EXPLORE OUR PROGRESS
We are making strides in the College of Arts & Sciences as we put our strategic plan into action. New career-focused degree programs. Groundbreaking discoveries. Exciting partnerships with community and industry leaders in Atlanta. Students and alumni reaching new heights. Take a look at what we’ve achieved so far.
Arts & Sciences is partnering with Facebook on an engineer-in-residence program that will provide industry-relevant learning to Computer Science students.
The college added four new master’s programs last year, including a fully online M.A. program in professional politics.
Arts & Sciences is home to 15 research and outreach centers, including the recently established Humanities Research Center.
Film and television Producer Tom Luse (The Walking Dead) is an artist-in-residence with our Creative Media Industries Institute.
The college increased study abroad participation by 38% supported by nine new programs in 2018-19, including a pre-med clinical internship in Greece.
At a Glance
What We've Achieved
OVERARCHING INITIATIVES
We are committed to preserving the college’s ultimate source of strength: the excellence and dedication of our students, faculty and staff. See how we are investing in the people who make up the Arts & Sciences community.
Hire for excellence and ensure an inclusive environment
- Established the Dean’s Equity and Engagement Working Group to advise Associate Dean for Faculty Development Kathryn McClymond and her team on a continuing basis
- Developed standard language to include in all CAS job ads designed to diversify our candidate pools
- Developed “Best Practices in Faculty Searches” training that was offered to faculty search committee chairs on voluntary basis in 2018-19 (to be required of search committee chairs beginning summer 2019)
- Offered search advocate training to Dean’s Equity and Engagement Working Group (under consideration as a program to be offered to all CAS faculty beginning fall 2019)
Create and invest in mentoring and development
- Appointed two faculty associate positions in the Dean’s Office:
- (1) Dean’s Faculty Associate for Faculty Development focused on faculty mentoring
- (2) a Senior Faculty Associate for Faculty Advancement focused on supporting faculty progression through the ranks of promotion and tenure
- Developed multiple faculty development workshop series to offer during summer 2019 and AY 2019-20.
- Formed a faculty working group to collaborate with and advise the dean’s faculty associates
- Established two-pronged mentoring strategy that (1) builds mentoring into faculty orientation and established review moments so all faculty receive mentoring and (2) offers workshops on a voluntary basis targeting issues that present challenges to timely promotion
- Developed focused workshops for specific groups of faculty (including department chairs) addressing specific issues to be offered in the coming year
- Launched one-on-one faculty mentoring and advisement program (MAP) following successful pilot involving three departments
- Created a website to share resources and best practices with faculty and create a sense of community among CAS faculty
Metrics
To arrive at our metric for diversifying the CAS faculty, we gathered data on faculty composition (gender and race/ethnicity) and time in rank, drilling down to the department level. We compared CAS faculty composition and times in rank for tenure-track and lecturer-track faculty with data from the 2017 NSF survey of earned doctorates by discipline area and with other colleges of arts and sciences. We set an aggressive goal to bring all of our departments at or above the national average for underrepresented minority faculty within five years.
| Metric | Baseline Year/Term | Baseline | 3-Year Target | 5-Year Target |
| Percentage of departmental faculty population from underrepresented minority (URM) groups as compared to national averages of earned Ph.D.s by broad discipline | Fall 2018* | 48% of departments at or above national avg. for discipline (11 of 23) | 75% of departments at or above national avg. for discipline | 100% of departments at or above national avg. for discipline |
We also gathered data on the faculty advancement from associate professor to full professor and senior lecturer to principal senior lecturer. We developed metrics that put CAS faculty in line with other colleges of arts and sciences of comparable size and research expectations, and that close the gap between men and women and minority vs. majority faculty.
| Metric | Baseline Year/Term | Baseline | 3-Year Target | 5-Year Target |
| What percentage of professors were delayed in their promotion to full professor based on time in rank? | Fall 2018 | 40% (66 out of 164) | 30% | 15% |
| What percentage of principal senior lecturers (PSL) were delayed in their promotion to PSL based on time in rank? | Fall 2018 | 25% (14 out of 57) | 20% | 15% |
| Median time-in-rank of faculty at associate professor before promotion to full professor | Fall 2018 | (6 – 8.5 years) | At least 70% CAS faculty at 7 years or below | 95% CAS faculty at 7 years or below |
*2019 CAS faculty data compared to 2017 Survey of Earned Doctorates data
MAXIMIZE ACADEMIC AND CAREER SUCCESS FOR UNDERGRADUATES
The college is creating curricula, learning experiences and pedagogies to prepare undergraduates for diverse career outcomes and advanced academic study. See the work we are doing to offer career-empowering education in Arts & Sciences.
Career integration working group report
Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives Dr. John Augusto convened a group of Arts & Sciences faculty to develop a report on how best to support career integration across our academic programs and teaching practices in the college. The working group’s report identifies numerous challenges, opportunities, and recommendations for moving forward. View the full report
New academic programs
To prepare our students for rewarding careers and advanced academic study, we developed several new career-oriented undergraduate programs this year. Some programs have launched while others are recently approved or still in development.
| New Career-Oriented Undergraduate Programs | ||
| Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology | Concentration | B.S., Biology |
| Biology and Nutrition | Dual Degree |
B.S., Biology M.S., Nutrition |
| Naval Science | Minor | Military Science |
| Cybersecurity | U.Cert. | Computer Science |
| Data Science | U.Cert. | Computer Science |
| Pre-Genetic Counseling | U.Cert. | Biology |
| Sustainability | U.Cert. | Geosciences |
| Water Science | U.Cert. | Geosciences |
Community and industry partnerships
The college signed several MOUs with Atlanta-area partners this year. The agreements listed below will add to the career-building signature experiences we offer our students.
| New External Partnerships | ||
| Engineer-in-Residence Computer Science | Computer Science | |
| O’Briant Group | Ethnographic research partnership (GRA funding) | Anthropology |
| WellStar Health System | Medical ethics graduate fellowship | Religious Studies |
|
Dallas Austin, Music Producer |
Artist-in-Residence | CMII |
|
Tom Luse, Film & TV Producer |
Artist-in-Residence | CMII |
|
Erik Gordon, Entrepreneur |
Entrepreneur-in-Residence | CMII |
University College to Career initiative
Dr. Angela Christie, Senior Lecturer in the Department of English, was appointed faculty director of the College to Career Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). Six other faculty members in Arts & Sciences were selected as College to Career faculty fellows. Additionally, five Arts & Sciences departments received QEP incentive grant funding to implement career integration plans during 2019.
Humanities Inclusivity Program
The college’s Humanities Research Center (HRC) and its director Dr. Denise Davidson played a key role in securing a $1.25 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to create the Humanities Inclusivity Program (HIP) at Georgia State. As a pipeline program, HIP is designed to prepare Georgia State undergraduates from underrepresented groups to succeed in entering doctoral programs in the humanities. The HRC remains involved in the implementation of this program.
Metrics
To measure the progress of our career empowering education initiative, we are starting with credit-bearing internships. Within three years, we expect that all 23 of the college’s departments will offer at least one internship course. We also set a goal to increase student participation in credit-bearing internship courses by at least 10% within the next five years.
| Metric | Baseline Year/Term | Baseline | 3-Year Target | 5-Year Target |
| Minimum of one internship course offered per degree program | Fall 2018 | 80% | 100% | 100% |
| Increase enrollment in internship courses | AY 2017-18 | 1,126 | 1,182 (+5%) | 1,239 (+10%) |
STRENGTHEN AND GROW DISTINCTIVE GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS
Our graduate students are the next generation of researchers and leaders. See how we are building and strengthening graduate programs and support structures to ensure their professional success.
2.1 Enhance the quality of our graduate programs
- Published online program profiles for each Ph.D. program in the college. Each profile displays program-level data such as admissions and enrollment trends, faculty to student ratio, student demographics, time to degree, graduation rate, and post-graduation plans.
- Identified common non-course milestones for each program in the college and developed a process and mechanism for collecting details regarding the completion of these milestones.
- Input details regarding milestone completion dates, advisor assignments, and committee composition for every graduating master’s and Ph.D. student in fall 2018 and spring 2019.
- Created a revised, electronic program of study using DegreeWorks to display milestone data points along with course completion information and other details relevant to progress toward completion to graduate students and faculty advisors in real-time.
2.2 Develop professionally-oriented graduate programs
The college developed four new professional master’s program concentrations that have enrolled or started to admit students.
| New Professional Master’s Programs | ||
| Museum Studies | M.A., Anthropology | First students enrolled SP19 |
| Professional Politics | M.A., Political Science | First students enrolled SP19 |
| Digital Media Strategies | M.A., Communication | First students enrolled FA18; New applications up 35% after one year |
| Big Data and Machine Learning | Master of Science in Analytics and Data Science | Admitting students for FA19 |
2.3 Optimize graduate funding
- Convened a working group chaired by Donald Hamelberg (Chemistry) that collected and reviewed department and college data on how we are resourcing graduate student support in the college.
- Based on the recommendations of the working group, the Dean’s Office asked eachdepartment to propose a graduate funding model that fits their mission and considers the optimal size of their graduate program, student to faculty ratio, stipend levels, and time to degree. These were submitted in spring 2019 and will be used to develop college-level recommendations next year.
Metrics
2.1 Tracking our efforts to enhance the quality of our graduate programs will center on three metrics: (1) median time to degree for Ph.D. programs, (2) 10-year completion rates for Ph.D. program, and (3) five-year completion rates for master’s programs. These metrics are nationally recognized and used formeasuring the health of graduate programs by organizations such as the Council of Graduate Schools and the National Science Foundation. We will consider targets for graduate completion rates next year.
| Metric | Baseline Year/Term | Baseline | 3-Year Target | 5-Year Target |
| No Ph.D. program with median time-to-degree at 7+ years | FY15-FY17 | 2 programs at 7 years | 1 program | 0 programs |
| 5-year master’s completion rate | FY11-FY13 cohort | 76% | TBD | TBD |
| 10-year Ph.D. completion rate | FY05-FY07 cohort | 62% | TBD | TBD |
2.2 We established baselines for new and total master’s students in the college using a three-year average to account for uncontrolled variation from year to year. We set as our target to grow by 2% in new and total enrollment after three years, and 5% in new and total enrollment after five years. We plan to set enrollment growth targets for each new program in Year 2.
| Metric | Baseline Year/Term | Baseline | 3-Year Target | 5-Year Target |
| Increase new master’s enrollment | FY16-FY18 Avg. | 433 | 442 (+2%) | 455 (+5%) |
| Increase overall master’s enrollment | FA15-FA17 Avg. | 930 | 949 (+2%) | 977 (+5%) |
2.3 We completed the assessment of graduate funding this year. Benchmarks for funding master’s andPh.D. students will be established in Year 2.
| Metric | Y/N | Timeframe |
| College-wide assessment completed | Y | 1st year |
| Benchmarks established for funding of master’s and doctoral students in the college(e.g., avg. stipend amounts, ratio of GTA:GRA positions, and percentage of students supported by internal funding vs. external funding) | 2nd year |
INCREASE IMPACTFUL RESEARCH
The College of Arts & Sciences is home to research and discovery at Georgia State. Our goal is to make discoveries that will expand knowledge and positively impact our global and local societies. See how we are supporting research growth in the college while raising our profile and the impact of our research.
3.1 Increase research productivity and grow collaborative research
- Identified metrics and goals for collaborative sponsored projects
- Introduced new faculty mentoring and development programs focused on boosting research productivity and advancing faculty through the ranks of promotion and tenure
3.3 Strengthen research administration and infrastructure
- Created and filled new college research officer position to manage the college’s grants andcontracts services unit and strengthen our administrative collaboration with the Office of Sponsored Projects and Awards (OSPA).
- Added two new G&C II staff members, improving our ability to provide post-award support to our PIs
- Two G&C officers are scheduled to take the CFRA and CPRA exams to become nationally certified research administrators by the end of 2019
3.4 Raise the profile of our research
- Launched new Humanities Research Center to improve the visibility of the important work being done by humanities scholars at Georgia State and by humanists more generally
- Hired new director of communications and public relations for the college
- Initiated development of a strategic communications plan that will put a clearer emphasis on externally-focused, digital-first initiatives and promotion of high-impact research projects and discoveries generated by CAS faculty, staff, and students
- Started to rebuild the college’s communications and public relations team
- Created and filled new digital storyteller and social media manager position whose duties include disseminating stories about our research and exploring innovative ways to tell these stories.
- Created new research writer position to be hired in Year 2. This position will monitor research activity across the college and proactively reach out to CAS faculty and other researchers to identify the most compelling work to highlight for news releases, feature stories, and other forms of storytelling designed to elevate this work in the eyes of university leadership and external audiences.
- Organized media training day geared to CAS faculty and other researchers
Metrics
3.1 One way to quantify collaborative research is to count sponsored projects with multiple investigators. We conducted an internal review of all proposals that included multiple PIs, co-PIs, co-Is, and sub-awards both incoming and outgoing in the last two fiscal years to arrive at our benchmark number and determine targets for the next five years.
| Metric | Baseline Year/Term | Baseline | 3-Year Target | 5-Year Target |
|
Increase collaborative proposals while increasing total proposals by at least 2% each year. Collaborative proposals defined as:
|
FY18 | 236/59% | 248/60% | 260/62% |
3.3 To strengthen research administration in the college, we set a goal to increase the qualifications of our staff. Encouraging our Grants & Contracts officers to become nationally certified promotes professional development among our staff and raises the quality of research services available to CAS faculty.
| Metric | Baseline Year/Term | Baseline | 3-Year Target | 5-Year Target |
| Increase percentage of the college’s G&C officers who are nationally certified as CFRA or CPRA | Spring 2018 | 17% (2 of 12) |
25% (4 of 12) | 75% (9 of 12) |
3.4 In Year 1 we focused on putting new structures, people, and plans in place that will help promote research and discovery coming out of Arts & Sciences. We will consider ways to quantify and track these efforts in future years.
| Metric | Y/N | Timeframe |
| Humanities Research Center launched | Y | 1st year |
| New college director of communications and public relations hired | Y | 1st year |
| Strategic communications plan for the college developed | 2nd year |
ADRESS THE COMPLEX CHALLENGES OF CITIES
Arts & Sciences supports Georgia State’s goal to be the university Atlanta turns to meet its needs. See the work we are doing to educate Atlanta’s workforce, provide research expertise on issues that matter to Atlantans, and be a trusted partner for community and industry leaders.
4.1 Support multidisciplinary research on cities and the quality of urban life
- The college’s Center for Neighborhood and Metropolitan Studies (CNMS) compiled a list of CAS faculty with urban-focused and/or Atlanta research interests, expanding the center’s constituents from eight to 23 faculty from 10 departments
- CNMS awarded seed and travel grants to support faculty and graduate students from different disciplines pursuing urban-focused research activities and projects
4.2 Increase opportunities for students to engage in urban-related learning experiences
- Developed proposal to streamline the process for students to earn the City Scholar designation, which was approved by the University Senate and adopted by the university
- Conducted a review of all upper-division courses in the college to identify additional courses that meet the criteria for the City Scholar designation; Added six courses that will count toward the designation effective fall 2019
4.3 Be a trusted and sought-after partner in Atlanta
Educate Atlanta’s next-gen workforce: As reported under Goals 1 and 2, we developed several new career- and professionally-oriented programs of study for undergraduate and graduate students this year.
| New Career-Oriented Undergraduate Programs | ||
| Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology | Concentration | B.S., Biology |
| Biology and Nutrition | Dual Degree |
B.S., Biology M.S., Nutrition |
| Naval Science | Minor | Military Science |
| Cybersecurity | U.Cert. | Computer Science |
| Data Science | U.Cert. | Computer Science |
| Pre-Genetic Counseling | U.Cert. | Biology |
| Sustainability | U.Cert. | Geosciences |
| Water Science | U.Cert. | Geosciences |
| New Professional Master’s Programs | ||
| Museum Studies | M.A., Anthropology | First students enrolled SP19 |
| Professional Politics | M.A., Political Science | First students enrolled SP19 |
| Digital Media Strategies | M.A., Communication | First students enrolled FA18; New applications up 35% after one year |
| Big Data and Machine Learning | Master of Science in Analytics and Data Science | Admitting students for FA19 |
Partner with Atlanta employers, community and industry leaders:
The college signed several MOUs with Atlanta-area partners to create hands-on, career-oriented learning experiences for our students.
| New External Partnerships | ||
| Engineer-in-Residence Computer Science | Computer Science | |
| O’Briant Group | Ethnographic research partnership (GRA funding) | Anthropology |
| WellStar Health System | Medical ethics graduate fellowship | Religious Studies |
|
Dallas Austin, Music Producer |
Artist-in-Residence | CMII |
|
Tom Luse, Film & TV Producer |
Artist-in-Residence | CMII |
|
Erik Gordon, Entrepreneur |
Entrepreneur-in-Residence | CMII |
Computer Science Industry Advisory Board: This year we formed an Industry Advisory Board to advise the Department of Computer Science on workforce needs in technology and computing. Board members include executives from IBM, GE, Anthem, Stanley Black & Decker, Lockheed Martin, and other major employers.
Creative Media Industries Institute as our new front door to Atlanta: Through CMII we have significantly expanded our relationships with industry, government, and non-profit leaders and organizations as follows:
- Housed Foundry45, a virtual reality and advertising content creation agency, as an enterprise-in-residence
- Collaborated on innovative projects with Panasonic, United Way, All 3 Media, Hi-Rez Studios, Atlanta Film Society, Futurus, ByteCubed, Santander Bank, and Arnold Worldwide
- Represented Georgia State on the boards of organizations such as the Producers Guild of America, Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Georgia Film Academy, Women in Film and TV Atlanta, and Georgia Game Developers Association
- Hosted delegations from the Governor’s office; state legislature; Georgia Office of Economic Development; Georgia Research Alliance; and universities from Germany, Nigeria, South Africa, and the U.S.
Metrics
City scholar courses are designed to help students develop competence in urban issues through a substantial focus on aspects of city life and hands-on experience in investigating or addressing inherent problems and opportunities. Expanding the list of eligible courses and enrollment in these courses will help support initiative 4.2 by increasing the urban-related learning experiences we offer. To start with, we set modest three- and five-year enrollment growth targets. Within the next two years we will reassess whether there are other aspects of our goal to be Atlanta’s college of arts and sciences that we can quantify and track.
| Metric | Baseline Year/Term | Baseline | 3-Year Target | 5-Year Target |
| Enrollment in City Scholar courses | AY 2017-18 | 193 | 212 (+10%) | 231 (+20%) |
INCREASE GLOBAL RESEARCH, LEARNING EXPERIENCES AND OUTREACH
Global education and research are embedded in our academic programs and disciplines in Arts & Sciences. It’s part of our identity. See our progress as we expand access to globally-focused learning experiences and research opportunities, supported by our growing connections around the world.
5.2 Expand globally-oriented learning experiences
- Added nine study abroad programs in 2018-19, including a Pre-Med Clinical Internship in Greece, TEFL Teaching Contexts in Argentina, Dynamical Neuroscience in Ukraine, and Remnants of War in Vietnam
- Increased student participation in outbound study abroad and exchange programs by 38% (191 students) compared to 2017-18
- Initiated development of new winter break study abroad model, which may yield new programs by 2020
- Explored opportunities to establish Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) and virtual exchange programs; Submitted two applications for COIL funding
- Developed proposal to streamline the process for students to earn the Global Scholar designation, which was approved by the University Senate and adopted by the university
- Conducted a review of all upper-division courses in the college to identify additional courses that meet the criteria for the Global Scholar designation; Added 223 courses that will count toward the designation effective fall 2019
- Secured a $640,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to support the Center for Urban Language Teaching and Research (CULTR), which promotes career readiness through language study and the development of global and cultural competencies. CULTR is directed by Dr. Bill Nichols, associate professor and chair of the Department of World Language & Cultures and PI on the U.S. Department of Education grant.
- Secured over $100,000 in external funding from multiple sources to support Korean language, linguistic and cultural studies at Georgia State (PI: Hakyoon Lee, assistant professor, Department of World Languages & Cultures)
5.3 Increase global engagement and outreach
- Signed more than 10 new MOCs and MOUs to establish new partnerships and build on existing partnerships with universities around the globe; Signed more than five program-specific agreements to establish research, faculty, and student exchanges
- Established new Atlanta Global Studies Center (AGSC) in partnership with Georgia Institute of Technology to improve access to advanced language learning and to deepen knowledge of global and intercultural issues for students, faculty, and the public. AGSC is co-directed by 12
Dr. Tony Lemieux, professor of global studies and communication and director of the Global Studies Institute. - Completed two sessions of a new six-week English-language certificate program for high school English teachers from Brazil. Dr. Eric Friginal, professor of applied linguistics and director of international programs for the college, is the program director with Dr. Alison Camacho (spring 2018) and Dr. John Bunting (summer 2019) from the Department of Applied Linguistics & ESL.
Metrics
In Arts & Sciences we offer a range of globally-oriented learning experiences both on and off campus. These different experiences are captured in the metrics we selected to help us track globally-focused student learning.
| Metric | Baseline Year/Term | Baseline | 3-Year Target | 5-Year Target |
| Enrollment in Global Scholar courses | AY 2017-18 | 193 | 212 (+10%) | 231 (+20%) |
|
Number of globally-oriented learning experiences completed by Arts & Sciences students
|
AY 2017-18 | 551 | 850 (+55%) | 1,100 (+100%) |
What We've Achieved
We are committed to preserving the college’s ultimate source of strength: the excellence and dedication of our students, faculty and staff. See how we are investing in the people who make up the Arts & Sciences community.
Hire for excellence and ensure an inclusive environment
- Established the Dean’s Equity and Engagement Working Group to advise Associate Dean for Faculty Development Kathryn McClymond and her team on a continuing basis
- Developed standard language to include in all CAS job ads designed to diversify our candidate pools
- Developed “Best Practices in Faculty Searches” training that was offered to faculty search committee chairs on voluntary basis in 2018-19 (to be required of search committee chairs beginning summer 2019)
- Offered search advocate training to Dean’s Equity and Engagement Working Group (under consideration as a program to be offered to all CAS faculty beginning fall 2019)
Create and invest in mentoring and development
- Appointed two faculty associate positions in the Dean’s Office:
- (1) Dean’s Faculty Associate for Faculty Development focused on faculty mentoring
- (2) a Senior Faculty Associate for Faculty Advancement focused on supporting faculty progression through the ranks of promotion and tenure
- Developed multiple faculty development workshop series to offer during summer 2019 and AY 2019-20.
- Formed a faculty working group to collaborate with and advise the dean’s faculty associates
- Established two-pronged mentoring strategy that (1) builds mentoring into faculty orientation and established review moments so all faculty receive mentoring and (2) offers workshops on a voluntary basis targeting issues that present challenges to timely promotion
- Developed focused workshops for specific groups of faculty (including department chairs) addressing specific issues to be offered in the coming year
- Launched one-on-one faculty mentoring and advisement program (MAP) following successful pilot involving three departments
- Created a website to share resources and best practices with faculty and create a sense of community among CAS faculty
Metrics
To arrive at our metric for diversifying the CAS faculty, we gathered data on faculty composition (gender and race/ethnicity) and time in rank, drilling down to the department level. We compared CAS faculty composition and times in rank for tenure-track and lecturer-track faculty with data from the 2017 NSF survey of earned doctorates by discipline area and with other colleges of arts and sciences. We set an aggressive goal to bring all of our departments at or above the national average for underrepresented minority faculty within five years.
| Metric | Baseline Year/Term | Baseline | 3-Year Target | 5-Year Target |
| Percentage of departmental faculty population from underrepresented minority (URM) groups as compared to national averages of earned Ph.D.s by broad discipline | Fall 2018* | 48% of departments at or above national avg. for discipline (11 of 23) | 75% of departments at or above national avg. for discipline | 100% of departments at or above national avg. for discipline |
We also gathered data on the faculty advancement from associate professor to full professor and senior lecturer to principal senior lecturer. We developed metrics that put CAS faculty in line with other colleges of arts and sciences of comparable size and research expectations, and that close the gap between men and women and minority vs. majority faculty.
| Metric | Baseline Year/Term | Baseline | 3-Year Target | 5-Year Target |
| What percentage of professors were delayed in their promotion to full professor based on time in rank? | Fall 2018 | 40% (66 out of 164) | 30% | 15% |
| What percentage of principal senior lecturers (PSL) were delayed in their promotion to PSL based on time in rank? | Fall 2018 | 25% (14 out of 57) | 20% | 15% |
| Median time-in-rank of faculty at associate professor before promotion to full professor | Fall 2018 | (6 – 8.5 years) | At least 70% CAS faculty at 7 years or below | 95% CAS faculty at 7 years or below |
*2019 CAS faculty data compared to 2017 Survey of Earned Doctorates data
The college is creating curricula, learning experiences and pedagogies to prepare undergraduates for diverse career outcomes and advanced academic study. See the work we are doing to offer career-empowering education in Arts & Sciences.
Career integration working group report
Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives Dr. John Augusto convened a group of Arts & Sciences faculty to develop a report on how best to support career integration across our academic programs and teaching practices in the college. The working group’s report identifies numerous challenges, opportunities, and recommendations for moving forward. View the full report
New academic programs
To prepare our students for rewarding careers and advanced academic study, we developed several new career-oriented undergraduate programs this year. Some programs have launched while others are recently approved or still in development.
| New Career-Oriented Undergraduate Programs | ||
| Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology | Concentration | B.S., Biology |
| Biology and Nutrition | Dual Degree |
B.S., Biology M.S., Nutrition |
| Naval Science | Minor | Military Science |
| Cybersecurity | U.Cert. | Computer Science |
| Data Science | U.Cert. | Computer Science |
| Pre-Genetic Counseling | U.Cert. | Biology |
| Sustainability | U.Cert. | Geosciences |
| Water Science | U.Cert. | Geosciences |
Community and industry partnerships
The college signed several MOUs with Atlanta-area partners this year. The agreements listed below will add to the career-building signature experiences we offer our students.
| New External Partnerships | ||
| Engineer-in-Residence Computer Science | Computer Science | |
| O’Briant Group | Ethnographic research partnership (GRA funding) | Anthropology |
| WellStar Health System | Medical ethics graduate fellowship | Religious Studies |
|
Dallas Austin, Music Producer |
Artist-in-Residence | CMII |
|
Tom Luse, Film & TV Producer |
Artist-in-Residence | CMII |
|
Erik Gordon, Entrepreneur |
Entrepreneur-in-Residence | CMII |
University College to Career initiative
Dr. Angela Christie, Senior Lecturer in the Department of English, was appointed faculty director of the College to Career Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). Six other faculty members in Arts & Sciences were selected as College to Career faculty fellows. Additionally, five Arts & Sciences departments received QEP incentive grant funding to implement career integration plans during 2019.
Humanities Inclusivity Program
The college’s Humanities Research Center (HRC) and its director Dr. Denise Davidson played a key role in securing a $1.25 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to create the Humanities Inclusivity Program (HIP) at Georgia State. As a pipeline program, HIP is designed to prepare Georgia State undergraduates from underrepresented groups to succeed in entering doctoral programs in the humanities. The HRC remains involved in the implementation of this program.
Metrics
To measure the progress of our career empowering education initiative, we are starting with credit-bearing internships. Within three years, we expect that all 23 of the college’s departments will offer at least one internship course. We also set a goal to increase student participation in credit-bearing internship courses by at least 10% within the next five years.
| Metric | Baseline Year/Term | Baseline | 3-Year Target | 5-Year Target |
| Minimum of one internship course offered per degree program | Fall 2018 | 80% | 100% | 100% |
| Increase enrollment in internship courses | AY 2017-18 | 1,126 | 1,182 (+5%) | 1,239 (+10%) |
Our graduate students are the next generation of researchers and leaders. See how we are building and strengthening graduate programs and support structures to ensure their professional success.
2.1 Enhance the quality of our graduate programs
- Published online program profiles for each Ph.D. program in the college. Each profile displays program-level data such as admissions and enrollment trends, faculty to student ratio, student demographics, time to degree, graduation rate, and post-graduation plans.
- Identified common non-course milestones for each program in the college and developed a process and mechanism for collecting details regarding the completion of these milestones.
- Input details regarding milestone completion dates, advisor assignments, and committee composition for every graduating master’s and Ph.D. student in fall 2018 and spring 2019.
- Created a revised, electronic program of study using DegreeWorks to display milestone data points along with course completion information and other details relevant to progress toward completion to graduate students and faculty advisors in real-time.
2.2 Develop professionally-oriented graduate programs
The college developed four new professional master’s program concentrations that have enrolled or started to admit students.
| New Professional Master’s Programs | ||
| Museum Studies | M.A., Anthropology | First students enrolled SP19 |
| Professional Politics | M.A., Political Science | First students enrolled SP19 |
| Digital Media Strategies | M.A., Communication | First students enrolled FA18; New applications up 35% after one year |
| Big Data and Machine Learning | Master of Science in Analytics and Data Science | Admitting students for FA19 |
2.3 Optimize graduate funding
- Convened a working group chaired by Donald Hamelberg (Chemistry) that collected and reviewed department and college data on how we are resourcing graduate student support in the college.
- Based on the recommendations of the working group, the Dean’s Office asked eachdepartment to propose a graduate funding model that fits their mission and considers the optimal size of their graduate program, student to faculty ratio, stipend levels, and time to degree. These were submitted in spring 2019 and will be used to develop college-level recommendations next year.
Metrics
2.1 Tracking our efforts to enhance the quality of our graduate programs will center on three metrics: (1) median time to degree for Ph.D. programs, (2) 10-year completion rates for Ph.D. program, and (3) five-year completion rates for master’s programs. These metrics are nationally recognized and used formeasuring the health of graduate programs by organizations such as the Council of Graduate Schools and the National Science Foundation. We will consider targets for graduate completion rates next year.
| Metric | Baseline Year/Term | Baseline | 3-Year Target | 5-Year Target |
| No Ph.D. program with median time-to-degree at 7+ years | FY15-FY17 | 2 programs at 7 years | 1 program | 0 programs |
| 5-year master’s completion rate | FY11-FY13 cohort | 76% | TBD | TBD |
| 10-year Ph.D. completion rate | FY05-FY07 cohort | 62% | TBD | TBD |
2.2 We established baselines for new and total master’s students in the college using a three-year average to account for uncontrolled variation from year to year. We set as our target to grow by 2% in new and total enrollment after three years, and 5% in new and total enrollment after five years. We plan to set enrollment growth targets for each new program in Year 2.
| Metric | Baseline Year/Term | Baseline | 3-Year Target | 5-Year Target |
| Increase new master’s enrollment | FY16-FY18 Avg. | 433 | 442 (+2%) | 455 (+5%) |
| Increase overall master’s enrollment | FA15-FA17 Avg. | 930 | 949 (+2%) | 977 (+5%) |
2.3 We completed the assessment of graduate funding this year. Benchmarks for funding master’s andPh.D. students will be established in Year 2.
| Metric | Y/N | Timeframe |
| College-wide assessment completed | Y | 1st year |
| Benchmarks established for funding of master’s and doctoral students in the college(e.g., avg. stipend amounts, ratio of GTA:GRA positions, and percentage of students supported by internal funding vs. external funding) | 2nd year |
The College of Arts & Sciences is home to research and discovery at Georgia State. Our goal is to make discoveries that will expand knowledge and positively impact our global and local societies. See how we are supporting research growth in the college while raising our profile and the impact of our research.
3.1 Increase research productivity and grow collaborative research
- Identified metrics and goals for collaborative sponsored projects
- Introduced new faculty mentoring and development programs focused on boosting research productivity and advancing faculty through the ranks of promotion and tenure
3.3 Strengthen research administration and infrastructure
- Created and filled new college research officer position to manage the college’s grants andcontracts services unit and strengthen our administrative collaboration with the Office of Sponsored Projects and Awards (OSPA).
- Added two new G&C II staff members, improving our ability to provide post-award support to our PIs
- Two G&C officers are scheduled to take the CFRA and CPRA exams to become nationally certified research administrators by the end of 2019
3.4 Raise the profile of our research
- Launched new Humanities Research Center to improve the visibility of the important work being done by humanities scholars at Georgia State and by humanists more generally
- Hired new director of communications and public relations for the college
- Initiated development of a strategic communications plan that will put a clearer emphasis on externally-focused, digital-first initiatives and promotion of high-impact research projects and discoveries generated by CAS faculty, staff, and students
- Started to rebuild the college’s communications and public relations team
- Created and filled new digital storyteller and social media manager position whose duties include disseminating stories about our research and exploring innovative ways to tell these stories.
- Created new research writer position to be hired in Year 2. This position will monitor research activity across the college and proactively reach out to CAS faculty and other researchers to identify the most compelling work to highlight for news releases, feature stories, and other forms of storytelling designed to elevate this work in the eyes of university leadership and external audiences.
- Organized media training day geared to CAS faculty and other researchers
Metrics
3.1 One way to quantify collaborative research is to count sponsored projects with multiple investigators. We conducted an internal review of all proposals that included multiple PIs, co-PIs, co-Is, and sub-awards both incoming and outgoing in the last two fiscal years to arrive at our benchmark number and determine targets for the next five years.
| Metric | Baseline Year/Term | Baseline | 3-Year Target | 5-Year Target |
|
Increase collaborative proposals while increasing total proposals by at least 2% each year. Collaborative proposals defined as:
|
FY18 | 236/59% | 248/60% | 260/62% |
3.3 To strengthen research administration in the college, we set a goal to increase the qualifications of our staff. Encouraging our Grants & Contracts officers to become nationally certified promotes professional development among our staff and raises the quality of research services available to CAS faculty.
| Metric | Baseline Year/Term | Baseline | 3-Year Target | 5-Year Target |
| Increase percentage of the college’s G&C officers who are nationally certified as CFRA or CPRA | Spring 2018 | 17% (2 of 12) |
25% (4 of 12) | 75% (9 of 12) |
3.4 In Year 1 we focused on putting new structures, people, and plans in place that will help promote research and discovery coming out of Arts & Sciences. We will consider ways to quantify and track these efforts in future years.
| Metric | Y/N | Timeframe |
| Humanities Research Center launched | Y | 1st year |
| New college director of communications and public relations hired | Y | 1st year |
| Strategic communications plan for the college developed | 2nd year |
Arts & Sciences supports Georgia State’s goal to be the university Atlanta turns to meet its needs. See the work we are doing to educate Atlanta’s workforce, provide research expertise on issues that matter to Atlantans, and be a trusted partner for community and industry leaders.
4.1 Support multidisciplinary research on cities and the quality of urban life
- The college’s Center for Neighborhood and Metropolitan Studies (CNMS) compiled a list of CAS faculty with urban-focused and/or Atlanta research interests, expanding the center’s constituents from eight to 23 faculty from 10 departments
- CNMS awarded seed and travel grants to support faculty and graduate students from different disciplines pursuing urban-focused research activities and projects
4.2 Increase opportunities for students to engage in urban-related learning experiences
- Developed proposal to streamline the process for students to earn the City Scholar designation, which was approved by the University Senate and adopted by the university
- Conducted a review of all upper-division courses in the college to identify additional courses that meet the criteria for the City Scholar designation; Added six courses that will count toward the designation effective fall 2019
4.3 Be a trusted and sought-after partner in Atlanta
Educate Atlanta’s next-gen workforce: As reported under Goals 1 and 2, we developed several new career- and professionally-oriented programs of study for undergraduate and graduate students this year.
| New Career-Oriented Undergraduate Programs | ||
| Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology | Concentration | B.S., Biology |
| Biology and Nutrition | Dual Degree |
B.S., Biology M.S., Nutrition |
| Naval Science | Minor | Military Science |
| Cybersecurity | U.Cert. | Computer Science |
| Data Science | U.Cert. | Computer Science |
| Pre-Genetic Counseling | U.Cert. | Biology |
| Sustainability | U.Cert. | Geosciences |
| Water Science | U.Cert. | Geosciences |
| New Professional Master’s Programs | ||
| Museum Studies | M.A., Anthropology | First students enrolled SP19 |
| Professional Politics | M.A., Political Science | First students enrolled SP19 |
| Digital Media Strategies | M.A., Communication | First students enrolled FA18; New applications up 35% after one year |
| Big Data and Machine Learning | Master of Science in Analytics and Data Science | Admitting students for FA19 |
Partner with Atlanta employers, community and industry leaders:
The college signed several MOUs with Atlanta-area partners to create hands-on, career-oriented learning experiences for our students.
| New External Partnerships | ||
| Engineer-in-Residence Computer Science | Computer Science | |
| O’Briant Group | Ethnographic research partnership (GRA funding) | Anthropology |
| WellStar Health System | Medical ethics graduate fellowship | Religious Studies |
|
Dallas Austin, Music Producer |
Artist-in-Residence | CMII |
|
Tom Luse, Film & TV Producer |
Artist-in-Residence | CMII |
|
Erik Gordon, Entrepreneur |
Entrepreneur-in-Residence | CMII |
Computer Science Industry Advisory Board: This year we formed an Industry Advisory Board to advise the Department of Computer Science on workforce needs in technology and computing. Board members include executives from IBM, GE, Anthem, Stanley Black & Decker, Lockheed Martin, and other major employers.
Creative Media Industries Institute as our new front door to Atlanta: Through CMII we have significantly expanded our relationships with industry, government, and non-profit leaders and organizations as follows:
- Housed Foundry45, a virtual reality and advertising content creation agency, as an enterprise-in-residence
- Collaborated on innovative projects with Panasonic, United Way, All 3 Media, Hi-Rez Studios, Atlanta Film Society, Futurus, ByteCubed, Santander Bank, and Arnold Worldwide
- Represented Georgia State on the boards of organizations such as the Producers Guild of America, Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Georgia Film Academy, Women in Film and TV Atlanta, and Georgia Game Developers Association
- Hosted delegations from the Governor’s office; state legislature; Georgia Office of Economic Development; Georgia Research Alliance; and universities from Germany, Nigeria, South Africa, and the U.S.
Metrics
City scholar courses are designed to help students develop competence in urban issues through a substantial focus on aspects of city life and hands-on experience in investigating or addressing inherent problems and opportunities. Expanding the list of eligible courses and enrollment in these courses will help support initiative 4.2 by increasing the urban-related learning experiences we offer. To start with, we set modest three- and five-year enrollment growth targets. Within the next two years we will reassess whether there are other aspects of our goal to be Atlanta’s college of arts and sciences that we can quantify and track.
| Metric | Baseline Year/Term | Baseline | 3-Year Target | 5-Year Target |
| Enrollment in City Scholar courses | AY 2017-18 | 193 | 212 (+10%) | 231 (+20%) |
Global education and research are embedded in our academic programs and disciplines in Arts & Sciences. It’s part of our identity. See our progress as we expand access to globally-focused learning experiences and research opportunities, supported by our growing connections around the world.
5.2 Expand globally-oriented learning experiences
- Added nine study abroad programs in 2018-19, including a Pre-Med Clinical Internship in Greece, TEFL Teaching Contexts in Argentina, Dynamical Neuroscience in Ukraine, and Remnants of War in Vietnam
- Increased student participation in outbound study abroad and exchange programs by 38% (191 students) compared to 2017-18
- Initiated development of new winter break study abroad model, which may yield new programs by 2020
- Explored opportunities to establish Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) and virtual exchange programs; Submitted two applications for COIL funding
- Developed proposal to streamline the process for students to earn the Global Scholar designation, which was approved by the University Senate and adopted by the university
- Conducted a review of all upper-division courses in the college to identify additional courses that meet the criteria for the Global Scholar designation; Added 223 courses that will count toward the designation effective fall 2019
- Secured a $640,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to support the Center for Urban Language Teaching and Research (CULTR), which promotes career readiness through language study and the development of global and cultural competencies. CULTR is directed by Dr. Bill Nichols, associate professor and chair of the Department of World Language & Cultures and PI on the U.S. Department of Education grant.
- Secured over $100,000 in external funding from multiple sources to support Korean language, linguistic and cultural studies at Georgia State (PI: Hakyoon Lee, assistant professor, Department of World Languages & Cultures)
5.3 Increase global engagement and outreach
- Signed more than 10 new MOCs and MOUs to establish new partnerships and build on existing partnerships with universities around the globe; Signed more than five program-specific agreements to establish research, faculty, and student exchanges
- Established new Atlanta Global Studies Center (AGSC) in partnership with Georgia Institute of Technology to improve access to advanced language learning and to deepen knowledge of global and intercultural issues for students, faculty, and the public. AGSC is co-directed by 12
Dr. Tony Lemieux, professor of global studies and communication and director of the Global Studies Institute. - Completed two sessions of a new six-week English-language certificate program for high school English teachers from Brazil. Dr. Eric Friginal, professor of applied linguistics and director of international programs for the college, is the program director with Dr. Alison Camacho (spring 2018) and Dr. John Bunting (summer 2019) from the Department of Applied Linguistics & ESL.
Metrics
In Arts & Sciences we offer a range of globally-oriented learning experiences both on and off campus. These different experiences are captured in the metrics we selected to help us track globally-focused student learning.
| Metric | Baseline Year/Term | Baseline | 3-Year Target | 5-Year Target |
| Enrollment in Global Scholar courses | AY 2017-18 | 193 | 212 (+10%) | 231 (+20%) |
|
Number of globally-oriented learning experiences completed by Arts & Sciences students
|
AY 2017-18 | 551 | 850 (+55%) | 1,100 (+100%) |
Contact Us
Sara Rosen, Ph.D.
Dean
deanrosen@gsu.edu
Justin Lilly
Executive Associate/Dean's Communications
lilly@gsu.edu
404-413-5115