JOINT MEETING UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA AIKEN NOVEMBER 15, 2010

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1 JOINT MEETING UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA AIKEN NOVEMBER 15, 2010 Good evening and welcome. I d like to express gratitude on behalf of the students, faculty, and staff of USC Aiken for the support we receive from all of you gathered here tonight. We know that USCA is YOUR University, and we thank you for your time and commitment to our campus. You ll be proud to learn that USC Aiken has once again ranked first among the top public regional colleges in the South in the 2011 edition of U.S. News & World Report s guide, America s Best College. It s the 13th consecutive year USC Aiken has been ranked in the top three, with number one rankings seven times. Among the many factors weighed in determining the rankings, the key measures of quality are: peer assessment, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, and alumni giving. While we don t make decisions to play to the rankings, we do find that our mission often closely aligns with these factors. In terms of fundraising, we re having another successful year - $2.7 million for the past school year as compared to $2 million the previous year. We also have experienced great growth in donors with 2,716 as compared with 2,087 the previous year. And we are very proud of our family fund campaign in which faculty and staff give back. Last year, we achieved the highest rate ever for the USC System with a 91 percent participation rate. The figure was again matched this year. 1

2 One of the best examples of how our campus excels can be found with the Magellan Scholar Program. It provides opportunities for undergraduates to build a competitive edge in the job market. In 2007, we had the very first non-columbia Magellan Scholar in Krystle Duckett, a psychology student. Apart from Columbia, we also have more total scholars than any other campus in the system. We also encourage our student athletes to model citizen leadership which involves taking an active part in the community and world around you. In 2010 Annie Whitley an excellent member of the lady Pacers Soccer Team was named the Female Peach Belt Conference Scholar-Athlete, the highest achievement a student athlete can receive in our conference. We are also proud that our student athletes perform on a high level across sports. In , Pacer student-athletes earned an average GPA of with 53 percent earning a GPA of 3.0 or higher for the academic year. Dr. Tom Mack has served for many years on our campus with great distinction. He recently was named the 2010 Recipient of the South Carolina Center for the Book Award in Teaching. He also has been instrumental in having the South Carolina Academy of Authors agree for the first time to bring its annual induction ceremony to the state s literary hall of fame to USC Aiken in March. Dr. Allen Dennis has been named a Carolina Trustee Professor. Three Carolina Trustee Professorship Awards are presented annually by the members of the Board of Trustees. Two awards are presented to Columbia campus professors and one to a professor at one of the other USC campuses. Faculty are selected based on a record of teaching excellence as well as a record of outstanding performance in research and in public service activities. For 6 of the past 9 years, the non-columbia campus recipient has been a USC Aiken faculty member. 2

3 Looking to the year ahead, we will celebrate our 50th Anniversary beginning on September 10, A committee to prepare for this celebration is being chaired by Dr. Trudy Henson, Distinguished Professor Emeritus. Committee members include current and retired faculty and staff, alumni, students and community leaders. We recently took a snapshot of our Fall 2010 student numbers, and our total enrollment was at 3,254 the highest overall enrollment in recent years. We had our third largest freshmen class to start this fall, and we are continuing to show strong student numbers. We also continue to see steady growth in Freshman Retention Rates, which went from 69.1 percent in 2008 to 73 percent in We are also very pleased to see significant growth in the number of Palmetto Fellows attending USCA, with 65 of these best and brightest students attending our campus this fall. 3

4 Here at USC Aiken, we take seriously the individual attention we offer our students through small class sizes. In furthering that effort, we have developed a Strategic Enrollment Plan that is designed to manage enrollment growth through certain measures as overseen by an Enrollment Planning Team. We do recognize that class size is one of the variables in our budget that may have to change. The Enrollment Planning Team is comprised of administrators and faculty. It sets appropriate goals for student admissions and progression, with emphasis on such areas as student-faculty ratios and class sizes. The goal is to maintain a moderately-sized campus that offers students the best opportunity for academic success. In terms of recruiting, we are looking at targeted areas across the region, with a special emphasis in the coming year to attract students who have an interest in equestrian activities. Aiken is known throughout the country and world as an equine center. At USCA, they can receive a great education and also continue to train throughout the year with their horse by boarding at one of the local barns. This initiative includes support for an Equestrian Riding Team at the club sport level and the help of Aiken trainer John Abbott, who is pictured here and who was recently named the Riding Team s coach. He has offered his own Bridlewood Farm in Aiken, pictured to the right, to serve as an equestrian headquarters for USCA. As you know, we have our SACS Commission on Colleges accreditation coming up for reaffirmation. This is a critical process for all institutions, as no federal financial aid can be offered unless an institution can demonstrate this regional affiliation. This is a timeline of the process. To date we have had a visit by a SACS Staff Liaison in the late summer, we submitted our Compliance Certification Report in September and we will be submitting our Quality Enhancement Plan Report and Focused Report in response to any issues identified by an off-site team after their recent review. An on-site visit will take place in March 2011 and will be focused on our QEP. The Quality Enhancement Plan for USCA will be based on critical inquiry, focusing on improved learning outcomes for our students. When fully implemented, this will require every entering freshman to successfully complete a one-hour course, grounded in the annual required freshman reading. The course will be created in a variety of disciplines, and we hope it will jump start the appreciation of these students for Discovery, Exploration, Evaluation, and Performance, or DEEP. 4

5 While thinking DEEP, we have also had to put much thought into a strategic approach to budget reductions. We have maintained our academic priority by having no cuts in full-time faculty. However, some reductions to adjunct faculty/sections have been offered, and there have been minor increases to some class sizes. We also saw the budget crunch as a catalyst for further energy efficiency improvements. Throughout it all, we avoided a reduction in force of existing personnel. This year, we are using federal stimulus funds only for one-time projects. They are helping us update buildings with new paint and carpet and reconfiguring some spaces on campus as well as providing enrichment funds and growing our library collection. On a journey to develop a sustainable campus by energy conservation and reduction of our carbon footprint, we have an Energy Conservation Sustainability Committee to guide our progress toward carbon neutrality. Opening Pacer Crossings has eliminated the need for 360 students to commute to campus reducing our carbon footprint by 1,280 metric tons. That s equivalent to the reduction you would have from 32,825 tree seedlings being grown for 10 years, recycling 431 tons of waste at a landfill or having carbon sequestered annually by 273 acres of pine. At the Natatorium, we have added a pool cover in this effort, installed a condensing boiler to heat pool water making it 95 percent efficient and we also installed a new pump and motor. Campus alerts, such as the one shown here, also are making those on campus mindful of energy usage. And now we turn to the big picture of why higher education is so important for South Carolina. Here you see a slide from a recent presentation made by Garrison Walters, executive director for the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education. His presentation was made at the Governor s Higher Education Summit and points out how South Carolina is lagging far behind other states when it comes to per capita personal income. 5

6 As you see on another slide that Dr. Walters presented, the state also has a low percentage of those with a bachelor s or higher degree. We believe baccalaureate degrees are key to South Carolina s future and have a direct affect on the state s per capita income. This final slide by Dr. Walters demonstrates the importance of a highly educated populous. Garrison noted in his presentation that those with a bachelor s degree earn $1.2 million more than full-time workers with a high school diploma throughout their working careers. His slide notes that the ongoing cumulative benefit from a highly educated South Carolina is an additional $6.9 billion in total personal income, $7.8 billion in the gross state product, and 44,514 additional permanent jobs. These figures are used to show that the investment in higher education is worth the outcome, producing an even greater economic affect on the state. With that said, I trust my comments this evening have demonstrated how important higher education is to the future of South Carolina, and I hope I have reinforced that at USC Aiken you have an institution of which to be very proud. I think you would all agree we ve tried not to grumble concerning the situation over the past few years and have done our best to be fiscally responsible in lean times through our energy conservation measures and other cuts. We understand that the budget for Fiscal Year 2012 is going to be difficult once again, and what we would hope is you would keep in mind the institution back home and the difference it makes in the lives of your constituents. At this time, I d like to answer any questions you have. Thank you. 6