excellence in Brand and Customer Management in the J. Mack Robinson College of Business. VK, as he is known to most of us, has another incredible year. Consider just this partial list - VK became the first scholar ever to be honored with a third Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Marketing Association, then he added a fourth! On top of that he was an author on papers honored with best article awards by three of the top marketing journals. Kudos, VK.
The year 2009 also was a landmark year for physics Professor Mark Stockman, and his colleague David Bergman of Tel Aviv University, as they saw their theoretical work on the SPASER - i.e., the Surface Plasmon Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation (think super tiny laser) - became reality with the demonstration of an actual working model. The spaser may lead to huge advances in optical computing and other technologies, and it has the potential to replace the transistor. Recently the spaser also was recognized as an invention protected by a U.S. patent belonging to Georgia State University and Tel Aviv University.
Professor Unil Perera, also of the physics department, was recognized internationally this year when he was named a SPIE Fellow [that is S-P-I-E, not S-P-Y].
SPIE, founded in 1955 as the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers, is the international society for optics and photonics and exists to advance light-based technologies.
Fellows are honored for their significant scientific contributions in the multidisciplinary fields of optics, photonics and imaging, and Professor Perera was recognized for his for specific achievements in novel infrared detector technologies.
Congratulations to Professor Pam Longobardi, of the School of Art and Design, who has been named a "Coastal Hero" by Coastal Living Magazine.
The article salutes Longobardi for her body of work in which she makes use of marine debris to create thought provoking art exhibits.
Professor Julian Juergensmeyer, an authority in land use and infrastructure and a pioneer in the development of impact fees, was honored by a Festschrift symposium in his honor, entitled "A 2020 View of Urban Infrastructure."
These are just a few examples of how GSU faculty members are being recognized by their peers nationally and internationally for scholarly achievements.
First, I know that many of our alumni, students, staff, and faculty are looking forward to Georgia State football kicking off this fall.
We had more than 3,200 people at our spring scrimmage a few weeks ago, and I look forward to seeing you all at the Georgia Dome for the season opener against Shorter on September 2nd.
In addition to the football team, we also have a marching band that's playing our new fight song.
Both the team and the band showed tremendous spirit and talent at the spring scrimmage.
As we get closer to the kickoff of Panther football, the excitement will only continue to build.
Okay, we've covered some highlights - as well as some less joyous moments - of the past year.
The question now, as always, is: Where do we go from here?
At all times we must be looking to the future, and indeed we are.
Today, I focus on two ongoing initiatives that were launched in the past year:
Both of these efforts are off to strong starts, but each is only in the early stages. How we take advantage of the opportunities presented by these initiatives in the coming year,and years, will set GSU's course for the immediate future, and ultimately determine our success in emerging as a truly great research university.
Last October I set out these expectations for our future:
Recall that the late President John F. Kennedy once said: Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
And it was Albert Einstein who said: Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Collectively, Kennedy and Einstein are challenging us to look creatively at our future and to imagine what we can become.
Through the strategic planning process we are calling on all of our stakeholders, internal and external to the university, to help us chart Georgia State's path to the future.
Our strategic planning committee has been hard at work since December, gathering information and asking for your input as they go forward with this important mission.
At this time the committee is conducting campus-wide forums on five topics that they have identified from an earlier round of responses to their initial three planning questions.
Now is the time to step forward with YOUR ideas and suggestions for how we get to the future.
How are we going to think differently, how and in what ways are we going to change so that we rise to new levels of recognized excellence?
I say often when discussing tenure and promotion that the most important decisions we make in a university are deciding who to hire, and who to promote and tenure.
The provost and I conducted a series of open forums recently to talk about criteria for promotion and tenure.
One particularly interesting question was posed: do we require excellence in teaching OR research, or is it teaching AND research.
My answer to that question was straightforward. We are a research university, therefore excellence in research is not an option, it is an imperative. Who we hire and tenure will determine the success of The Second Century Initiative.
This initiative to add at least 100 new faculty members in focused areas of research and scholarship over the next five years provides a unique opportunity to propel Georgia State to new levels of national prominence.
This year, faculty and deans submitted 56 proposals, requesting 136 new positions - either in clusters of faculty around defined themes - or in individual hires of established scholars who have demonstrated the ability to have high impact on GSU's scholarly programs.
Recently, it was announced that eight of the proposals were approved that will bring in 20 new faculty as a result of searches to take place in the coming year.
Congratulations to those of you who were selected in this first funding cycle of the Second Century Initiative. There were a good many high quality proposals that could not be funded in the first cycle, so we are certain to have another strong group of proposals next year.
In addition, I am equally certain that our continuing conversations for strategic planning will spawn new ideas, some of which will lead to exciting proposals that will be submitted in future rounds of the 2CI program.
I always told my doctoral students that in our particular field of scholarship it is necessary to become successful at being awarded research grants, but the grants themselves are not an end, they are means to pursuing your research agenda.
The grants do not matter unless you use them to produce scholarly work that becomes recognized and placed in the best outlets of the field.
The same is true with the 2CI positions that were just awarded, and will be awarded over the next four years.
The success of 2CI depends on us hiring outstanding new scholars who will develop research programs that produce scholarly work that becomes recognized and placed in the best outlets of the field.
The same can be said for our new Petit Science Center.
It is a beautiful, state-of-the-art education and research center. You feel a little bit smarter just by walking into the building.
But, at the end of the day, the ultimate expectation for the Petit Science Center is that it will fuel significant growth in our research profile.
There must be a positive effect on the slope of our research funding line, and on the overall quantity and quality of life sciences research produced at GSU. Particularly exciting features of 2CI, the Petit Science Center and the strategic planning efforts is that each provides exciting new opportunities to develop interdisciplinary or multi-disciplinary research programs that span departments, schools, and colleges to tackle the important questions of our day.
Our future as a research university depends on US doing a better job of bringing down the silos and driving greater scholarly interaction and collaboration across the university.
I've said it before, and I am going to keep on saying:
Let us be judged in the distant future not for our inaction, or for setting our sights too low, but for our actions and the boldness of our dreams.
This truly is a time of great change and accomplishment at Georgia State.
From every corner of our campus and points well beyond, faculty, staff, students and supporters are working together to create the Georgia State University of tomorrow, a place where the highest levels of research, study and discovery are complimented by a thriving campus in the heart of one of the greatest cities in our nation.
I thank you all for what you've done to make Georgia State great, and I look forward to the hard work ahead to make it even better.
Thank you and Godspeed.