Education and Schools
CHALKBOARD T H U R S D A Y
D SECTION
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J U L Y
8, 2010
THE MORGAN COUNTY CITIZEN
heading up higher ed Madison's Felton Jenkins named vice-chair of the University System of Georgia's Board of Regents When it comes to post-secondary education in the state, Madison resident Felton Jenkins has major say-so. He's the newly elected vice chairman of the University System of Georgia's Board of Regents, the body that governs Georgia's 35 public universities. Jenkins has been a part of the board of four years – regents serve seven-year terms – but isn't new to work in higher education. He earned his bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Georgia, and after that served on the university's Foundation Board for about 10 years as well as the Law School Board of Visitors, which he also chaired. Working with Sonny Perdue both before and during his time as governor, Perdue was responto have one governor sible for appointing Jenkins, as appoint all 18, but that's well as all of the other board how it has worked out.” members, to the Board of Regents. The Citizen sat down with Jenkins to ask him about the inner-workings of the Board of Regents and to learn more about the state of higher education in Georgia. In question-and-answer format, the order of the questions and answers were altered to make them make more sense. Additionally, the answers to some questions aren't direct quotations, but are paraphrased; this is noted in the story.
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Compiled by Kathryn Schiliro l Photos by Angelina Bellebuono Tell me a little bit about your background. “I'm a lawyer; I practiced law in Atlanta for about 30 years. I'm from Madison, and after I retired from the law practice, my wife and I moved back to Madison, about 12 years ago now, and built a house and lived here... But I grew up here in Madison. My wife, Julie, moved here when she was in the 10th grade, so we've known each other for a long time.” Jenkins practiced "business, commercial, trial work litigation" with the firm King & Spalding in Atlanta. A "retired partner," he still maintains an office there but doesn't actively practice. What is the Board of Regents responsible for? “The Board of Regents consists of 18 board members appointed by the governor. There are 13, one from each of the 13 Congressional districts, and then five at-large [board members] for a total of 18. The governor appoints all 18, and I'm one of the atlarge members. The board is charged by the Georgia constitution with managing and governing the University System of Georgia, which consists of 35 schools, from the University of Georgia, which is the biggest, to Waycross College, which is the smallest. ... We meet generally once a month for two days and manage and direct the operations of the University System of Georgia: 302,000 students, 40,000 professors and staff, and a budget of, this year, $6.7 billion. “There's a full-time staff in Atlanta...and the chancellor, who is head of the University System of Georgia, he has a number of assistants, vice chancellors. In a nutshell, that's what the Board of Regents does.” The Board of Regents includes Georgians from all walks of life: businessmen, lawyers, professors, real estate executives, banking executives, a housewife, doctors, even a retired four-star general, Jenkins said. The board maintains an office in Atlanta, an IT office in Athens and a new "Shared Services Operations" (payroll, etc.) office in Sandersville. While expenses are reimbursed, members of the board aren't paid for their work; it's more like a public service.
How do you go about keeping up with 35 colleges? “Well, it's not easy. You have to rely a lot on the presidents of the colleges. We've got those 35 colleges divided into four different groups [and] there's a person in the system office, from the chancellor on down, that's responsible for each of those groups. Each of those regents in the Congressional district where they are try to look after those schools, go see those schools, keep up with those schools. Those of us who are at-large representatives try to get around to as many of the colleges as we can, but it's difficult; there's no easy way about it because this regents position is not a full-time position, it's not compensated, so you end up relying first on the president of the college and the staff that he has and then on the University System of Georgia staff in Atlanta. “There's no substitute for being there, talking with the president, administrative staff, the professors that teach at the school and the students. The students are a very important voice and sometimes I don't think we listen to them as much as perhaps we should. “So, knowledge of the schools as best you can acquire; we have a lot of factual information, from the number of students at the school to what their SAT average is to how many graduate within six years, all that sort of factual information... “And you know, from time to time you might see, based on your visits and other things you know, a president who's not doing a good job and he or she's been there long enough to think about retiring. So you might, from time to time, in an appropriate way, say, ‘You might think about retiring.’ You have to be delicate in those kinds of situations, but they certainly occur. By and large, though, I think we have a group of presidents who are highly qualified, highly interested in what they're doing and who, with very few exceptions, do not overstay their effective time.” What has happened on the Board of Regents in the past four years? “The biggest thing that has happened is the state economy, as well as the national economy, has gone down. As we've been dealing with budget
Felton Jenkins, Madison resident, is four years into a seven-year term on the Board of Regents, the University System of Georgia’s governing body.
cuts for the last couple of years, we'll resigning or retiring, so you have to deal with them for the next several fill all of those spots. Generally speakyears. ... Two years ago, the state proing we'll have two to three to four vided [about] $2.1 billion; this year searches ongoing to fill the spots of they're going to provide about $1.9 those who have retired or resigned. billion. So, while the student populaWe just have two vacancies right now, tion has gone up probably 30,000 stuthough we just filled one down at the dents, the state support has gone Medical College of Georgia. Generdown [about] $250 million. You have ally two to four presidential searches an increase in the students you have to are going on at any time and the look after and a decrease in the dollars Board of Regents is totally responsible provided for that education by the for selecting those replacement presistate. dents.” “The state portion of the budget is about a third of the total cost; the rest of it is made up in tuition, student fees, what they call ‘auxiliary expenses’ – dormitories, cafeterias, bookstores, things like that – but the state provides about one-third, 30 percent to 33 percent, of the total cost of operating the university Student Population at USG Schools system. People, I 1. University of Georgia: 34,885 (as of this past fall) think, generally are 2. Georgia State University surprised when they 3. Georgia Perimeter College: About 26,000 students hear that. They think of state-supported (includes all seven locations) schools, that the state 4. Kennesaw State University provides more than a 5. Georgia Tech and Georgia Southern University third, but for the last 35. Waycross College: 1,077 (as of this past fall) few years it has been Percentage-wise, however, Gainesville State College is the fastestin that range. It has growing. gone down; in years "I think, because of population growth and, in turn, student past, it has been growth, those traditional schools that you think of, like the much higher than University of Georgia or Georgia Tech, their limit on growth is that. ... such that you can't accomodate growth at those older schools. “When I came on You have to have some of the newer schools that add additional the board four years spots. UGA is just jammed full...Tech's the same way. The real ago, there were about growth is going to take place in the two-year schools." 250,000 students. This year there are 302,000 students and [that total] will The six-month to year-long recruitprobably go to between 315,000 and ment process for presidents, according 320,000 this fall semester. We won't to Jenkins, involves putting out a call to know that for several more months, various search firms; then, when bebut that's the expectation. tween 20 and 100 names are collected “Another issue that's very much at and interest is determined, the pool is the forefront now is the illegal alien culled to between 10 and 12. A commitsituation, [that of] so-called undocutee of regents as well as community mented students who are here in the members, faculty and administration U.S. without proper documentation. from the respective school narrows that There's a big issue as to what you number down to three candidates, and should charge those students, and those last three are interviewed by the some people even say they should not entire Board of Regents. be allowed to go to school at all. “Another thing that happens on a continuous basis...[is] in an given year, See REGENT Page 2D you'll have three, four, five presidents