President's Report - Gordon State College

33
President’s Report
Gordon Receives Much Needed Funding
from the General Assembly
Gordon’s share of $72.5 million in new funds from Georgia’s
General Assembly will come to about $940,000.
Gov. Nathan Deal and the General Assembly fully funded
the University System’s enrollment formula, putting
financial muscle behind the state’s Complete College
Georgia Initiative.
This initiative seeks to further college completion
rates, increase job market credentials, and help underrepresented
populations earn college degrees.
The money will allow the College to hire two academic
advisers, increase the number of its “first-year
experience” course sections, reduce dependence on
part-time instructors, create a testing center, create a
center for teaching and learning and improve and expand
distance learning.
The two academic advisers will each be assigned
about 300 new students whom they will help shepherd
into their second year of study. They will also implement
a robust intervention in the academic lives of students at
risk of dropping or failing out of Gordon.
Increasing the number of “first-year experience”
sections is an important part of the College’s plan for
the additional money, because the course improves students’
motivation and study skills, therefore increasing
their chances of graduation.
National data shows that overreliance on part-time
instructors in classrooms affects student success. To
this end Gordon will hire personnel in several key areas
including health services and informatics administration,
biology, English, history, mathematics, nursing and philosophy.
The creation of a testing center will help those Gordon
students with learning disabilities who require testing
in special, controlled environments.
Faculty will have a new resource in Gordon’s
planned Center for Teaching and Learning. The purpose
of this center will be to support faculty designing new
courses and strategies for its growing population of
adult students and part-time students.
Coupled with the Center for Excellence in Teaching
and Learning will be new efforts to improve and expand
courses offered in an online environment, since adult
students and part-time students find that online courses
are an important tool for timely completion of degrees.