$500K Coverdell position now open on campus
The Georgia State Senate agreed to add $500,000 to its annual budget to provide for a Coverdell Chair of Policy Studies position at GC&SU.
According to GC&SU President Dr. Dorothy Leland, this will match $500,000 previously raised by private funding. Many of former Sen. Paul C. Coverdell’s friends helped in this effort.
Coverdell died from a cerebral hemorrhage, after a lengthy surgery in 2000. According to a press release on Jan. 31, 2000, before he began as Senator, Mr. Coverdell donated his Peace Corps papers to GC&SU. In 1999, a year before his death, Coverdell donated his Senate Papers to GC&SU’s library.
Dr. Anne Gormly, vice president of Academic Affairs, said state leaders helped to make sure Coverdell would be remembered.
“When Senator Coverdell passed away, there was a shock,” Gormly said. Gormly said.
Gormly said leaders of the state wanted Coverdell’s legacy to be remembered in two ways, one of which was found in GC&SU’s Coverdell Institute of Policy Studies. “There was, in Congress, money to go to the institute, but it is separate from the Chair of Policy Studies.”
Leland and Gormly both said an eminent scholar in policy studies who shares the same values about education as the late senator will occupy this endowed chair position. They included that this position requires a leader who will be interested in community service and civic engagement.
This could be mainly a research position or a teaching position, depending on the home department’s needs and desires. Gormly said the holder of this position may “teach a class (and have) the students provide feedback to make sure they are interested.”.
Leland said this is not primarily an administrative position and she emphasized that the position will bring prestige to the university.
The Endowed Chair of Policy Studies “might open up for more courses, a minor, certificate, or a revision of a current major.”
Jason Maddox, a sophomore nursing major, said he believes the program will benefit the university.
“(I am) excited about the program and the prestige it may bring to the university,” Maddox said.
Both Leland and Gormly said they do not know which department will become home to this new position. Gormly said she assumes the most obvious department would be the School of Government & Sociology located in Arts & Sciences.
However, if the Bunting School of Business wants to house the chair, they may take it if the search committee agrees. Gormly said that since this is not her particular background, she would prefer faculty who know this field to decide where to put this position.
If Gov. Sonny Perdue applies his signature to this part of the state budget there may be an opening available as soon as this fall, but there may not be any applicants for a year. Most schools do not have a search committee during the summer because not all departments are fully open during that time of the year.
Leland said a search committee has not been formed yet for this project. There first needs to be internal discussions before a search committee can begin its task. Appropriate journals in which to post advertisements for an eminent scholar of this type are picked very carefully. Because of this, there will be a workshop for all disciplines involved.
According to Gormly, the faculty of the department where the Eminent Chair will be housed will have a final say in selecting the appropriate candidate for the position.
“It has been many years since a University System of Georgia school was picked to house an eminent scholar,” Leland said. “We worked hand-in-hand with Ms. Coverdell; we could not have done it without her, her closest friends and colleagues.”
According to Leland, the annual budget will be passed in April. If the State Senate approves, the budget will then go to Gov. Perdue.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Feb 24 2006. Filed under News.
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