Each year at one of the nation’s most innovative and impactful universities is busy, and 2024 in the Office of the Provost was no exception. Here’s a glimpse at some major highlights and milestones from the office and other campus partners in 2024. These are only a few examples in our 2024 in Review, and you can learn more at the Provost’s Office news feed and the university News Hub.

We hope you have a great Winter Holiday break, and take advantage of this time to rest, refresh, renew and restore for 2025.

The BluePrint to 2033 is Georgia State’s roadmap for growth and innovation for the next decade, and work continued in 2024 with major announcements, including an historic $80 million gift from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation to transform the Atlanta campus – supporting the university’s strategic efforts towards placemaking and much more. This year also included the unveiling of exciting initiatives that reach towards implementation of its pillars across the institution.

Among these initiatives is the new Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry (CURCI). CURCI will empower faculty to use high-impact practices in the classroom, and it will increase opportunity and accessibility to research opportunities for all GSU students – regardless of background, discipline, or campus. CURCI will prepare students for future academic and professional work through immersive research experiences, training and showcasing opportunities that bridge the classroom with real-world applications.  The center will support faculty to obtain grants to give students experiential learning opportunities in labs and studios.   An internal search for CURCI’s senior director will take place in spring 2025.

Additionally, the university launched a webinar series for GSU faculty, kicking off with a discussion of faculty engagement for student success, building off GSU’s Math Taskforce as a model. (The series continues in spring 2025, and a recording of the first webinar is available with your GSU campus ID and password at this link on SharePoint.)

Finalists for the permanent dean of the College of Arts & Sciences delivered presentations to the university community this fall, and the search committee for the next dean of the College of Law continued their work in the national search. 

In summer 2024, the university unveiled its action plan to address findings from the second survey in the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) faculty job satisfaction process.

Divided into four broad areas – service, teaching, benefits and salary, and personal and family policies, The Path Forward 2024 contains 14 steps as goals for achievement, and you can read/download the plan here. 

A search to succeed Michael Galchinsky (who heads to Colorado State University in the spring) as Senior Associate Provost for Academic Affairs was launched in December. Additionally, Michelle Brattain was named Assistant Provost for Academic Affairs, and the division announced the retirement of John Duffield, whose work was instrumental in Georgia State’s reaffirmation of accreditation with SACSCOC during his time in Academic Affairs (you can read more about these changes here on the Provost’s Office website news feed).

The Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning & Online Education (CETLOE) welcomed its new executive director, Kim Manturuk. CETLOE continued its support for faculty through mini-grants, trainings, workshops, awards and work assisting faculty in addressing the challenges of artificial intelligence in the classroom.

With representatives from Academic Affairs, CETLOE, The Graduate School, the College of Education & Human Development, Perimeter College, and the J. Mack Robinson College of Business, the university developed a new framework for microcredentials, providing a guide for faculty to help learners document their skills and accomplishments.

In academic innovation, Georgia State’s Experiential, Project-Based Interdisciplinary Curriculum (EPIC) program garnered the inaugural Regents’ Award for Excellence in High-Impact Practices and Experiential Learning of the University System of Georgia.

Georgia State’s fall 2024 enrollment grew 3.8 percent, outpacing the national average, and saw increases in the number of graduate students, transfer students, and students enrolling at Perimeter College. The university ranked as the number one public university for undergraduate teaching for a fifth year in a row.

The university increased its infrastructure for student success, including the opening of a new Dental Hygiene Clinic at the Dunwoody campus, expanding GSU’s ability to provide dental care and to address the need for dental hygienists. And the institution’s virtual student success infrastructure broadened in the fall with the expansion of online tutoring for all core undergraduate classes, after a successful pilot during the previous year.

The university welcomed more than 100 full-time faculty during New Faculty Orientation and Reception in August. Senior Associate Provost Corrie Fountain returned to GSU during the fall semester after serving briefly as the Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Clayton State University, with Cirleen DeBlaere serving in an interim role during Dr. Fountain’s service at CSU. Two new faculty associates, Rhiannon Evangelista and Ashwin Ashok, were introduced to support faculty in teaching, research, scholarship and creativity. Faculty Affairs also announced the appointment of its first Assistant Provost for Faculty Success, Beth Myers, who will join GSU in January 2025.

In conjunction with the communications team of the Provost’s Office, the university launched the faculty Wellness Hub and continued with a second year of the Faculty Wellness Workshop Series. The office continued its tradition of Celebrating Faculty Excellence (rescheduled from September to November because of Hurricane Helene), along with check-ins for new faculty and new department chairs, as well as helpful workshops and seminars.

In collaboration with The Graduate School, the university also inaugurated the Georgia State Graduate Mentoring Website.

More than 100 students earned the university’s Global Scholars Distinction, recognizing their development of global competence. This year’s celebration of the 25th anniversary of International Education Week – normally held in early November – was expanded to include exciting international events to occur throughout the fall. Events are continuing through the spring and further information will be available here.

OII sponsored GSU’s first-ever Global Homecoming, which included a global career expo, World Languages Day, and a flag parade highlighting the university’s students from around the globe. The 2024 International Honorary Reception recognized the achievements of Georgia State faculty, staff, students and alumni in global engagement and education, and the university continued the Virtual Exchange program, providing students access to the benefits of international education without leaving home.

For in-person study abroad programs, Georgia State’s offerings made the rankings of U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges & Universities for the first time ever, ranking 27th in the nation in the publication’s 2025 edition. More than 700 Georgia State students went abroad in the past calendar year, and since its initiation in Spring 2021, more than 1,600 GSU students have received free passports under the university’s free passport program

With the sponsorship of the German University of Technology in Oman – Gutech, Georgia State launched the Monsoon Book Prizes, designed to support advanced scholarship on the countries and cultures on the Indian Ocean. (The first award ceremony is scheduled for April 2025.)

Faculty International Research Engagement (FIRE) Mini Grants supported faculty initiatives to build or strengthen relationships with international partners, and a corresponding FIRE Speaker Series shared faculty members’ international work with the university community.  (The next FIRE event is scheduled for Feb. 4, 2025, and more information about that session is available here.) The university also welcomed a group of civil servants from Ukraine, who participated in the Intensive English Program to enhance English proficiency specifically tailored to government contexts – including negotiation, diplomatic engagement, and documentation.

As we move into 2025, make sure to check the Provost’s Office website and LinkedIn for the latest throughout the year; more university-wide news is also available here at the GSU News Hub.

— Jeremy Craig, Communications Manager for the Office of the Provost