The
Holmes says the money is set aside "in a rainy-day way." It means an increase in foundation support for the university this year, although its assets lost more than $100 million in global recession.
The foundation, with assets of more than $500 million, is giving more than $21 million to UGA this year. The Board of Regents ended its status as UGA's official fundraising arm four years ago.
University workers could get put on unpaid leave to make up an over half billion dollar budget shortfall over the next two years.
The state board of Regents voted unanimously Tuesday to furlough employees at the state's colleges and universities if needed.
School presidents would ultimately make that decision.
Earlier this year, the board also voted to increase tuition and fees as a way to help make up the budget deficit.
Politicians had criticized University System of Georgia Chancellor Errol B Davis for increasing staff pay and steering clear of furloughs this past January.
Georgia has 35 colleges and universities, and collectively, they are expected to be short some 513 million dollars over the next two years.
The Georgia Board of Regents voted to allow tuition increases for incoming freshman. This comes with public institutions of higher learning in Georgia facing 275 million dollar budget shortfall in 2010.
To help make up the shortfall, freshman students at most of the campuses will face higher tuition fees. University of Georgia and Georgia Tech students will continue paying an extra one hundred dollar fee, while students at state college campuses will pay seventy five dollars per semester.
A full rundown of the fees can be found here.
Georgia’s Department of Education is piloting a statewide program to professionally rate teacher educational skills.
The field study will include some 190 elementary, middle and high schools, and is meant to improve teaching performance standards.
A Department of Education official says the training program was developed over the past two years, in part, by the Board of Regents.
The training will enable administrators to rate teachers’ professional skills according to established criteria, rather than according to a supervisor’ subjective impressions.
Sessions will bring school principals and administrators together with a cross-section of teachers with varying experience, and in various subjects, including music, art and physical education.
The field testing will continue until April 2009, after which it may be implemented statewide.
Click here for more GPB News coverage of education issues.
The state's 35 public universities have until today to submit plans to the board of regents on how to reduce each budget for this fiscal year and next by five percent.
The board has asked for the budget reduction plans as the state grapples with shrinking revenues.
In Augusta, the plans could mean Medical College of Georgia would have to reduce this year's budget by $8.5 million.
And Augusta State University would have to reduce it's budget by $1.6 million.
It's unclear if the budgets will actually be reduced by five percent. The university system's chancellor will make recommendations on that this fall.
The Georgia Board of Regents has voted to accept a plan for expansion of the Medical College of Georgia.
It’s an effort to increase the number of doctors in Georgia…avoiding a critical shortage of them in the state, but it’s controversial.
The vote is not an approval of the plan. The Regents have simply chosen to review it. But it’s a clear signal that the Regents are supporting it.
Consultants developed their recommendations on expansion after a three month study.
The report calls for a significant expansion at the main campus in Augusta. It calls for a satellite campus in Athens. The number of clinical rotations in Albany and Savannah would also increase.
Lawmakers in Augusta want the expansion to happen at the main campus first. But Dr. Dan Rahn, MCG’s president, says he supports the plan.
"The physician workforce issues are statewide issues. The best opportunity to recruit physicians as future members of a medical community is to educate them within that medical community so we think we have a better chance of providing physicians around the state if we can educate them around the state," said Rahn.Whatever the Regents decide, the fate of MCG’s expansion is ultimately in the hands of lawmakers, who must approve funding for any expansion.
A state-funded report released today says Medical College of Georgia must undertake a major expansion immediately, or else put the health of Georgians at risk.
It warns of a critical doctor shortage, and says medical education, research, and clinical missions must happen in multiple cities in Georgia at the same time to avoid that.
The report was presented to the state's Board of Regents in Atlanta on Tuesday.
Some key recommendations:
*Expand medical education at the college's main campus in Augusta by increasing class size of first year students. Consultants say the increase would give the main campus the largest number of medical students per capita nationwide.
*Open a new medical education and research campus in Athens.
*Provide expanded clinical rotations at campuses in Albany and Savannah.
*Increase the number of medical residencies statewide.
"Our medical needs are increasing. Our population growth is outpacing presently our physician resources and certainly our physician growth and this puts the economy of this state at risk" said Errol Davis, chancellor of the Board of Regents. "We have a plan that, if implemented, will ensure that Georgia is a state and remains a state that is healthy both for its citizens and for its businesses within the state."
The proposed satellite campus in Athens is one of the most controversial recommendations. Consultants urge MCG to open one soon.
They say the campus should be located on the property of a U.S. Navy Supply Corps school that is closing and transferring operations to Rhode Island.
Officials in Athens today welcomed the proposal, but some legislators in the Augusta area decried it.
"We're going to need the physicians, but if we try to do both at one time, we may not do both right, and I'd rather us expand here, grow Augusta, get to the capacity we can get at, educate doctors properly and do a quality job, and then if we have to expand, then take it to Athens for that satellite facility if that's what we decide we should do," said Rep. Ben Harbin (R-Evans).
Harbin's opinion is key. That's because he chairs the powerful House appropriations committee. And whether the Board of Regents approves the recommendations or not, the legislature in effect, has the final say, since they must approve funding for any expansion.
"We are going to fund expansion in Augusta, because it has to happen," said Harbin. "But Athens, we're going to look at it. There's going to have to be a case made right now. I'm not favorable to it...but I may can be persuaded."
Columbus State University officials are optimistic that $3 million in competitive grant awards from the Board of Regents Nursing Education Initiative will alleviate the nursing shortage statewide.
CSU is to receive $141,043 to increase nursing faculty salaries to more competitive levels; increase admissions to 96 applicants to the bachelor’s of science in nursing program; and increase student retention and graduation rates to produce 66 additional graduates by 2010, a school statement said.
June Goyne, chair of CSU’s Department of Nursing said that:
“Beginning around 2010, nursing faculty retirements are going to begin increasing exponentially across the state. Unless more nurses with master’s degrees are attracted to nursing education careers, the state’s ability to graduate nurses is going to fall dramatically while the need for nurses continues to rise. Right now, nursing faculty salaries that are not competitive with clinical salaries for similarly educated nurses is our major obstacle.”CSU’s efforts are part of a statewide goal of dramatically increasing the number of nurses in the state. Click here for more GPB News coverage of this story.
Columbus State University President Frank D. Brown announced on Monday that he will retire at the end of June, 2008, according to a statement released by the school.
Brown, who has held the position since January, 1988, and is the school's third president made the announcement at a staff luncheon:
“For almost 20 years now, you have allowed me to serve as your president. Never could I have imagined the shared vision and singleness of purpose we have found together. The college which some us found when we arrived has matured and has been transformed with your guidance and hard work. I thank you for letting me be a member of your team!"The Ledger-Enquirer newspaper reports that the Georgia Board of Regents would begin searching for his replacement in January.