Georgia Highlands College has announced that Dr. Houston Davis, chief academic officer and executive vice chancellor of the University System of Georgia, will deliver the keynote address at the spring 2013 commencement exercises.  Davis joined the USG in May 2012 when he left the position of vice chancellor for Academic Affairs for the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, a system consisting of 25 universities and colleges as well as constituent agencies. 

Prior to joining the Oklahoma system in 2007, Davis served as associate vice chancellor for Academic Affairs for the Tennessee Board of Regents (2005-2007). He worked in the field of academic leadership and on the faculty for Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tenn., (2001-2005).

Davis also worked in the areas of fiscal and academic affairs for the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (1997-2001) and as a regional student recruitment and advancement representative for the University of Memphis (1995-1997).

In addition to his professional duties, he served in the role of director for the National Educational Needs Index project from 2004-2011, an initiative measuring educational, economic, and population pressures in the 50 states that influence policy and planning at local, regional, and national levels.

At the USG, Davis is responsible for meeting the academic needs of more than 318,000 students and approximately 13,300 University System faculty members.  He also provides leadership to a division at the University System Office that includes academic programs and planning, faculty affairs, student affairs, teacher-education initiatives, strategic research and analysis, and information and instructional technology.

A native of Clarksville, Tenn., Davis received his Doctor of Philosophy from Vanderbilt University, a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Memphis and a Master of Education from Tennessee State University.

Rather than the traditional schedule of nurses’ pinning and graduation on Friday evening, followed by general graduation on Saturday morning, both commencements will take place on Saturday, May 11 at the Forum in Rome – the general one at 10 a.m. and the nursing graduation at 3 p.m.  There will be a faculty/staff appreciation luncheon between the two events at the Partridge Restaurant on Broad Street.

Alan Nichols, associate professor of philosophy at Georgia Highlands College, has been named a Governor’s Teaching Fellow, a program designed for faculty members who teach at public or private institutions in Georgia.  Participants are chosen on the basis of teaching experience, interest in continuing their professional development and their ability to impact their college communities positively.  Nichols will travel to Athens for intense sessions May 13 to 17 and May 20 to 24. 

The symposium includes a combination of instructional and faculty development activities and independent study.  Nichols believes he will benefit from the fellowship in several ways.  “The program provides me with an opportunity to interact with like-minded faculty from across the state, to discuss teaching methodologies both formally and informally, and to re-examine the teaching strategies I use in the classroom,” he said.

The Governor’s Teaching Fellow Program was established in 1995 by Zell Miller, who served as governor of Georgia from 1991 to 1999, to provide expanded development and training opportunities for college-level faculty.  The program is jointly sponsored by the Institute of Higher Education and the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Georgia, and the symposia take place in Athens.  Participants can choose from among several options: sessions throughout the academic year, an intensive summer program or an academic-year residency at UGA. 

Nichols is the seventh GHC professor to receive the fellowship.   This year’s fellows comprise 13 faculty members from around the state of Georgia.