AJC On Campus: Supply chain crunch; Chancellor defends tenure review

Supply chain woes

The nation’s ongoing supply chain challenges have impacted everything from lumber prices to auto production to delays in funeral headstones.

University System of Georgia leaders say it’s also having an effect on their construction costs.

The state’s Board of Regents on Tuesday approved Valdosta State University’s request to increase the budget of its performing arts center from $18.7 million to $28.3 million. Regents members blamed the cost increase on supply chain issues.

“The cost increases have caused me, the staff, and the institutions great heartburn,” said Regent Sam Holmes, chair of the board’s committee on real estate and facilities.

Holmes said University System officials are trying to mitigate the costs, but conceded in response to a question from another board member it may become an ongoing problem.

Acting chancellor defends post-tenure review

Acting University System of Georgia Chancellor Teresa MacCartney again defended the system’s hotly debated decision to revamp the post-tenure review process for faculty.

The Georgia Board of Regents last month passed a request from system officials to make changes they said were needed to ensure student success is a critical factor in the review process. Scores of faculty members have criticized the changes as unnecessary and a stealth attempt to silence outspoken faculty members with possible termination through the review process.

MacCartney, in her monthly remarks at Tuesday’s Regents meeting, praised faculty for their work with students, but said regulators are asking accreditors across the nation to work on ways to improve student achievement.

“What we did around post-tenure review is around professional development and ensuring all of our faculty members are successful and ultimately drive student achievement so our students can be successful in the system,” she said.

System officials said they will work with faculty on implementing the changes. Meanwhile, the American Association of University Professors has begun an investigation into the matter.

Clayton State’s enrollment goal

Clayton State University’s new president, T. Ramon Stuart, said in an address last week he wants the school to get back over the 7,000 student enrollment mark.

Enrollment dropped from 7,052 students in 2020 to 6,820 students this semester. Most colleges nationwide have had enrollment declines since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Only five of the University System of Georgia’s 26 schools had enrollment increases this fall.

Credit: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Credit: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Stuart said he and his team will explore ways to increase student retention and build a stronger pipeline with the school districts in Clayton, Fayette and Henry counties.

“We know that as we grow our enrollment, we dictate what our resources are and then we can use those precious resources to sew back into this campus community,” Stuart said.

Veterans Day

Georgia colleges and universities spent Thursday commemorating Veterans Day.

Emory University, the state’s largest private university, held its 13th annual ceremony on the quad, which included a vigorous rendition by some former Marines of their hymn. Emory says there are at least 191 students who are military veterans, but likely more.

The University System of Georgia last year had 10,187 U.S. Veterans Administration-funded students. Georgia Southern had the most with around 1,400, while Kennesaw State and Georgia State universities each had about 1,300, officials said.

Grade inflation by colleges?

College leaders often talk gleefully about rising graduation rates — University System of Georgia leaders noted at a meeting Tuesday they’re up 20% since 2017 — but new research contends the schools may be inflating grades to help students get degrees.

A five-member team of educators this week released a report that found evidence of more lax standards in grading. In looking at the end-of-course exams, students earned better grades in later years even as their exam scores held steady.

Why may this be happening? “The recent policy focus on college completion rates seems a likely contributor to increases in average GPAs. As schools and departments face increased scrutiny and, in some cases, increased funding incentives, they may respond by increasing graduation rates,” they wrote.

The researchers added: “Instructors, departments, and institutions may have incentives to inflate grades or increase GPAs for reasons other than student performance. Instructors who give students higher grades receive better teaching evaluations and high-grading departments typically tend to have larger enrollments.”

Kennesaw State’s $1 million grant for youth suicide, drug prevention

Kennesaw State University has received a $1 million federal grant to train students to provide suicide and drug abuse prevention services in five counties across rural northwest Georgia.

The university will use the four-year grant for youth services by increasing the number of behavioral health professionals particularly in Bartow, Floyd, Gordon, Paulding and Polk counties.

The grant is from the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

$5 million to Morehouse School of Medicine, other institutions for research

Abbott, a medical research company, announced last week it’s donating $5 million to Morehouse School of Medicine and several medical schools and nursing associations as part of its effort to improve diversity in medical research and training.

Abbott noted in its announcement a racial gap in clinical trials. For example, it said while people of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds make up nearly 40% of the U.S. population, at times they represent just 5% of trial enrollments.

Pepsi donates $250,000 to Atlanta Metropolitan State College

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Atlanta may be Coke country, but Pepsi recently made a splash at one local college.

The PepsiCo Foundation announced Wednesday it’s providing $250,000 in scholarship funds to Atlanta Metropolitan State College.

The gift is part of a $40 million scholarship and professional mentoring campaign the foundation began in March to support Black and Hispanic aspiring and graduating community college students. Students will also have the opportunity to apply for internships and jobs at PepsiCo.

Georgia schools and student honored for voting efforts

Two Atlanta schools were praised this week by a nonpartisan organization for efforts its students made last year to vote in federal elections.

Spelman College had the highest voting rate among any of the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) while Clark Atlanta University was honored for having the most improved voting rate for any HBCU. University of Georgia student Briana Hayes made the honor roll for efforts to get classmates to vote.

The shout outs came from the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, which began in 2016 to get college students more involved in civic engagement and voting. College students typically have lower voter participation rates than other groups. More than 800 campuses nationwide are part of the challenge.

New Regents leadership

Georgia’s 19-member Board of Regents will have new leaders in 2022.

Harold Reynolds, chief executive officer of privately-held BankSouth Holding Company headquartered in Greene County, will be the new board chairman. Erin Hames, headmaster of Heritage Preparatory School, a Christian school in Atlanta, will be vice chair.

Reynolds and Hames, like most board members, have ties to the state’s Republican leadership. (Regents serve staggered seven-year terms and are picked solely by the governor.)

Reynolds was an active donor to former Gov. Sonny Perdue’s gubernatorial campaigns. Hames served as former Gov. Nathan Deal’s deputy chief of staff and as Perdue’s policy director and chief of staff at the Georgia Department of Education. Several Regents members pushed earlier this year for Perdue to become the University System of Georgia’s next chancellor.

The outgoing board chair, Sachin Shailendra, got emotional at Tuesday’s meeting while thanking his family for allowing him to serve as chairman. He’ll continue to serve on the board. His seven-year term expires in 2028.

Coming up:

Credit: MARLENE KARAS

Credit: MARLENE KARAS