A November update from President Marrero

Nov. 1, 2022

Dear Colleagues,

I hope everyone enjoyed October’s “Celebrate Together” events on the Armstrong Campus…we had 112 booths, over 1,500 attendees, beautiful fall weather, hot dogs, t-shirts, and lots of fun.  And yes, I was in the dunking booth…submerged at least 14 times!  It was truly a week of celebration and I want to give a special thank you to all of the staff, faculty, and students who helped organize the events.

November is a busy time of the academic calendar as we accelerate to Thanksgiving week and the end of the semester.  There is much happening on our campuses – please check out our calendar of events where you will find a multitude of concerts, speakers, athletic events, and gatherings to take part in.  And don’t forget, we have three home football games remaining – South Alabama, Marshall, and App State – and need only one more win to be bowl eligible. Go Eagles!

Last week was a monumental occasion for the Southeast region with the groundbreaking ceremony for the Hyundai Meta Plant.  I was fortunate to be in attendance.  Announced in May, the new $5.54 billion factory is expected to have production capacity of up to 300,000 vehicles per year, creating more than 8,000 jobs directly related to the plant and possibly an additional 9,500 jobs indirectly related by 2025.  We held our first Job Fair at Georgia Southern with Hyundai in mid-October to help with their goal of hiring up to 40 of our Engineering and Construction Management graduates and soon-to-be graduates.  In addition, Hyundai will begin offering internships in select disciplines in the spring semester.  These opportunities and the expected growth of our region underscore the need for talent and workforce development in our region and Georgia Southern’s position to be the educational and research institution to propel and support this growth. 

To that end, we will be announcing the Phase I recommendations of the Armstrong Task Force (ATF) next week.  Through the analysis of trend enrollment data and regional market assessment alignment, we have identified nine academic programs that can be marketed and enhanced to increase enrollment for fall 2023 at the Armstrong campus.  Phase II of the ATF’s work will begin immediately, developing a long-term plan to differentiate the Armstrong campus as a unique and critical component of Georgia Southern University.  To be clear, growth opportunities exist for all of our campus locations as part of the impact of the future regional growth. 

November also marks the finalization and submission of our FY2024 Budget Narrative and Prioritization Plan to the University System of Georgia.  We will be finalizing this process and presenting/posting all of these documents in the coming weeks.  In addition, we will be finalizing our faculty and staff market salary studies with updated 2022-23 comparators.  Once completed, we will present and share the study to all stakeholders.

Finally, please don’t forget to nominate your colleagues or teams for the 2022-2023 University Awards of Excellence – nominations are open through November 18. 

Sincerely,
Kyle

Last updated: 11/2/2022