Governor's School IB&SS Program Overview

Governors School

Program Summary and Evaluation

The People: Leadership Team, Faculty and Staff, Counselors and Students

  1. Leadership team: The year-round work of preparation for the 2025 Tennessee Governor's School for Integration of Biological & Statistical Sciences will be carried out by the assistant director, Ms. Angela T. Haga.

  2. Faculty and staff: The for-credit faculty will consist of two (2) full-time East Tennessee State University faculty members: one from the Department of Mathematics (Dr. Robert Price) and one from the Department of Biology (Dr. Trevor L. Chapman). The faculty and staff biographies will be in Appendix A.

  3. Counselors: Three East Tennessee State University students will serve as resident counselors. Since they have more contact with the Scholars than any other staff member, the counselors are a crucial part of the GS Integration of Biological & Statistical Sciences program. Each of the three (3) counselors will be responsible for ten (10) scholars with one counselor also acting as a resident "counselor at large". The biographies of the counselors will be in Appendix B.

  4. Students: The thirty (30) Scholars who will be attending will represent several of the 95 Tennessee counties. There will be male and female students who are rising juniors and seniors.   A statistical breakdown of the student body, including the counties from which the Scholars came, may be found in Appendix C.

The Program: Courses, Seminars and More

  1. Academic courses: There are three (3) academic courses offered, one at 9:00am -11:45am and two in the afternoon from 1:00pm - 4:00pm. The curriculum is designed to expose the Scholars to a rich selection of mathematics and science courses consisting of general biology, symbiosis, and probability and statistics; descriptions of all of the courses will be in Appendix D.

  2. GS Integration of Biological & Statistical Sciences Web Site: Ms. Haga is in charge of the website and is updating it periodically with pertinent information regarding the upcoming 2025 Governor's School.

The Rest of the Experience: Culture, Fun, and Competition Embedded in Science

  1. Scholars will have the opportunity to participate in the following field trips: The Gray Fossil Site in Gray, TN; ETSU Medical School Labs/Quillen College of Medicine in Johnson City, TN: Historic Jonesborough in Jonesborough, TN; Roan Mountain State Park in Roan Mountain, TN; Pisgah National Forest in Nebo, NC; Bays Mountain State Park in Kingsport, TN; Eastman Chemical Company in Kingsport, TN; Aerojet/Rocketdyne in Jonesborough, TN; and the Carter Family Fold and Museum in Hilton's, VA.

  2. The staff will work hard to create a learning community, putting students together with each other as well as with the staff and GS Integration of Biological & Statistical Sciences faculty in informal settings such as project group meetings, open time, activities with counselors, and the plenary meetings.

  3. The food services provider will be Sodexo who will be preparing the meals while the scholars are on campus (breakfast, lunch, dinner).

  4. The opening and closing ceremonies  will also contribute a sense of formality and accomplishment to the program; Scholars will have the opportunity to speak at the closing ceremony which is usually held at the Tennessee Room in the DP Culp Center.

The Results: Scholar Evaluations

The Scholars' satisfaction with the 2025 GS Integration of Biological & Statistical Sciences program will be reflected in the overall rating of the program, with a certain percentage of the Scholars rating the program as either "excellent" (5) or "very good" (4)—a cumulative rating of 4.00 out of 5. Evaluations of various aspects of the program will be rated as follows:  

Example:

  1. Overall Program: 4.51/ 5
  2. Academic component/workload: 4.35/ 5
  3. Faculty/courses: 4.50 / 5
  4. Counselors: 4.25 / 5
  5. On-Campus meals: 3.25 / 5
  6. Dormitory Lodging: 4.60 / 5

Student Evaluation comment results will be attached as Appendix E. Virtually all of the Scholars wrote specific responses to the "overall feedback" question on the evaluation. A complete, unedited text of those comments will be attached, with the numerical specifics, as Appendix F.


The Strengths: Four Keys to Successful Outcomes

  1. A dedicated, talented, and interested faculty and staff who enjoy working with these gifted and talented rising juniors and seniors.

  2. Highly motivated students. All thirty (30) Scholars' who will began the program will complete it. Each of the thirty (30) Scholars will earn the full seven (7) hours of credit.

  3. The successful class for Integration of Biological & Statistical Sciences is a for-credit program, which includes academic and interpersonal/social components. A full percent of the students thought the balance of activities will be "Excellent", "Very Good," or "Good" and the university courses offered are carefully selected as likely to "count" as part of the general education requirements at virtually any institution the students might later attend.

  4. The work of the executive director Dr. Alissa A. Lange, the instructors, professors, counselors and, especially, the GS Integration of Biological & Statistical Sciences assistant director, Ms. Angela Haga.

Conclusion

This Governor's School for Integration of Biological & Statistical Sciences program will be highly successful. We will have a challenging curriculum, an enthusiastic faculty and staff, and a gifted and talented group of Scholars. The Governor's Schools are among Tennessee's best investments, and the entire Integration of Biological & Statistical Sciences team is already looking forward to an even better program in 2026.

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