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BOR may vote on graduate proposal
 The Provost's Office received confirmation earlier this month that the M.S. in First-Year Studies proposal was being formally reviewed. Just last week, Provost Ken Harmon learned that the proposal will likely be placed on the Board of Regents' Academic Affairs Committee agenda for its next meeting, Oct. 8.
If the Academic Affairs Committee approves the proposal, it is probable that the Board of Regents will vote on it the following day during its October meeting on Georgia College's Milledgeville campus.
Stephanie Foote, Keisha Hoerrner, and I are tentatively planning to attend the Oct 8 and 9 meetings to answer questions regarding the proposal. We will not know until the System Office releases the official agenda Oct. 4 if the proposal will be discussed. Part of the consideration will be if System Office personnel are satisfied with our responses to three follow-up questions, which we submitted earlier this week.
If the BOR approves the proposal at the October meeting, University College will welcome its first graduate students in Fall 2015 after spending the next 18 months marketing the new online degree program and ensuring all courses receive QM approval. |
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Committee starts work on new degree
 University Studies Department Chair Becky Casey recently charged a new curriculum development committee to draft a prospectus for a new undergraduate degree program. Michael Keleher is chair of the committee developing a general studies degree; Pinder Naidu, Mary Green, and Jim Davis are members.
KSU's Complete College Georgia goals will be furthered through the development of a degree that provides maximum flexibility to students in reaching the required 123 credit hours required to graduate. Known more often as general studies or liberal studies degrees, these flexible programs primarily assist select groups of students who either transfer in a significant number of credit hours in multiple disciplines, fall below specific GPA or other requirements for their major as they near graduation, or are faced with the choice of dropping out or finishing a degree taking only online courses due to a personal or professional change in their lives such as relocation.
The committee is currently reviewing similar degree programs across the country, examining data to determine student need and brainstorming about a possible name for the degree. Should it be approved at all levels, the new undergraduate degree program would be housed in University Studies.
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West Georgia adopts first-year seminar text
 More than 1200 first-year students at the University of West Georgia are using a first-year seminar textbook written largely by KSU professors in the Department of First-Year and Transition Studies.
A Starting Point utilizes eight of the 13 chapters in Foundations of Academic Inquiry (6th ed), KSU's textbook. This is the largest adoption to date for KSU authors Lynn Boettler, Stephen Braden, Deborah Mixson-Brookshire, Stephanie Foote, Ruth Goldfine, Kathy Lynn, Kathy Matthews and David Thompson.
The text will be used in UWG 1101, a two-credit-hour course. It is the largest of West Georgia's first-year options.
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Global Leadership students at the farm
 Shannon Ferketish took her Global Leadership class to the KSU Farm to plant indigo and prepare the plant to dry. The indigo will later be turned into paint that artist Roland Ricketts will use for an art piece in KSU's Zuckerman Museum.
This is one of several experiential trips LDRS 3200 students take during the semester to explore both global issues and their leadership implications. Community engagement is a central feature of the course as well.
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Convocation was strong start to semester
 First-Year Convocation moved to a Friday evening this fall as part of the Week of Welcome, and new features such as the aerial photo are likely to become annual traditions.
Close to 1,000 first-year students along with family members and friends gathered in the Convocation Center Aug. 16 as university faculty, staff and administrators formally welcomed them into KSU's community of learners. The students received lapel pins from the Provost with wording from the alma mater.
At the conclusion of the formal ceremony, which is intentionally designed to mimic commencement, the students and their guests formed "KSU" on the Campus Green. Plans are already underway for the 2014 ceremony, which will be a part of the university's continuing 50th anniversary celebration.
Natasha Habers chairs the First-Year Convocation Planning Committee, and Alison Hedrick is the First-Year and Transition Studies faculty representative.
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Faculty scholarship: Case study in new book
 Joan Dominick co-authored a case study with President Emeritus Betty Siegel in the recently released book Supporting Student Diversity in Higher Education, published by Routledge Press. The case study, "The Complete Graduate Resource," explores the evolution of the Senior-Year Experience course that Dominick and Siegel co-created. The book's editor is a professor at Kingston University in the United Kingdom.
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