Fort Valley State University Presidential Finalist Selected

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Board of Regents Chair “Dink” NeSmith and University System of Georgia (USG) Chancellor Hank Huckaby have announced the name of the finalist for the Fort Valley State University presidency.

A national search was launched to replace FVSU President Larry Rivers, who will serve through June 2013 before stepping down. Dr. Rivers served the USG in that role since 2006.

The recommended finalist is:

Dr. Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith, provost and senior vice president at York College of the City University of New York. Griffith also is a professor of political science.

He has served as provost since 2007 and during his tenure has increased the number of full-time faculty by 30 percent, reorganized the academic division and enhanced the research and scholarly climate by creating a Provost Lecture Series and a companion Distinguished Scholar Lecture Series, among other initiatives. Griffith also has established an undergraduate student research program.

Before being named provost at York College, Griffith, in addition to his teaching duties, served as provost at Radford University in Radford, Va. He was budget dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Florida International University in Miami, as well as dean of the FIU Honors College.

Griffith is a specialist on Caribbean security, drugs and crime. In this capacity, he has been a consultant to Canada’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and other organizations.

He also has spoken at military academies across the United States and in the Caribbean, and serves on the editorial board of the journal Security and Defense Studies Review, which is published by the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, in Washington, DC.

A past president of the Caribbean Studies Association, he has been a visiting scholar at the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, the Royal Military College of Canada and the George Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Germany. He has testified before the United States Congress on Caribbean security matters.

Griffith has published seven books and more than 50 articles on his area of expertise. The research for his highly-acclaimed book, Drugs and Security in the Caribbean: Sovereignty Under Siege, was funded by the MacArthur Foundation, and his next book, Challenged Sovereignty, will be published in 2014 by the University of Illinois Press.

Most recently, he was one of 45 experts recently invited by the Secretary General of the Organization of American States to review the hemisphere’s narcotics policies and practices and propose anti-narcotics scenarios.

A member of The 100 Black Men of Long Island, he also serves on the Vestry of the St. Georges Episcopal Church in Long Island, and on the board of directors of the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning in Queens, New York.

Griffith earned a bachelor of social sciences degree from the University of Guyana, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana, a masters of arts degree in political science and public administration from Long Island University, New York, and both a master of philosophy and doctorate in political science from the City University of New York.

The Board of Regents is expected to name the next president of Fort Valley State University at a future meeting. Georgia law requires the naming of finalist(s) a minimum of five days prior to final Board action to select the president.

Middle Georgia State College Presidential Search Committee Named

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University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby, in consultation with Board of Regents Chairman Dink NeSmith, has announced the formation of the two committees required by regents’ policy to conduct a national search for the permanent president of Middle Georgia State College.

Currently, John Black fills this role in an interim capacity.

The Special Regents’ Search Committee will be chaired by Regent Larry Walker and includes Regents Lori Durden, Benjamin Tarbutton III, and T. Rogers Wade. NeSmith will serve as an ex-officio member of this committee.

The search and screening of candidates is the responsibility of a 15-member Presidential Search and Screen Committee, whose members also are appointed by NeSmith. Members of the Presidential Search and Screen Committee are as follows:

• Dr. David Fuller, associate professor of education, School of Education and chair of the campus search committee

• Crystal Allen-Joyner, multicultural affairs coordinator

• Dr. Nancy Bunker, faculty chair of the senate and associate professor of English

• David Carpenter, dean of the Warner Robins campus

• Adon Clark, program chair of Aviation Maintenance

• Dr. Charles Matson, associate professor of Respiratory Therapy

• John Edgar Steigerwald, chair of Aviation Science and Management

• Dr. Stephen Svonavec, dean of the Dublin campus

• Dr.Varkey Titus, dean of the School of Business

• Dr. Ron Williams, dean of the School of Science and Math

• Wesley Sewell, student government association president

• David Lanier, chair, Middle Georgia State College Foundation

• Wanda T. Barrs, former chair of the Georgia State Board of Education

• Phil Best, mayor of the City of Dublin

• Ronnie Rollins, chief executive officer of Community Health Systems, Inc.

The campus-based committee will be charged with its responsibilities in a meeting scheduled for 1:00 p.m., Thurs. June 13 in the boardroom of the Jones Professional Sciences Conference Center on the MGSC Macon campus. The executive search firm of Myers McCrae, Macon, Ga., has been engaged to assist the search committee.

At the conclusion of its work, the campus committee will forward the credentials of three to five unranked candidates to the Regents’ Search Committee. The Regents’ Search Committee is responsible for recommending finalists to Huckaby, who will make a recommendation to the full Board of Regents.

USG Part of National Partnership to Explore MOOC-based Learning and Collaboration

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The fast-developing world of massive open online courses (MOOC’s) has a new framework today with the announcement of a partnership among ten state university systems and public universities – including the University System of Georgia – and one of the leading platforms for MOOC’s, Coursera.

Joining the USG in this partnership will be the State University of New York (SUNY), the Tennessee Board of Regents and University of Tennessee Systems, University of Colorado System, University of Houston System, University of Kentucky, University of Nebraska, University of New Mexico, and West Virginia University.

The non-exclusive partnership will enable the participants to explore how to develop and use MOOC technology and content to improve college completion rates, academic quality and access to higher education, both for students enrolled in colleges and universities comprising the systems as well as Coursera’s global classroom of learners.

“We are excited about this partnership because it provides us with the opportunity to better serve students and also contribute to our goal to increase student success and college completion,” said USG Chancellor Hank Huckaby.

“If there are resources and services that can assist our institutions in developing and offering affordable, high quality academic courses, programs, and supports, we have an obligation to explore these opportunities on behalf of students,” Huckaby said. “This is about being student-centered and fostering system-wide innovative solutions to meet our goals of quality, access, affordability, and completion.”

While today’s announcement is not about the launch of specific online courses or degrees, it is an important step in the fast-evolving world of MOOC’s, virtually unheard of a year or two ago. The initial concept behind MOOC’s was to use technology to allow individuals to take college courses online at no cost, but without earning college credits.

Houston Davis, the USG’s chief academic officer, said, “One next step in the evolution of MOOC’s is to explore appropriate ways for this content to be merged with existing academic content, new academic supports, and rigorous assessments to provide affordable credit opportunities.”

“There is a great deal of interest within our institutions in exploring flexible, new models of education delivery, ranging from independent learning opportunities through models that provide more intensive support and instruction,” Davis said.

The agreement gives the University System of Georgia faculty and institutions the chance to be an active player in shaping the way that MOOC’s will be utilized and expanded.

“However this evolves, we want this to be truly beneficial for Georgians and a path to meaningful credits and degree opportunities,” Davis said. “This and other open educational resources can be important tools in improving access and shortening the time to earn a degree while insisting on preservation and enhancement of academic quality.”

The new Coursera partnership will allow participating systems and institutions to share knowledge and resources to shape curriculum, adapt existing MOOC content, and experiment with “blended learning” which combines online video lectures and content with active, in-person classroom engagement.

In Georgia, the University System also will focus on policy flexibility and options for the USG campuses to experiment and be innovative with open educational resources and course offerings. Davis noted the USG’s efforts will be focused on Georgians and will not use resources for audiences outside the state.

USG institutions will be invited to develop new learning models as well as initial implementation of these tools to improve access and degree completion for Georgia learners.

“As our campuses work to increase the percentage of Georgians with some level of college completion, new and flexible academic offerings such as MOOC’s will play an important, but not the only, role in this effort,” said Davis. “This resource partnership complements on-going completion initiatives at many of our institutions that are being led by our world class faculty and staff.”

It is expected that initial USG institutional efforts will begin by exploring limited course offerings and supplemental supports that can be evaluated for overall academic quality and student success. These initial activities may span the use of external MOOC platform providers’ content and services and the development of similar in-system capabilities in the areas of content, support, and assessment.

In time, the Georgia efforts will serve as a clearinghouse of high quality, affordable, complementary credit pathways developed by USG institutions and utilizing MOOC and MOOC-like resources, including potentially:

• Additional resources and support for faculty to focus on individualized instruction in the classroom;

• Credit sequences for general education core completion;

• High-demand associate degree completion options;

• Selected certificate, bachelor’s and master’s degree options;

• Additional supports for students in freshman gateway courses; and

• Flexible options to match student preferences on a course-by-course basis.

The partnership will provide USG campuses with increased flexibility and options for experimentation and because the partnership with Coursera is non-exclusive, the USG will retain the freedom to look at other technology options as the MOOC and open education resource world grows and evolves.