Six years later, DePaolo sets new standards for GC&SU

During Dr. Rosemary DePaolo’s six-year tenure as president of Georgia College & State University, she has been credited with leading the university through numerous unprecedented changes.

DePaolo earned the honor of serving as GC&SU’s first woman president. During her tenure, she led the university to adopt a new mission statement that accompanies its designation as Georgia’s only public liberal arts university. Under her guidance, the university was invited to join the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC) in June 2001. COPLAC is an elite group of colleges across the United States that are dedicated to the liberal arts. Only 19 institutions belong to this prestigious group.

DePaolo has consistently raised admission requirements, and as a result, SAT averages at GC&SU have risen. In 1997, when she arrived, the average SAT score was 996; DePaolo raised the average level to 1,062 in 2002. She has worked hard to ensure a one on one relationship between teachers and students by lowering the faculty-student ratio from 22:1 to 17:1.

“We accomplished tremendous amounts during my time here,” DePaolo said. “Everything that was started will get completed and only continue to grow. For instance, I wanted us to be third in the system in SAT scores, and that will happen within the next two years.” Right now we are currently ranked fourth in SAT scores.

In 2001, the university moved to a Tier Two Southern Regional University school in the U.S. News and World Report’s annual America’s Best Colleges. GC&SU is ranked next to other schools, such as Radford, Brenau and Marshall University. When asked if there was one thing she wished she could see before leaving GC&SU, DePaolo said, “I would have liked to see us [GC&SU] move into Tier One, but that will happen.”

DePaolo is credited with rebuilding the university, literally. Under her leadership, the university has begun nearly $100 million in major construction and renovation projects.

Construction projects on campus include: tripling the size of the Ina Dillard Russell Library; the addition of Bobcat Village to West Campus; and new dorms on main campus. Renovation projects have touched every building on campus. MSU has become larger and more modern, Atkinson received a new roof and the Governor’s Mansion is being restored.

The traditions and legacies DePaolo instilled at GC&SU will continue long after she’s gone.

“In terms of traditions, we started table talk and I think that is a great success. I wanted to create an exciting campus culture,” DePaolo said.

“There will be many physical legacies – a dramatic revitalization of campus housing; extraordinary campus construction, including a vastly enlarged library; the restoration of the Governor’s Mansion,” Bruce Harshbarger, vice president of student affairs said. “I’m more impressed; however, with her legacy in the spirit of the campus, such as improvements in participatory campus governance and an enhanced sense of personal engagement between and among faculty, staff and students. Then there’s our greater understanding of what it means to be the state’s public liberal arts university and a tangible sense that we are something unique and prestigious in the University System of Georgia.”

Many employees see DePaolo as a role model for success.

“I will miss her energy, her leadership, her determination and her resilience,” President DePaolo’s secretary Evelyn Thomas, said. “Dr. DePaolo is an outstanding role model and a very effective administrator. She possesses the ability to make things happen and recognizes the unlimited potential in others.”

“I’ll miss having her as a role model,” Harshbarger said. “With the track record of success we’ve experienced under her leadership, many faculty and staff at the university have come to feel that no goal, no matter how lofty, is unattainable. But while I’ll miss her personal involvement in reaching for lofty goals, I think that all of us who carry on remain convinced that the sky’s the limit for GC&SU. You know, after we acknowledge the academic standards, the high profile statewide and all the new campus construction, perhaps that is President DePaolo’s greatest accomplishment and strongest legacy.”

Because she has done so much for the university, employees on campus have differing opinions on what DePaolo’s greatest
accomplishment is at GC&SU.

Thomas, believes that DePaolo’s greatest accomplishment is her ability to lead the masses.

“Her greatest accomplishment is the ability to bring people together to focus their individual talents and abilities toward common goals for the purpose of producing excellence,” Thomas said. “She has led this university and the community in a direction of change, challenge, growth and development. I consider her a crown jewel: both rare and priceless! She will be missed.”

Harshbarger believes DePaolo put GC&SU on the map.

“Six years ago, GC&SU was a quality institution that many people felt was flying somewhat below the radar for higher education attention in the state,” Harshbarger said. “Dr. DePaolo worked tirelessly to establish friendships for the university, to build trust and make us visible with governmental and University System leaders and to generate enthusiasm and respect among families and prospective students in Georgia. She set incredibly ambitious goals for raising academic standards at GC&SU and did so while maintaining enrollment. The impact she made in just under six years may be unprecedented in American higher education.

“She helped improve the SAT scores, and she helped us gain admittance into COPLAC,” said Adam Edge, a sophomore political science major and SGA senator.

DePaolo has had numerous personal achievements during her six-year stay. In 2001, she was named one of the 100 Most Influential Georgians by Georgia Trend magazine, and in 2002 she was named one of the magazine’s Most Notable Georgians.

In 2002, DePaolo was invited to attend the Defense Department’s Educators and Defense Conference. The program gave educators the opportunity to learn first-hand about U.S. military personnel, their equipment and capabilities and national defense strategies. She was also elected chair of the state’s most powerful humanities organization: the Georgia Humanities Council.

Edge believes whoever follows in DePaolo’s footsteps is very lucky. “I feel as though she has left us in a situation where only success can follow and the school will grow.”

“Together we worked to put GC&SU on the map,” DePaolo said. “Now students are coming from all over Georgia, that is something we are really proud of. This was a really tough decision for me. I really love GC&SU, and only wish the best for the campus.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Mar 28 2003. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry