Introducing the University of North Georgia
Here is the statement released today on the name change approved by the Board of Regents to reflect the consolidation of Gainesville State College and North Georgia College & State University.
The board approved the name University of North Georgia for the new institution created through the consolidation of North Georgia College & State University and Gainesville State College
“Naming a university is a rare opportunity,” said Dr. Bonita C. Jacobs, president of North Georgia College & State University. “University of North Georgia is a forward-looking name that creates a strong identity for this new university that spans a large geographic region and that will have such a broad array of educational programs serving a student population of more than 15,000.”
Gainesville State College President Martha T. Nesbitt responded to the vote by saying, “I am very happy with the new name as it focuses on the regional character of the new multi-campus institution. This aspect also plays an important part of the mission statement of the new university.”
“Names are critical,” Shelley Nickel, USG associate vice chancellor for Planning and Implementation, said in presenting the proposed names and mission statements to the regents. “They establish the identity and set the tone for the new institution. As such, the names represent a tremendous amount of work and the involvement of a very broad spectrum of stakeholders. The implementation teams are to be commended for their very open and inclusive work.”
“This is another milestone in the road to full consolidation,” Nickel said. “The mission statements are really the foundation that is essential for all future work as the consolidation moves forward. These statements will be the guide that the campus implementation teams follow in creating four new institutions focused on expanding opportunities for students and strengthening our ability to serve these students.”
The mission as approved by the Board of Regents reads: The University of North Georgia, a premier senior military college and regional multi-campus institution, provides a culture of academic excellence in a student-focused environment that includes quality education, service, inquiry and creativity. This is accomplished through broad access to comprehensive academic and co-curricular programs that develop students into leaders for a diverse and global society. University of North Georgia is a University System of Georgia leadership institution and is The Military College of Georgia.
Throughout the consolidation process, constituents of each of the consolidating institutions have expressed the importance of honoring the institutions’ heritage, achievements and particular missions. One of the key concerns for North Georgia constituents is the continuation of the university’s military program.“North Georgia is one of only six federally designated senior military colleges in the United States and has produced generations of Army officers, including more than 40 generals,” Jacobs said. “The Corps of Cadets will continue to stand as one of the elements that uniquely identifies our university.”
The consolidation process is the initiative of USG Chancellor Hank Huckaby, who envisions consolidation as an important part of his program to create greater efficiencies in the system’s operations while enhancing academic opportunities for students.
When he announced the consolidation plan in January, Huckaby said, “Georgia needs more of its citizens completing some level of postsecondary education. But we have to achieve this goal by considering some different approaches – approaches that put the needs of our students and the imperative to reach this goal first and foremost.”
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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26 comments Add your comment
NONPC
May 8th, 2012
4:37 pm
“They establish the identity and set the tone for the new institution. As such, the names represent a tremendous amount of work and the involvement of a very broad spectrum of stakeholders. The implementation teams are to be commended for their very open and inclusive work.”
Seriously? It’s a freaking NAME. You would think they just invented the internet.
Attentive Parent
May 8th, 2012
4:48 pm
Maureen,
This story prompted a concern I have had for a while.
What type of pension/retirement rights do USG employees have?
Is there any chance that all these USG colleges and universities financed with lottery proceeds are creating a class of future retirees that expect to be taken care of by anyone living in Ga at time of retirement?
Which in turn would keep future potential residents from moving here sort of like Stockton, Calif.
When I went to a presentation at the State Capitol last fall there was a side comment that so many people in Georgia have a claim to health care benefits on the State of Georgia, it will soon crowd out Medicaid spending.
I am concerned too many of the 35 USG institutions act more as the community’s largest employer and are offering too many paper credentials. Creating expectations for employment without knowledge or skills worth hiring.
Dr. John Trotter
May 8th, 2012
5:21 pm
Congrats to UNG!
oldtimer
May 8th, 2012
5:28 pm
College retires in GA have much better insurance than the rest of GA employees. Their pensions are similar, but my friend gets denta, vision, and medical at 1/2 of what I pay as a classroom teacher.
Hillbilly D
May 8th, 2012
5:31 pm
I am concerned too many of the 35 USG institutions act more as the community’s largest employer
In my neck of the woods, they are the only construction going on and they’re throwing up new buildings like drunken sailors spending money on shore leave. This ain’t a good thing in my opinion. Everything else is cutting back, so can they.
EnoughAlready
May 8th, 2012
5:44 pm
Who cares what it’s called; not exactly on my daughters short list of colleges and universities.
Rob
May 8th, 2012
5:53 pm
As someone with a Masters from North Georgia College and State University, I am glad the regents approve “University of North Georgia” as the new name. I was afraid that there would be another “Perimeter” incident.
Student - North Georgia
May 8th, 2012
7:40 pm
Great school, great atomosphere, and great Corps of Cadets. If a high school student is looking for an Undergraduate degree and desires to stay in state the campus in Dahlonega should be on your “short list.” We produce scholars, atheletes, and leaders; in other words, well-rounded graduates. The University of North Georgia will remainn “Georgia’s best kept secret.”
Truth and Wisdom!
zanderae
May 8th, 2012
7:52 pm
@Attentive Parent: retirees of the USG do have a pension plan, and they do have retirement benefits (health insurance, etc.) as well. However, it’s no gravy train. They do contribute to their own retirement accounts – such contribution is mandatory for at least staff-level employees – and the state’s proportionate contribution has declined with the declining economy, as indeed it should. But I dare say the vast majority of retirees are not pulling in administrator-level pension benefits, and insurance costs do go up for retirees as they do for those in the private sector. There is an option for higher-level employees – i.e., faculty and administrators – to participate in a separate retirement system, about which I know little. (Prof, where are you? I need a little help on this one!)
For years and years it was considered beneficial for USG workers (and state workers in general) to put in their time at state pay rates which were way lower than private-sector rates because the benefits were touted as being so much better. “Means to an end,” and all that. I’m not sure that’s the case anymore although there’s no question that for USG staffpersons the wages are substantially worse than in the private sector. Having participated in both public-sector and private-sector retirement plans, I don’t see any advantage to the public-sector plan. Yes, it’s less contingent on market fluctuation, but from what I’m given to understand it’s also pretty shabby for the general rank-and-file. For staffpersons, most especially, there is no incentive of or for working at a “calling” as there is likely to be for a professor, who has devoted years to mastery of a subject and is often following their passion and offering their expertise. Many USG staffers are very good at what they do, and are in some instances very difficult to replace, but they are not held in anywhere near the esteem that professors are – because professors do enhance a university’s reputation.
I suspect, however, that what you, Attentive Parent, primarily object to is the rank-and-file pension “entitlement.”
niecey
May 8th, 2012
9:54 pm
when did the usg schools become lottery funded? zanderae, you are right especially about the low pay.
Attentive Parent
May 9th, 2012
3:50 am
Zandarae-you seem to have carefully avoided my primary question, while attempting to malign my even asking.
Are these defined benefit retirements? Have the taxpayers of Georgia been committed to offer the set pensions, or even increasing with inflation, that are not available anymore in most of the private sector?
If so, every expansion of USG increases the ultimate burden on Georgia’s taxpayers to a degree that no one is disclosing. That cost/benefit analysis is quite relevant to what the USG system really costs.
Economics is like gravity. It still applies even if you neither understand it or refuse to consider its application.
Maligning me for asking simply makes it clear I am right to be concerned about what the USG expansions will ultimately cost Georgia taxpayers.
Coach Bart
May 9th, 2012
4:45 am
University of North Georgia was my son’s #1 school choice. We live in Maryland and have visited the school and surounding area of Dahlonega. This is an EXCELLENT university. PS, I love the new name as well. Go North Georgia Saints!
catlady
May 9th, 2012
7:01 am
Is NGCSU now offering doctoral level work in many areas? That is one important sign of a “univresity.” Last time I looked, it wasn’t. I am sure Gainesville College is not. Are they going to subsume Lanier Tech now, too?
I remember the discord when the Regents wanted to call NGC North Georgia State University–you could hear the cannons firing all over. The folks in Dahlonega LOVE the name of their college.
Let’s hope the Regents’ aspirations don’t end up looking silly.
As for the pension the college folks get, it is quite like the teachers (who, yes, contribute to their own pension). I do believe their health benefits are better than retired teachers, however.
Attentive Parent
May 9th, 2012
7:41 am
catlady-the issue is not contribution if it is not a 401 K type defined contribution plan. If it is defined benefit, even with contribution, the state is on the hook to fund that remainder upon retirement.
There are many places now where the basic services you expect from govt are being cut because so much of the tax money is going to fund retirements. Or will soon have to.
My nonideological, practical question is does Georgia have this type of lurking liability as yet undisclosed?
Is the expansion of USG thus making it worse with each program added or campus opened?
Is this something that will hit the state like a tsunami 10 years from now making it hard to attract new residents and businesses who do not want to pay their taxes to fund retirees instead of needed services?
catlady
May 9th, 2012
8:21 am
No, AP, it is defined benefit. It has been that way forever. Like most places used to be. I don’t think the liabilty is “lurking.” It is pretty well-known.
Attentive Parent
May 9th, 2012
10:09 am
Thanks catlady.
Prof CSU
May 9th, 2012
10:10 am
@Attentive Parent.
Here is your answer.
http://hr.columbusstate.edu/benefits.php
Prof CSU
May 9th, 2012
10:13 am
@catlady. College and university are synonyms in the country. You do not need a doctoral program to be called a university (Columbus State University was a university prior to its recent Ph.D. program). You can also offer doctoral programs and still be a college (Boston College, for example).
Attentive Parent
May 9th, 2012
11:02 am
Thank you prof. My question is not to begrudge anyone.
My gut and econ background gave me concern that our huge USG system alone is creating lots of people who effectively have a lien against the state in the future.
I don’t agree that the equation education=workforce development=economic growth is necessarily true. It depends on whether there is a gain in marketable knowledge and skills. If we have USG as expensive to run but partly subsidized by lottery so we are not seeing true short term costs. We are seeing hardly any of long term retirement costs. If many of the institutions are creating paper credentials more than value for their attendees and graduates, the so-called education emphasis and especially seeing it all as a continuous P-16 system, means we are spending far more than we are getting back.
Common Core will only make that worse especially as the students it harms most are the most able students. The ones who take Calculus and are good at abstract, logical analysis. For those kids Common Core is a barren wasteland of group activities, projects, and presupplied concepts. With a few open-ended frustrating problems thrown in.
zanderae
May 9th, 2012
12:32 pm
Attentive Parent, I’m not maligning you for asking. You have a legitimate point – to a point. Others have answered your question about the defined benefit aspect. And you are correct that the state is “on the hook” for the segment of retirement benefits that are unfunded by employee contribution.
But what I think you fail to take into account is that, even though there are X number of USG employees, and that X number may seem high or even daunting, there are a whole lot of those employees that won’t remain in the system long enough to be eligible for retirement benefits. There’s a lot of ongoing churn in university employment at staff level. (Again, I can’t speak for faculty or administrator levels.) Whether that is balanced out by the number of highly-compensated, more-likely-to-remain administrators is a whole ‘nother question.
As to businesses being reluctant to locate in GA because of looming tax burdens, the seeming liability of that prospect might be offset by the state’s employment-at-will status, among other things.
As an aside, I’ll add that when I worked in the university system, I resented being forced to participate in the defined-benefit plan, having previously had a 401(k).
Attentive Parent
May 9th, 2012
2:20 pm
Zanderae-let’s assume hypothetically that I can prove that part of the Race to the Top push is to turn the USG institutions into diploma mills. You put in the time and pay the fees and you get a credential. But little in terms of marketable knowledge or skills that a private employer wishes to pay for gets added. You also create an expectation in the student that a college degree will get them a middle class job in a certain salary range.
I am genuinely concerned we are creating a system that for 16 or 17 years at least treats the student as a source of funds for adult employment with only a basic skills level to show for it. Hugely expensive. Very poor return on what has been spent.
I know the K-12 story well. Altogether it’s not sustainable. It’s possible to see why now. Let’s have the discussion on the front end of implementation and not 10 years from now when it’s a tsunami with no good options for anyone. And surrounding states are saying we never expanded higher ed like they did in Georgia. They are also employment at will states plus have no income tax. And their liabilities to retirees mean heavier tax burden and worse services.
I think the bottom line is I am right to worry and that retiree burden needs to be part of every analysis of what the DOE and USG together are imposing on the state through education.
You are always welcome to criticize my ideas or facts. If you want to politicize my comments, it turns into ad hominem. I will notice and comment. I really am worried about the public policy in this state when it comes to education. We have a history of agreeing to implement bad ideas in return for money flowing into the colleges of education. That’s an especially bad idea when it undermines the parts that do work well.
Veronica
May 9th, 2012
4:47 pm
Great school, great education, great environment…my son attended and graduated in exactly 4 yrs with very low fed student loans thanks to grants and the military stipend. He was part of the Cadet Corps for 3 yrs which was required then (2005-2009) and he earned a great education, has a great job now in his field but it was always a mouthful to say North GA College and State University. I like the name change – Univ of N. GA, the Military College of GA.
zanderae
May 9th, 2012
7:22 pm
Attentive Parent, I confess that I have been/remain overly sensitive with regard to animosity toward university employees – you’ve contributed often to this blog so you’ve seen the kind of thing I’m talking about: “fire those worthless people; nobody would notice,” etc. That being said, I had no reason to ascribe such a motivation to your viewpoint, and I apologize for my injudicious remark.
Interestingly enough, you and I are in agreement in several ways. In terms of USG schools becoming “diploma mills,” to a certain extent that is already happening. New USG initiatives to increase graduation rates will almost certainly exacerbate that problem. And it’s certainly the case that many students have unrealistic expectations about earning potential upon graduation. So I am all the way with you on those points.
The status quo regarding retiree pensions has to change, no question. Yet I’m not sure which avenue should be taken. As I mentioned before, at least part of the appeal of state employment – in any area, not just the USG – involves the benefit/retirement system as compensation (if you will) for low salaries. The salaries are abysmal for anyone except administrators and high-level faculty, so if the benefits are changed in any substantial way there will have to be a corresponding change in the pay scales or the system won’t be able to attract or retain quality employees. The medical benefits are not really “all that” anymore, either. The system could tout 403(b) plans more than it does – if I recall correctly, that option was not available to staff, but I could be wrong – and one could take that 5.75% (or whatever it is now) that’s a mandatory contribution to the pension plan and slap it into a 403(b); but, again, the competitiveness issue raises its head.
(To end this voluminous response on a sassier note, I dare say that anyone who’s put up with university bush-wah for 20 years surely deserves some kind of reward for that….be it a pension or a medal, at the very least….and I am joking, but not entirely.)
Attentive Parent
May 9th, 2012
9:27 pm
zanderae-we have started a dialogue of concern and that’s important.
I suspect you know a fair number of deanlets and deanlings moving towards that pension by going to meetings everyday. Adding value to no one except their most immediate supervisor.
This is not a costless expansion for anyone. But not appreciating it sooner creates a compound interest problem.
And I hope you appreciate I never go after anyone trying to do right by their students.
RealityMom
May 9th, 2012
9:31 pm
I hope that the community college feel stays at Gainesville College. As a non traditional student who goes to school at night, one class at a time, I also hope that it does not become a traditional college with only M-F DAY classes!
Ole Guy
May 11th, 2012
2:24 pm
I am quite certain no one (openly) complains about 3 hours of homework at North Georgia. The one thing those folks do learn, relative to academiic loads, is TIME MANAGEMENT. Perhaps this process…TIME MANAGEMENT…should be a universal requirement throughout the public educational circus.