President’s February message
Feb. 7, 2023
Dear Colleagues,
We are now well into the spring semester, the sun is starting to shine a bit longer in the day, and hints of spring weather are in the air.
Our faculty, staff, and students continue to have impact on our region, and I wanted to highlight a few of these accomplishments.
Recently, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) awarded a $794,472 grant to expand Georgia Southern’s Georgia Enterprise Network for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (GENIE) project. With this initiative, the Business Innovation Group (BIG) has developed a virtual network of economic development resources and an ecosystem of collaborative organizations with the goals of business development and job creation. Embedding this technology in rural and underserved communities around the state will connect small businesses and startups to the state’s economic development ecosystem and will allow Georgia Southern to expand its reach to empower entrepreneurship and innovation beyond our physical footprint!
Annual “For the Love of Blue” campaign
The 2023 “For the Love of Blue” campus employee giving campaign kicked off last week and offers more than 1,000 opportunities to make an impact with your gift. This once-a-year campaign is tailored specifically for employee giving, making it easy to pledge a one-time charitable gift or multiple payroll gift deductions to one of the causes you care about. The employee support during For the Love of Blue makes a lasting impact on our students and our future! Visit GeorgiaSouthern.edu/FTLOB for more information.
As we continue our progress to achieve the goals as stated in our University Strategic Plan, we also continue our dedication to improving and to building an engaged and inspiring work environment at Georgia Southern. As part of this work, we are gathering employee input annually through the administration of an Employee Engagement Survey. Our goal remains to foster an environment where every individual knows and owns their role and responsibility in achieving the strategic direction of Georgia Southern.
This spring, March 1–March 15, the survey will be administered for the third time. Remember, the purpose of the survey is to provide all employees an opportunity to share feedback that will help supervisors and Georgia Southern leadership ensure that our university fosters a workplace environment where employees feel engaged and valued. Leaders will use the feedback to compare results from last year to assess results specific to their Action Plans, engage in conversations with their employees to focus on improvement, and outline ways to improve by focusing on the highest priority areas updating/revising their Action Plans based on this year’s results.
I know that you and colleagues in your division may have further questions about the survey and we want to be available to help. If there are questions about the survey questions, how the information on our organizational structure is prepared before the survey is administered, or how the reports are prepared after the survey closes, you can direct those to the survey team leads, Trina Smith and Patricia Holt, who will be hosting 15-minute-long information / Q&A Zoom sessions on the following dates and times:
- Monday (2/13) 11:00 a.m.
- Wednesday (2/22) 10:00 a.m.
- Wednesday (2/22) 3:00 p.m.
The Zoom link for all three is:
https://georgiasouthern.zoom.us/j/6302975406?pwd=aCs4MFdUR3E4T0ZwUzlrazZOZi9Ndz09.
Thank you for all you do for Georgia Southern and, most importantly, what you do daily to keep student success at the center of your work.
Sincerely,
Kyle
Last updated: 2/7/2023