P. PRECONDITIONS
INTRODUCTION
Georgia State University (GSU) was founded in 1913 as the Georgia Tech Evening School of Commerce. Over the years academic divisions have been added to that of Business Administration to meet the changing needs of students and society: Arts and Sciences in 1933, General Studies in 1964, Education in 1967, Health Sciences in 1968, and Urban Life in 1970. In 1981, General Studies and Urban Life were merged to form Public and Urban Affairs, and a College of Law was also authorized. In 1996, units within the College of Public and Urban Affairs were redirected to other colleges of the university and a new School of Policy Studies was formed.
The university's first doctoral degree was conferred in 1965, and university status was establ ished by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents in 1969. The campus has expanded at its present location in the heart of Atlanta from a recycled parking garage adapted to serve returning G.I. Bill veterans from World War II to a thriving complex that incorporates large blocks of the downtown area. As well as adding new and historic buildings to its campus, the university opened two suburban centers in the 1980s: the Gwinnett Center and the North Metro Center in the northern metropolitan Atlanta area.
Georgia State University is a state-supported institution of higher education. The FY99 general operations budget for GSU is $213 million. GSU occupies an important niche in the state's system of higher education as Georgia's only urban research university. GSU is charged by the University System of Georgia with the tripartite functions of research, teaching, and public service. In all three areas GSU seeks to serve a diverse constituency, employing the highest standards of academic excellence, scholarly creativity, instructional effectiveness, and social responsibility. Situated at the core of the region's governmental, financial, retail, health and legal center in downtown Atlanta, Georgia State is a place where teaching, research and service are woven together to create a meaningful learning experience.
Having a well-prepared, diverse student body is an essential ingredient in GSU's quest for excellence and distinctiveness. The university's location in downtown Atlanta is a decided asset in this regard. GSU is within a one-hour commuting distance of over three million people in the metropolitan Atlanta area.
GSU is the second-largest institution in the University System of Georgia. The commitment of the institution is to provide access to quality education for its students. More than 200 fields of study are offered through some 50 accredited degree programs at the bachelor's, master's, specialist and doctoral levels. Each year, Georgia State University confers more than 5,000 degrees. In all, some 125,128 degrees have been conferred. Approximately 16,800 undergraduate students and 7,000 graduate students are enrolled in any term, and over 35,000 different students per year take courses for credit.
The university offers a welcoming academic environment to traditional students as well as working and returning students -- 53% work full-time and 25% work part-time. This composition produces a mature, serious student body with considerable diversity and a high proportion of graduate students. The university offers diverse programs that give students a wide range of choices, with courses scheduled in a manner that is convenient to the various student constituents. In the Atlanta metro area, there are more than 100 employers of 30 or more GSU alumni. Seventy-four percent (74%) of all alumni live in Georgia. Thus, the university accommodates students at all stages of life and makes life-long learning possible.
GSU provides educational opportunities for both non-traditional and traditional students, with the student body being the most diverse in the region. While Georgians make up more than 90% of the total enrollment, students come from all 50 states and 106 other countries. Fifty-nine percent of students are female, 31% are self-declared minorities, and approximately 4,700 African-American students are enrolled at GSU, more than at any other college or university in Georgia. The average student age of all students is 27 years (undergraduates: 25; graduates: 32). Graduate students comprise 31% of the student body. A large portion of the undergraduate student population (approximately 8,700) transfers to GSU from other institutions to complete their degrees.
Last year, GSU students were awarded financial aid in excess of $92.4 million dollars. Georgia State is a direct-lending institution and awarded more than $66.5 million in loans. The university participates in federal work-study assistance programs (awarded more than $1.3 million) and awarded state and federal grants and scholarships totaling $24.5 million. From the University System of Georgia's Hope Scholarship Program (provided from state lottery funding for scholarships for eligible in-state honors students), GSU students were granted 5,176 awards totaling more than $11.6 million.
Georgia State has a total of 915 full-time faculty and 508 part-time faculty. Eight-eight percent (88%) of its full-time faculty hold doctorates, 54% are tenured. The average faculty age is 47 years and average length of service is 10 years. GSU faculty are expected to be teacher-scholars. Full-time faculty, from the most senior scholars to the newest faculty, teach lower and upper division courses of the undergraduate programs as well as graduate courses. In addition, faculty are expected to have an active scholarly agenda so that they are producing new knowledge or artistic expression that adds to the body of ideas or creative works available in their disciplines. This scholarly agenda in turn enables the faculty to provide instruction at the forefront of ideas and creativity and public service that is well-informed by evaluation and analysis.
GSU's staff are a diverse and multi-cultural body of approximately 1,800. There is a strong sense of commitment to the university in the staff, with approximately 250 either alumni or currently enrolled in classes. The full-time staff fulfill a critical role in support of the academic environment, administration and facilities. They afford the university a high-quality foundation upon which the scholarly agendas of the academic community may be built.
GSU commits itself to the development of the whole person through quality education in a multi-cultured, urban environment. The implementation of this philosophy establishes a responsibility for GSU to provide the means and encouragement for each person to develop according to his or her own interests and abilities. In addition to its academic programming, the university provides opportunities for involvement in intercollegiate sports, intramural fitness, performing arts, and social and service programs which foster personal development, enhance academic productivity, increase physical and psychological health, and encourage social interaction and affiliation in support of a vibrant university community.
(Source: GSU Strategic Plan, http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwsen/strategic_plan/strategicplan3-2-95.html; some data updated to provide more curent information.)
PRECONDITIONS
Institutional Accreditation.Georgia State University (GSU) has been continuously accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, master's, educational specialist and doctoral degrees since 1952. The most recent reaccreditation was in 1998. (References: S-1, GSU 1998-99 General Catalog, p. 8 ; P-1: GSU SACS Reaccreditation Report, website: http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwsac/ [Standard P.1]
Business School's Position in University's Organizational Structure. The Robinson College of Business (RCB) is one of five colleges and a school in the university's organizational structure; the dean of each of these six academic units reports to the provost and vice president for academic affairs, who reports to the president of the university (Reference FD-2: GSU Faculty Handbook, Section 205.01, Administrative Organization, website: http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwfhb/fhb.html).The RCB is composed of 8 academic units and 6 institutes or centers with academic programming responsibilities; heads of these units report directly to the dean of the RCB.
University Policies with Regard to Underrepresented GroupsThe university provides equal employment and educational opportunities for all individuals without regard to race, sex, age, religion, color, national origin, sexual orientation or disability. All university educational and personnel actions are governed by an affirmative action program developed in compliance with applicable federal and state laws and regulations, as well as policies of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (Reference S-1: GSU 1998-99 General Catalog, p. 14; Reference P-2: Georgia State University Affirmative Action Plan for 1998-99, p. 3).
List of all Degree Programs Offered by the College. [Standard P.2.a]
(Reference S-1: GSU 1998-99 General Catalog, pp. 8-9.)
Programs Conveying Business Emphasis Offered Outside of the College. There are no programs within the university but outside of the college that fall within the interpretation of AACSB Business Standard P.2.b.
Programs Delivered to or at Off-Campus Locations. [Standard P.2.c] For more than a decade, the RCB has offered MBA core courses and some graduate elective courses on the north side of the Atlanta metropolitan area to accommodate the large demand for graduate business education that has resulted from rapid business and residential growth in that area. These offerings have been in leased space referred to as the North Metro Center. A permanent satellite campus location is currently under construction in the suburb of Alpharetta which is about ten miles north of the North Metro Center location. The current course offerings at the North Metro Center include all of the MBA core courses plus elective courses that would permit a concentration in general business, international business, management or finance in the MBA program. Enrollments at North Metro Center represent about 20% of total graduate enrollments and about 35% of the MBA core enrollments. While many MBA students complete some of their coursework at the North Metro Center, very few complete all of it without taking courses on the main campus. The college's faculty members are assigned to teach courses on both the main campus and at North Metro Center. No separate degrees are awarded at the North Metro Center location.
Effective fall semester 1998, a joint MBA program with Cairo University in Egypt was initiated. Thirty semester hours of required courses (equivalent to the GSU MBA core curriculum and additional required courses) are being team-taught by GSU and Cairo University faculty at Cairo University. Elective courses offered on the GSU campus will enable students to complete a concentration or major for the MBA degree. Admission to the joint MBA program is based on the same general criteria used for the MBA program at GSU.
Although it does not involve an entire degree program, the RCB also offers one section of the junior-level (300-level) BBA core curriculum each semester plus a few electives at the Gwinnett Center. The Gwinnett Center is operated by the University System of Georgia in Gwinnett County, which is a rapidly growing part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. Courses are also offered at this center by several other units of the University System of Georgia.
Number of Degrees Awarded by Program and Location. [Standard P.3] Table P-1 presents the number of degrees awarded during the past ten years by degree program level; all degrees are awarded by the main campus. Degrees awarded by degree program and major for the past 10 years are contained in Appendix P-1.
Table P-1
Degree Conferred for Fiscal Years
1988 through 1998
|
Degree Programs |
Number of Degrees Conferred |
|
Bachelors |
11,210 |
|
Masters |
7,969 |
|
Doctoral |
260 |
|
Total |
19,439 |
Source: Statview Report 1121
Accounding Accreditation.The School of Accountancy (SOA) at the Robinson College of Business was first accredited separately by the AACSB in 1987. The SOA is seeking reaccreditation under the separate standards for business and accounting of the AACSB concurrent with the college's self-study and visitation. The SOA Self-Study Report is presented as a separate document, with appropriate cross-references to the RCB Self-Study Report to avoid unnecessary duplication of information presented. [Standard P.4]
EFFECTIVENESS OF ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNANCE
The functions and powers of the faculty of the RCB are subject to the Statutes of the University (Reference FD-2: GSU Faculty Handbook) and the Bylaws and Policies of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (Reference website: http://www.peachnet.edu/admin/humex/policy/). The general functions and powers of the faculty are detailed in these documents. Decisions which must be made at the college level fall in a spectrum from those decisions which explicitly require legislative approval by the faculty to operational decisions which are typically of little or no interest to the faculty. Consistent with the principles of collegiality and shared governance, the bylaws of the college provide broad opportunities for the faculty to participate in college governance throughout this spectrum of decision types, while maintaining clarity with respect to the identity of the decision maker who is ultimately responsible. (Reference P-3: Robinson College of Business Bylaws) [Standard P.1.e]
This shared governance approach is provided through the college's faculty committees. The curriculum committees, and most other committees, are comprised of a chair and four members, all of whom are from different academic units within the college. The chair is appointed by the dean with review by the Executive Committee and the Faculty Affairs Committee. The members are nominated for election by the committee chair, with Executive Committee and Faculty Affairs Committee review. Following any additional nominations from the floor of the college faculty meetings, members are elected by the college's faculty. Committee membership of this form has provided a structure for committees to take a college-wide perspective on issues as opposed to each member representing departmental interests. The work of these faculty committees is coordinated with the college administration through having an associate dean serve as an ex-officio, non-voting member of each committee. This committee structure has helped to tie the college's mission and strategic plan goals to the work of the various faculty committees and to coordinate the work of the planning committee with the curriculum committees and other committees.
While the college has made substantial progress with respect to development of assessment policies and procedures and assessment instruments, the college is still in the early stages of tying assessment results to evaluation of programs and continuous quality improvement. (See Reference C-2.)