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South Georgia State College 2023

View the Appendices

South Georgia State College, a state college of the University System of Georgia, is a multi-campus, student-centered institution offering high-quality associate and select baccalaureate degree programs. The institution provides innovative teaching and learning experiences, a rich array of student activities and athletic programs, access to unique ecological sites, and residential options to create a diverse, globally-focused, and supportive learning environment.
(SGSC Mission Statement, approved 2012)

In academic year 2022-2023, SGSC offered three associate degree programs (A. A., A. S., and A. S. in Nursing) with nineteen academic transfer pathways--and seven bachelor’s degree programs (B. S. in Nursing, B. S. in Biological Sciences, B. S. in Management, B. S. in Long-Term Healthcare Management,

B. S. in Public Service Leadership, B. S. in Elementary/Special Education, B. S. in Mechanical Engineering Technology). Associate’s degree-level students comprised 84% of SGSC’s fall 2022 enrollment.

SGSC’s mission, completion priorities, and student body demographics clearly align.  The institution consistently enrolls primarily “traditional” students (82% fall 2022, excluding dual-enrolled). However, a variety of student-support services for all students is extremely important at SGSC, where for fall 2022 53% of all students were Pell grant recipients (59%, excluding dual-enrolled), over one-third of entering freshmen were enrolled in an LS math corequisite course, one-third were first-generation college students, and 18% were non-traditional (adult learners).  Such student demographic data has led SGSC to employ Momentum Year/Mindset strategies focusing on helping at-risk students to succeed and earn a degree, preferably at  SGSC but also as potential transfer students to other USG institutions.

The “Enrollment and Demographic Trends” and “Underserved Enrollment Trends” tables (Appendix Tables A and B, respectively) provide a good look at the SGSC student body’s characteristics. In addition to the data in the tables, it is noteworthy that 95% of SGSC’s total fall 2022 enrollment were Georgia residents (typically SGSC enrolls students from approximately 70% of the 159 Georgia counties), 12 other states, and 13 foreign countries. The students represented in these enrollment demographics help “to create a diverse, globally-focused learning environment” (SGSC Mission Statement).

Benchmark, Aspirational, and Competitor Institution and Student Achievement

In selecting a benchmark, aspirational, and competitor institution, SGSC focused on performance in three specific areas related to student success. As required in SACS COC standards (8.1, Student Achievement), all three areas are identified in the SGSC website’s information on student achievement. Because SGSC, like her seven sister institutions in the USG’s state college sector, is primarily an associate’s degree-granting institution with a select number of bachelor’s degree programs (see Mission Statement), the retention and graduation rate student achievement focus is on associate’s degree-seeking students. Among the measures included in SGSC’s student achievement goals are the following (achievement targets are discussed below):

  • One-year retention rates for full-time associate degree-seeking student cohorts, fall 2018 – fall 2022
  • Three-year graduation rates for full-time associate degree-seeking student cohorts, fall 2016 – fall 2020
  • Numbers of all degrees awarded, FY 2019 – FY 2023 (included here with the number and percentage change in degree awards since FY 2019—during the COVID-19 pandemic--for comparison with other USG state college sector institutions)

Prior to last years’ annual college completion report (2022), these three student achievement measures had been considered within the separate strategy of “academic advising.”  That strategy is now addressed in relation to student achievement aspirations and promoting fuller student schedules and Area A completion.  Although budget cuts due to the COVID-19 pandemic and concomitant enrollment declines have eliminated all but one of SGSC’s professional advisors (assigned to our Office of Student Success), necessitating a return to a faculty advising model, we continue to employ efficient academic advising to help eliminate barriers to student progress and to bolster student retention and graduation rates. Our Associate Vice President of Student Success, Registrar, and some Student Success personnel also engage in student academic advising.

Since SGSC is a member institution of the USG and is classified by the System as one of eight “state colleges,” all of whom have quite similar missions and follow the same USG  directives, policies, goals, initiatives, and strategic plan, it makes sense to choose benchmark, aspirational, and competitor institutions from among the USG state colleges. That sector’s data on the bulleted student achievement measures above continues to identify Georgia Highlands as a high-performing institution in the state college sector and a good benchmark, aspirational, and competitor institution.

The data in Appendix Table C shows that the one-year institution-specific retention rate for SGSC’s FTFT associate degree-seeking students has remained consistent at a 48.5% five-year average from fall 2018 through fall 2022 cohorts, while the institution-specific average for all eight USG state colleges for the same period was 54%.  The Georgia Highlands average for the period was 62.8%, well above the SGSC and System averages.  SGSC’s goal is a one-year FTFT associate’s degree-seeking student retention rate of 55% for the fall 2025 student cohort, and the fall 2021 and fall 2022 cohort rates of 50.3% and 52% are a good start from the 47% average for the prior three years.

While the SGSC-specific one-year retention rate for FTFT degree-seeking students has been consistently lower than the average for all eight USG state colleges, the one-year retention rate of former SGSC students within the USG over the five-year period averages 63.3%, while for the same period the average for all USG state colleges is 62%. Given the A. A. and A. S. transfer mission of  USG state colleges and the ease of transfer among USG institutions facilitated by a common core curriculum, it is significant  that SGSC prepares students well for receiving institutions.  SGSC’s goal is to attain a one-year retention rate within the USG of 65% by the fall 2025 cohort.

The three-year graduation rate data in Appendix Table D compares the five-year SGSC rates to the average rates for the same period for all eight USG state colleges. “Institution-specific” refers to students graduating from SGSC, “System-wide for SGSC” refers to former SGSC students who graduate from any USG institution, and “System-wide for all state colleges” refers to students who began at a USG institution, transferred to another USG institution, and graduated from the USG institution to which they transferred.

The table shows that the three-year institution-specific graduation rate for SGSC’s FTFT associate degree-seeking students is at a five-year average of 19.5% (fall 2016 through fall 2020 cohorts), while the institution-specific average for all eight USG state colleges is 15.6% for the same period. The Georgia Highlands State College average rate for the five-year period is 18.5%, significantly higher than the average state college rate, but, for the first time in our college completion reporting, below the SGSC average. The rationale for an SGSC metric goal of a 25% three-year FTFT associate’s degree-seeking student graduation rate for the fall 2023 cohort is based on the fall 2020 cohort rate of 26.7%, which is well above the Georgia Highlands fall 2019 rate of 19.7% and the highest (by far) three-year graduation rate in the state college sector for the fall 2020 cohort.  Georgia Highlands had the second-highest fall 2020 rate in our sector (16.2%).

It is noteworthy that SGSC’s institution-specific graduation rate has typically been exceeding the average graduation rate for all USG state colleges. In addition, the rate for the most recent student cohort of former SGSC students transferring to other USG state colleges (27.2%, fall 2020) far exceeds the average rate for all USG state college associate’s degree-seeking students transferring within the System (15.6%, fall 2020).  SGSC had definitely made significant progress in three-year graduation rates!

The percentage change in the number of degrees awarded can be compared among the eight state college sector institutions to give a good idea of how SGSC performs with that important student achievement metric. Appendix Table E shows the total number of degrees (certificates excluded), as well as the number and percentage change for the period FY 2019 through FY 2022 for the eight USG state college sector institutions. It is noteworthy that only three USG state colleges show a positive change in the number of degrees awarded during the period (Atlanta Metro, Coastal Georgia, and Georgia Highlands).  SGSC shows the smallest decline by far (-5.08%) among the other five institutions. The comparison period obviously includes the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which probably best explains the decline in degrees awarded—just as similar declines in enrollment during this period are probably best attributed to the pandemic.

Appendix Table F, Degrees Conferred by Degree Offered, shows that during the first three years of the five-year period FY 2019 through FY 2023 SGSC had a significant increase in the number of degrees awarded.  However, FY 2022 and FY 2023 both show a decrease in degrees awarded, undoubtedly related to the enrollment decreases experienced during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past several years of Momentum/Mindset focus, there has been a significant increase in the number and type of student success strategies created to foster student achievement. The two SGSC campuses have academic success tutoring centers, STEM centers, writing centers, and 24/7 tutoring availability through tutor.com. In addition, there is a student success program for residential students on the Douglas Campus (there are no residence halls on the Waycross Campus). SGSC would like to increase the number of degrees awarded to 350 for FY 2024 and continue to increase in subsequent years to return to pre-Covid numbers of degrees conferred, but this measure obviously is highly dependent on future enrollment, which would also have to return to pre-Covid numbers.

Student Success Inventory

The SGSC student success inventory update discusses the strategies of the SGSC Momentum Plan. The strategies reviewed are as follows:

  1. The SGSC “Big Idea”:  Concierge Coaching for at-risk students
  2. <“Boost” Mindset training for students and Mindset-promoting intervention/activities for faculty
  3. Creating fuller student schedules and promoting Area A completion
  4. Establishing student connections with potential careers
  5. Continuing to promote undergraduate research

Success Inventory

Concierge Coaching (South Georgia State College-2023)

Strategy/Project Name: 
Concierge Coaching
Momentum Area: 
Purpose
Category: 
Mindset
Onboarding
Orientation
Student engagement
Strategy/Project Description: 

Concierge Coaching is a model to help at-risk students in their journey while at SGSC. It provides an additional layer of support and connection for these students by assigning them to a “coach” which may be a faculty or staff member

Summary of Activities: 

We have seen small but positive increases in every area with students that actively participate in the program. Moving forward we need to address the lack of engagement by a number of students placed in the program.

Activity Status: 
Refining/Maintaining
Evaluation/Assessment plan: 

Evaluation Plan and measures:

  • Satisfaction Surveys (Students and Coaches)
  • Retention & GPA data

Baseline measure: Still in progress

Goal or targets

  • Students Indicate that they feel that SGSC cares about them and their success.
  • Express satisfaction with the ability to access needed services at the College.
  • Have a highly favorable view of the coaching program.
  • Have a higher retention rate than that of comparable peers.
  • Have a higher GPA than that of comparable peers.

Time period/duration - ongoing

Progress and Adjustments: 

As reported in the two past years’ annual college completion reports, the SGSC “Big Idea” resulting from a USG Momentum Summit is the development of a “Concierge Coaching” model to help at-risk students in their journey while at SGSC, thereby providing an additional layer of support and connection for these students. The College launched a pilot of the Concierge Coaching program during summer semester 2021, targeting 21 first-time matriculating students with high school GPAs of 2.5 or below and assigning each student to one of 22 coaches. We understood from the outset that high school GPA may no longer be a good predictor of student success, but we have chosen it as a starting point and anticipate that going above 2.5 would create a coaching availability issue. The initial coaching program outcomes have remained the same during the past academic year and are as follows:

Students in the Concierge Coaching program will--

  • Indicate that they feel that SGSC cares about them and their success.
  • Express satisfaction with the ability to access needed services at the College.
  • Have a highly favorable view of the coaching program.
  • Have a higher retention rate than that of comparable peers.
  • Have a higher GPA than that of comparable peers.

Accomplishments during academic year 2022-2023:

  • We sent out coaching surveys fall 2022
  • We held a coaches’ meeting at the beginning of the spring semester 2023 to exchange ideas and talk about best practices.  One of the main concerns expressed in the survey was the lack of responses from students, so coaches who had better response rates shared some of their strategies.
  • We held a spring 2023 meet and greet for students and coaches on the Douglas Campus and had high expectations for the event.  It was developed because some coaches who responded to the fall 2022 coaching survey said that they felt the connection with students would be better if they were able to meet students face to face.  No students attended the meet and greet, and only three coaches attended.  We are examining planning and recruitment for the event and hope to be able to create and implement a successful event during the current academic year.
  • We implemented coaching in spring 2023 only, due to low participation going into fall 2022.

Concierge Coaching and Retention Rates

No concierge coaching was implemented in fall semester 2022 due to coaches reporting poor student communication and subsequent delibertions among Academic Affairs administrators on whether or not to continue the coaching initiative.  A survey then completed by coaches led to a decision to continue the program with attention to strengthening communication between coaches and students.  Coaching resumed in spring semester 2023.  The fall 2022 hiatus may have contributed to a spring 2023 to fall 2023 retention rate for first-time freshmen student participants of 35.8% contrasted with a first-time non-participant freshmen rate of 37.9%, although the two rates are close and both are above a targeted 20% participant rate.

Concierge coaching and GPA

It is not surprising that the students retained after participating in the Concierge Coaching program had higher Spring term GPAs than those who did not.  Appendix Table G shows that the spring term 2022 average GPA of program participants retained is 2.01, compared to an average GPA of 1.48 for non-participants, and that the spring 2023 average GPA of program participants retained is 1.45, while the lower average for non-participants retained is 1.10.  Our target is a 2.0 GPA average for participants retained through spring.

Student surveys

A survey of students engaged in the academic year 2022-2023 concierge coaching program addresses the first three bulleted coaching program outcomes above. Appendix Table H contains survey questions and average student rating responses for each question for spring semesters 2022 and 2023. Overall, the survey response data shows that participating student satisfaction rates were lower by at least one point for each of the survey questions.  This decline in student satisfaction rates is being analyzed by the SGSC Student Success staff.

Coach surveys

In addition to the student satisfaction survey, a survey of coach perceptions of the program was also administered fall semester 2022.  Coaches responded to the following six open-ended questions:

  • What have you liked best about the Concierge Coaching program?
  • What roadblocks have you encountered while participating in the Concierge Coaching program?
  • How can we improve the Concierge Coaching program for students?
  • How can we improve the Concierge Coaching program for coaches?
  • How do you think students would respond to peer coaches?
  • Please share any other comments you have about the Concierge Coaching model.

Coach responses to the survey were very positive in terms of satisfaction derived from helping students identify and make progress toward academic goals, identifying campus resources providing academic assistance and career information, and helping students understand that their instructors are here to help them achieve success.  With regard to introducing student peer coaching, responses were both positive and negative—positive in terms of helping to relieve faculty workload and in promoting sharing/communicating with peers, as well as negative in terms of student privacy, embarrassment, and awkwardness.  The chief thought on improving the concierge coaching program relates to encouraging students to reach out to their coaches and faculty in general.

Plan for the Year Ahead: 
  • During the current academic year, we are continuing to explore the idea of using peer coaching due to staff shortages and budget constraints, to explore expanding the numbers of students participating in the program, and to improve all aspects of communication among students, faculty, and Student Success staff involved in the program.
  • The main challenges are enrollment, budget reductions, and concomitant staff reductions, all of which have an adverse effect on all of our operations. 
  • The challenge of getting students to respond to outreach has been difficult. Emails, texts, and phone calls are often met with no response. Consequently, we plan to continue the development of a meet and greet ice-breaker activity to introduce students to coaches to assist in developing relationships. We also want to develop a guide for coaches, but that will be very time-intensive for extremely busy staff and faculty.
Primary Contact: 
Brandi Elliott, Associate Vice President of Student Success

Boost Mindset (South Georgia State College-2023)

Strategy/Project Name: 
Boost Mindset
Momentum Area: 
Mindset
Category: 
Faculty Engagement
Mindset
Student engagement
Strategy/Project Description: 
  1. Continue and Expand Scaled Mindset Boost Workshops
  2. Continue and refocus Mindset FLC
Summary of Activities: 
  1. We’re very proud of the level of participation in our virtual workshops. We placed all of the students into a D2L course with the materials. ~20% have completed one workshop, and 5% have completed two of the workshops. We did not advertise. Next Fall we plan to do a full email campaign and release a larger series of workshops.
  2. We have a dedicated group of faculty working on Mindset as well as interest from more. We hope to start getting rotating groups of faculty moving in and out of the FLC. We hope this will help decrease burnout.
Activity Status: 
Refining/Maintaining
Evaluation/Assessment plan: 

Evaluation Plan and measures:

  1. We did a campus wide release Spring 2023. Approximately 20% of the students have completed the mindset workshop as of April 1 with no advertising.

Baseline measure

  1. Participation is our main indicator, but we will also look at other factors like graduation/GPA rates compared to those who do not participate.
  2. Participation

Goal or targets

  1. To maintain this level of participation per semester. With a focus on new students participating .
  2. Continued participation in mindset, with faculty rotating in and out of the FLC

Time period/duration

  1. Ongoing
  2. Ongoing
Progress and Adjustments: 
  • Using the work done by faculty during 2021-2022, the STEM Grant team created a hybrid model Faculty Development/Learning Community Model. The model was presented at the USG Teaching & Learning 2022 Conference (Dye & Scheeser) and piloted in AY 2022-2023. The model retains the “mindset lunches” in-person meetings paired with a D2L-based classroom with resources, focused discussions, and a place to save collected data and reflections. Faculty can hop in when they have the available time to get support, share ideas, and contribute to the larger data collections looking at the dosage impact on student success (working with USG Student Success/Jonathan Hull; we have the raw data and are working on the analysis).
  • 2022-2023 continued our work to include mindset in the classroom and provide further training to interested faculty. See Appendix Table I, “Mindset FLC Faculty Participation, AY 2018-2022.”  Faculty participation has tripled since AY 2018-2019.
  • In Spring of 2022, we launched our D2L-based Virtual Workshop Mindset series. Every student enrolled in a course at SGSC was enrolled in the D2L shell. Students earn certificates through the D2L award feature, which they can then provide to any faculty who offer incentives. Faculty across all three of our instructional sites and online offered incentives to their students to participate in the workshops. Over 500 students have participated in at least one workshop. We are also expanding our offerings. Fall 2023 has seen the addition of a workshop on motivation. Spring 2024 we hope to roll out workshops on managing procrastination, using textbooks, and note-taking.  Appendix Table J shows all the workshops and the number of student participants for each semester from fall 2020 through spring 2023.  Beginning spring 2022 student participation has steadily risen post-COVID pandemic.
  • During AY21-22, the sixteen faculty participating in the Mindset FLC (10 Fall, 16 Spring) encouraged their students to complete the Grow Your Brain! Virtual Workshop. DFWI rates of those students who chose to participate were significantly lower than those who did not.  Results varied by faculty member(see Appendix Table K) and provide useful comparative data.
  • GPA data for AY 2022-2023 BOOST Mindset workshops shows that participants consistently had higher average GPAs: 3.22 versus 2.56, fall 2022; 2.90 versus 2.71, spring 2023. 

Grow Your Brain! Virtual Workshop

The Grow Your Brain! Virtual Workshop includes a video that takes the students through the basics of the neuroscience of learning. After watching the video, the participants are then asked to reflect on what they learned and what they would say to a friend about what they learned.

These quotes from the Grow Your Brain! Virtual Workshop capture the essence of the responses, highlighting the themes of personal growth, the dynamic nature of intelligence, and the importance of not giving up in the face of challenges.

  1. "It is good to know that everything won't be so easy for me and I can learn how to study, oh, and going blank as I call it is something other normal people do. I don't have to feel slow when I do poorly or can't figure something out."
  2. "The video was very helpful in communicating information about ways I could improve my intelligence. Intelligence is not fixed, it is a growing process. A person should not feel discouraged if they do not know something. Eventually, with enough practice and determination, a person can do whatever they put their mind to."
  3. "It really helps understand how we can access more of what we’re capable of! Very helpful!"
Plan for the Year Ahead: 
  • During the current academic year, we are continuing to collect and evaluate data on student and faculty participation, attitudes/opinions about the program, and effects on student achievement (GPAs, DFW rates, retention, and academic progression); to expand numbers and types of “BOOST” mindset workshops; and to establish realistic baseline data for assessment of the initiative.
  • The main challenges are expanding faculty participation in a time of increased workloads, reducing staff due to budget reductions, and encouraging students to participate in-person or virtually.  SGSC could also use assistance with tracking participating students’ performance, retention, and graduation rates, as well as determining the impact of multiple exposures to mindset interventions.
  • 2023-2024 has seen the spin-off of a new FLC created by two of our Mindset FLC members. The “Finding Solutions” FLC is focused on communication, TiLT, and mindset.
Primary Contact: 
Dr. Katy Dye, Assistant Professor of Biology

Career Services (South Georgia State College-2023)

Strategy/Project Name: 
Career Services
Momentum Area: 
Purpose
Pathways
Category: 
Advising
Career/Major Exploration
Strategy/Project Description: 

Provide an array of career services and develop collaborative career programming through alumni involvement in disseminating the career information.

Summary of Activities: 
  • Provided a series of career related workshops
  • Workshops created specifically with AAMI
  • Revised SGSC career services website

Adjustments had to be made late in the Fall 2022 semester as our full-time Career Services professional. We are currently integrating and finding new ways to apply our goals more broadly utilizing multiple departments.

Activity Status: 
Refining/Maintaining
Evaluation/Assessment plan: 

Evaluation Plan and measures: Tracking the number of students attending Career Services events and activities.

Student satisfaction surveys

Baseline measure: 2021-2022 data

Goal or targets: To provide programs/services to create connections with potential careers

Time period/duration: ongoing

Progress and Adjustments: 

Loss of SGSC Career Services Coordinator and update on academic year 2022-2023:

The SGSC Senior Coordinator for Career and Academic Advising left us at the beginning of spring semester (January) 2023 to assume a position elsewhere and has not been replaced.  Because of enrollment declines and related budget considerations, there are at present no plans to refill that position.  While our student career workshops and career connections guest speakers, career planning components of our freshman orientation course, STEM career services programming, workshops on resume writing and soft skills development and career related activities carried out in the student center and residence halls continued through most of academic year 2022-2023, loss of the Senior Coordinator position has created the need for an alternative mechanism for addressing student engagement in career and goal setting.  Since summer of 2023 we have been engaged with the services afforded through “Steppingblocks” digital career exploration and student success software.

  • We are relying heavily on Steppingblocks digital career exploration software to provide a self-service experience for students. Student Success staff have been trained on how to refer students in need of career or pathway exploration to Steppingblocks. It was added to the website in Spring 2023 and to SOARs (new freshman orientation and registration programs). Student Success staff conducted faculty training on how to find Steppingblocks on the SGSC website and how to refer students to it. SGSC’s usage data from Steppingblocks shows that in the past month 19 active student users have logged on for 36 sessions with a most common area of interest in education careers.  Examples of the kinds of data we can obtain on student usage are numbers of web sessions and topics; user activities; personality tests; sessions by location, weekday, time, module, and top searches.
  • Deans, chairs, and the Vice President of Enrollment Management have been added as administrators to see data on our alumni workforce.
  • The SGSC Associate Vice President of Student Success is now the contact person for general career services information.  This fall she conducted a resume workshop for the pre-med club and helped several members afterward with one-on-one help with portfolios, resumes and graduate school applications.
  • The Associate Vice President of Student Success has connected students to financial aid and HR for work study positions.
  • Student Success staff talk to SGSC 1000 orientation students about purposeful choice, career services help, and career exploration.
Plan for the Year Ahead: 
  • During the current academic year, we will continue to provide workshops, alumni speakers, field trips, connections with local employers, job fairs, and volunteer opportunities; to complete revision of the career services information on the SGSC website; and to explore connecting career choices with curriculum in first-year courses.
  • With no plans for the foreseeable future to fill the position of Career Services Coordinator, we will continue to employ and communicate with the Steppingblocks career exploration and student success digital resources company.
  • As with other SGSC operations, the main challenge is resources—funds and staffing—to develop, implement, and assess activities, as well as to provide career choice-related training for faculty and staff.
Primary Contact: 
Brandi Elliott, Associate Vice President of Student Success

Undergraduate Student Research Initiative (South Georgia State College-2023)

Strategy/Project Name: 
Undergraduate Student Research Initiative
Momentum Area: 
Purpose
Mindset
Category: 
Faculty Engagement
High Impact Practices
Student engagement
Strategy/Project Description: 

Since the initial implementation the SGSC student research symposium has taken place each semester. The purpose of the symposium is to provide a forum for students to present their research to the SGSC community and interested residents of surrounding communities. Any student may engage in research to be presented, and each presenter has a faculty mentor.

Undergraduate research was initially part of our QEP, but it continues on as an important component of our student engagement. Participation has grown significantly over the years.

Summary of Activities: 

The spring 2019 symposium was attended by a record 402 faculty, staff, students, and community members. While the COVID-19 pandemic has affected symposia, fall 2021 and spring 2022 presentations numbered 50 each semester, and attendance was 238 for fall and 251 for spring. We anticipate that presentations and attendance will recover to pre-pandemic numbers and that student interest will continue to impact student engagement and success.

Activity Status: 
Refining/Maintaining
Evaluation/Assessment plan: 

Evaluation Plan and measures: The main measurements that we look at are the number of students presenting their research and the number of students and faculty/staff that attend. We also look at the student success rate in classes that include a research component.

Baseline measure:Our baseline measurement is from 2019 which is our pre-Covid numbers.

Goal or targets :Our goal is to see an increase in participation year over year and have at least 50% of classes, overall, including some component of undergraduate research.

Time period/duration:This is an ongoing Activity where we will analyze the data in the summer from both the fall and spring.

Progress and Adjustments: 

As reported in last year’s college completion update, “Undergraduate Student Research” was SGSC’s most recent Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) topic. The SGSC symposium component of the QEP continues to be included here as a High Impact Practice because it has significantly affected SGSC culture and mindset.  The focus here is on the symposium aspect of the initiative, which is now led by a core faculty learning community (FLC) and a Chancellor’s Learning Scholar and supported by participation of over twenty faculty members (approximately one-third of the faculty).

Undergraduate research guidance focuses on the following student learning outcomes: (1) to identify ethical research practices, (2) to generate answerable research questions, (3) to analyze prior research, (4) to develop a hypothesis from a research question, (5) to construct a research plan, (6) to collect relevant data, (7) to analyze relevant data, (8) to draw appropriate conclusions based on analysis, (9) to present research.  Student presentation of their research has positive effects on several institutional constituent groups:  student researchers, faculty mentors, non-researcher students (as well as non-mentoring faculty) who attend the symposia, and the numerous community members who participate in the annual events.  (Some recent student comments on involvement in the symposium are in Appendix Table P.)

Accomplishments during the academic year 2022-2023:

An SGSC student research symposium has existed in some form since fall semester 2011.  The symposium subsequently expanded into a full-fledged campus initiative each semester as a significant component of the college’s 2016 Quality Enhancement Plan on Undergraduate Research. Any student may engage in research to be presented, and each presenter has a faculty mentor. Participation has grown significantly over the years. The spring 2019 symposium was attended by a record 402 faculty, staff, students, and community members. The fall 2020 event had 396 attendees—even though the COVID-19 pandemic was affecting student enrollment, course delivery, and participation in campus events. The spring 2021 symposium, also during a COVID-19 semester, had an attendance of 314, including 272 students. Toward the end of the pandemic and subsequently post-pandemic, symposia participation has remained stable.  Fall 2021 and spring 2022 presentations numbered 50 each semester, while attendance was 238 for fall and 251 for spring.  By fall 2022 the 70 student presentations and 384 audience attendees began to move toward pre-COVID numbers, as did the 71 presentations for the spring 2023 symposium.   

The SGSC undergraduate research symposium is the subject of a chapter in the 2023 book Putting It All Together, edited by Jeffery Galle, former Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Faculty Development, of the USG, and Jo Galle, former Senior Associate Provost for Academic Affairs at  Georgia Gwinnett College.  In addition to discussing the history, status, and future of the research initiative, the article mentions that many of the capstone courses and internships in our bachelor’s degree programs require oral presentations that are or may be added to the research symposium.  Robert L. Potter, Rosa Guedes, and Frank Holiwski are the authors of “The Undergraduate Research Symposium at South Georgia State College: History, Status, and Future.”

Plan for the Year Ahead: 
  • We continue to encourage student research projects, faculty involvement, and student presentations at research symposia during the current and subsequent academic years.
  • The main challenge has to do with personnel.  While we have various levels of participation by over twenty faculty members, there are currently three faculty members, one of whom is the former QEP director, taking leadership of the initiative.  Faculty are challenged with a substantial workload that has expanded beyond their actual teaching to include participation in academic advising and Momentum/Mindset activities. The staff has increasingly taken on additional work due to decreased budget (and enrollment). We are challenged with finding a cost-effective and workload-manageable way of meaningfully expanding the research initiative, since at present it is a volunteer effort on the part of students and faculty.
Primary Contact: 
Sara Selby, Interim VP for Academic and Student Affairs

Campus Plans Supplemental Sections

Observations and Next Steps

  • We are extremely pleased to report that SGSC has made significant progress in getting students to complete the “Getting to Know Our Students” survey.  If other USG institutions are having difficulty with student participation, they might try our solution.  In previous years, SGSC emailed the target students at their school email address, then sent a follow-up email encouraging participation. During this same time, we launched our mindset-focused virtual student workshop series, which is housed in a D2L shell. We had very high student participation in our workshop series and found that they were quite responsive to messages sent there. This gave us the idea to use this space to recruit survey participants. We emailed the recruitment script to all SGSC students through D2L and also posted it as an announcement on the Virtual Workshop’s course homepage. Based on several comments from students, we believe they were more inclined to follow through because it felt like a course assignment. One student commented it was visible in his D2L alerts, so he did not forget to check it out.  Our student response rate has moved from 1 in 2021 to 14 in 2022 to 111 in 2023, the latter year being the first administration after our using the D2L strategy.  Now that we have a statistically significant number of student responses, we can use and share the survey data to better understand our students’ growth, purpose/value, and sense of belonging mindsets, as well as to compare our students’ mindsets to those of state college sector and System institutions.
  • During the past  year, the most effective strategies have been the BOOST Mindset activities, Area A completion interventions, and the research symposium—all of which show significant student and faculty/staff participation and very positive achievement results.  We will continue to implement these strategies and encourage increased student participation.  The main adjustment needed is with assessment of the research symposium.  It is quite clear that participation in the symposium on the part of student presenters, faculty mentors, and student/community attendees is excellent.  However, we are exploring methods of determining the degree of learning taking place.
  • The other two strategies, concierge coaching and career connections/counseling, while showing positive results, are more difficult to manage and need improvement.  Communication with students to strengthen their relationships with coaches is the paramount issue with concierge coaching, and making up for the loss of our Senior Career Services Coordinator is a big concern.  Because concierge coaching, our “Big Idea,” is definitely a “big” and good idea that has produced very positive results since its inception, we are determined to invigorate that program through finding ways to improve the connections between students and coaching advisors.  During the past year we have had to make adjustments to both concierge coaching and career services, as discussed in the narrative above for each of those strategies.