Dear Colleagues,
Welcome back to campus. I hope you all are safe and healthy, and that your semester is off to a good start. As we’re all very much aware, we are still operating within a Covid environment. However, it looks like the case numbers have peaked nationally and should peak here in Southeast Georgia in about two or three weeks. Thank you for your patience and for the grace you have extended toward our students in helping them continue their education.
Carnegie Classification
I’d like to share some good news with you. Carnegie has reaffirmed Georgia Southern University’s R2 classification as a high research activity institution. The classification is based on annual research expenditures and the number of doctoral degrees awarded. Research activities and expenditures at Georgia Southern have grown significantly over the last few years. As such, we continue to move up the ladder of R2 institutions.
We should all take pride in this classification. It shows that we are a major public impact research institution, and that we are competitive on a national and international level. Our competitiveness is being noted by Carnegie, the USG, and other institutions. It is also being recognized by current and future students, alumni, and donors. Thank you for all your hard work as you pursue your research, scholarship, and creative activities.
Academic Programs
We continue to move forward in modernizing our curriculum so that we can better meet the needs of the region and attract more students. Working with deans and chairs, our consulting firm has identified gaps in graduate programming and enrollment. We need to expand our graduate programs in both numbers and in needed areas, as well as expand our services for “adult” learners. The consulting firm is also helping us apply best practices in recruiting and advertising.
We are also engaging the consulting firm to review and innovate our undergraduate curriculum so that we can better meet the needs of future students. This makes the comprehensive review process, led by Dr. Delena Gatch, all the more important.
We have also changed our external review process. It’s going very well. We are getting great input from reviewers, who are affirming our national competitiveness.
Congratulations
I want to congratulate the Zach S. Henderson Library for being one of 50 U.S. libraries selected to host Americans and the Holocaust, a traveling exhibition from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum that examines the motives, pressures, and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism, war, and genocide in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s. This is a great honor. Thank you to Dr. Lisa Carmichael, dean of Libraries, and her team for making this happen.
Finally, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this is an exciting time to be at Georgia Southern. Despite the pandemic, we are an institution on the move and we’re ready to make an even greater impact. Each one of you has played a role in creating this forward momentum. Thank you for your dedication. It’s an honor to serve this dynamic university alongside you.
Sincerely,
Carl
Carl L. Reiber
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
