what a long, strange trip it's been

The Spring Convocation one today was the most discombobulated ever.
I usually enjoy the semester's pep talk and luncheon.
I doubt anyone did this time.
I blame the Board of Regents, nineteen people who are tasked by the State of Georgia to "keep higher education affordable, accommodate growth in student enrollment, and ensure that students play an active role in research that benefits the state".
Two weeks ago, on January 11, 2017, they voted to merge four state universities into two entities.
In central Georgia, Georgia Southern University will merge with us (Armstrong State University), with the name for both being "Georgia Southern University".
Farther south, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College will merge with Bainbridge State College, with both henceforth being known as "Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College".
Purportedly, the merger will save millions of dollars, while also providing "the opportunity to tailor degree programs for the workforce needs of the area".
It's that "tailor degree programs" for the "needs of the area" that bothers me.
One has to wonder which programs are staying and which are leaving.
I think it's related to the deaths of Caitlyn Baggett, Morgan Bass, Emily Clark, Abbie Deloach and Catherine (McKay) Pittman. They were all junior nursing students at Georgia Southern. They were on their way to Savannah for their clinical studies when they all perished in a fiery car crash, almost two years ago.
Had those students been attending Armstrong's program, they would not have been making that early morning commute between Statesboro and Savannah.
Two years is about the right amount of time needed to have set those wheels of change to spinning.
Time will tell, but I think GSU is going to lose its nursing program.
After all, Savannah has three hospitals and Statesboro has none.
But that begs the question: what will Armstrong lose?
Willie and I had a forty-minute conversation about that very thing.
He had called because he was concerned the merger would cost me my job.
I reassured him that, as an adjunct professor, I was a low-cost asset to be kept.
The ones whose jobs might be in jeopardy are those in chemistry and physics teaching undergraduate upper-level courses. They are receiving top-dollar for teaching classes to three or four students. (Believe me, I'm being generous. A tenured friend of mine has been known to only have one or two students in his junior- and senior-level courses.)
When you factor in the low number of graduates in those majors, it simply is not cost effective for ASU to continue offering those courses when GSU has better-utilized undergraduate programs in chemistry and physics.
The biggest program Armstrong stands to lose, however, will be its athletics. Georgia Southern has a huge athletics program which even includes football.
Enough said about that.
As for the two colleges being merged in southern Georgia, I cannot speak of the reasons for that move. I know almost nothing of either of them.
But my analytical chemistry doctorate and my years of observing government operations (both military and civilian) give me faith in my convictions about the rationale behind the merger up here.
As always, we'll have to wait and see how the pieces fall for each school.
Wait... and see...
patience, my dears, all will be revealed.