how i REALLY feel about Kennesaw State University | Jameisha Williams

[@arkboi2145]

* Insider Staff/Faculty Comment * Hi. I graduated from Kennesaw State University (KSU) in the early 2010's with a BS and have been working for KSU as a Staff member for the last several years in various departments. As a state university a part of the University System of Georgia (USG), I'd rate KSU overall as a 8/10 for Students attending it and a 4/10 for Staff and Faculty working here as employees. I'm going to be extremely blunt with my feedback here. Listed below is some insider info from a Staff perspective which are all things that I wish I knew before I ever started working at KSU: 1) [GOVERNANCE & RULES] I'll be frank. KSU is like any other governmental body. Highly structured and incredibly politicized. Every single decision and process made must have a full-blown committee or assembly for it that must be discussed, investigated, reviewed, voted on, and approved before it goes of to an even higher committee to go through the same process. I shit you not, a common complaint is that employees need to get approval to seek approval. We have committees for committees. Furthermore, we have exact processes and guidelines for everything. You are not allowed to deviate from that no matter the circumstance. So, if you wonder why nothing ever seems to get done, this is why. 2) [CULTURE - GENERAL] Many of the problems at KSU stem from people being in positions of authority and power for which they should not be in. Don't get me wrong, half of the faculty and staff at KSU really do love their jobs, love what they do, and truly, genuinely want to make a positive impact and difference. They care about the students and the mission/vision of KSU and will frequently go out of their way to do whatever it takes to make it an exceptional experience for everyone. However, the other half of the faculty and staff at KSU simply just do not care. They view working at KSU as a mere stepping stone that is an average 9-5 job. They do strictly what is in their job descriptions and not an ounce of effort more. Doing only the bare minimum of what is required of them, and then they go home. They don't care to make connections and are generally very prickly to work with and towards the students that they serve. If you've spent any time at KSU, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. 3) [JOBS & PROMOTIONS] First, I don't know about other universities in Georgia, but KSU has a terminal job structure. It doesn't matter how many degrees or certificates you earn, your knowledge or skill level, how long you've been there, or how well you do. The position/role that you applied for and were hired into is the same exact one that you will have 50+ years later. There is no such thing as a promotion here. If you want to advance in your career and get paid more, then you must leave your current position and get hired into a new position in a different department. On this note, many people aren't aware that we have arbitrary rules regarding hiring credentials. Some positions have a hard requirement that you must have Masters or Doctorates degree in order to be even considered. It doesn't matter how many years of experience you have. Nor does it matter if you are quite literally the defacto leading expert in that field. You will be laughed at without that piece of paper stating you "did your time" and "paid your dues." Does this mean that having a degree will pay more? No. This stems from general academia and hyper-inflated egos. I'm not saying all Faculty are this way, but far too many of them think of themselves to be the most important thing on the entire campus. As such, they often talk down towards the staff and will refuse to help out with anything other than what they're assigned. 4) [WORK LOAD & PERFORMANCE] A common problem is that in order to cut costs, our administration frequently dissolves vacant employee lines. However, those job duties don't just disappear with them. They're still needed. So to compensate, those tasks, roles, and responsibilities are simply added on to the job descriptions of existing employees for no additional monetary compensation. Meaning KSU continually keeps adding more work on to their existing employees, with no pay increases, while also being perpetually understaffed by design. This is how you get employees with 3--5 different titles and roles. Regarding Performance -- Staff, Faculty, and Administration are very different and have differentiating levels of workload and responsibility. No one has stricter guidelines and more performance factors like Staff do. KSU doesn't participate in comprehensive 360 reviews, meaning our evaluation structure is completely linear and downward. Employees cannot evaluate or critique the performance or behavior of their supervisors. And most often than not, a supervisor's next-level manager is not even in the same building as them, so they can only evaluate a supervisor's performance based on overall goals and accomplishments. 5) [PAY] All Faculty and Staff in non-upper management positions are highly undervalued and underpaid. It's the #2 reason why employees leave. The simple truth is that KSU is NOT market competitive. Regardless of your degree, area of expertise, skillsets, position, or title; you will be offered a salary worth roughly half or below half of what the current market value is for it. It's why KSU has great difficulty in hiring new talent and why we lose so many employees to GA Tech, UGA, and GSU. They simply pay more. The whole idea behind this is that KSU's benefits are supposed to be worth roughly half of an employee's total income. Regardless if they actually use them or not. On the topic of Salaries -- I would like to point out the general pay brackets. Student Assistants and Entry-Level Employees make anywhere from $7.25 p/h - $12.00 p/h. Second-to-fourth quartile, non-managerial Staff make anywhere from $25K - $45K annually. Non-managerial Faculty make anywhere from $40K - $64K annually. Middle-to-upper management Staff make anywhere from $46k - $110K annually. Managerial Faculty make anywhere from $65 - $175k annually. All C-level Executives make anywhere from $175K - $350K annually. Our President makes $510K annually. 6) [TREATMENT - PUBLIC SERVANTS] So, this one only applies to Staff. As government employees, we are supposed to be servants to the public. As such, we are expected to behave and act in the best interests of the organization and our constituents. At all times, we must be good stewards of the limited resources we are given. Unlike most other businesses out there, as state employees, we are not allowed to receive any sort of gift or an amount greater than $10.00 USD in value. Nor are we allowed to accept personal donations or tips. We are expected to refuse it. If we don't, we need to report it. This means we do not get company-sponsored socials, retreats, dinners, etc. like other people do. We are not allowed to work (or shouldn't be) doing any side hustles or secondary jobs. If we are, it is a conflict of interest that needs to be reported and documented. Staff are subject to strict Per Diem Rates regarding food and travel. For example, if we are required to be in an all-day meeting, workshop, or conference, we are only allowed to order lunch or catering if the event is longer than 6 consecutive hours in length. Furthermore, we are not allowed to spend more than $5.00 USD for Breakfast, $7.00 USD for Lunch, or $10.00 USD for Dinner in total. We rarely get recognized for the work we do, often times Employee Appreciation holidays and events are the ones that get forgotten about. Milestone awards include a $10.00 USD gift card to our KSU Bookstore and a paper certificate. Retirement is essentially the same.

[@Artsynairobi]

You scared me for a second lol I thought it was finna be some bad news I’m attending KSU this fall going in as a freshman (CO‘25) and Chile I needed to knooooo😂😂😂😂😮‍💨

[@JameishaWilliams]

lmfaooo oh no, you’re going to love it! keep me updated and have fun! 💗

[@GeorgianaBaileyRegion-qq8vw]

I was born at Kennesaw State University girl

[@aestheticallykatelyn3998]

I’m looking forward to coming to KSU in 23❤️ thank you for making these

[@JameishaWilliams]

you’re welcome! have fun 💗

[@gotthejuice7125]

Thank you for this vid! I loved your ksu vlogs and watched them while I was in highschool. I’ll be attending there this fall (c’o 2025) and I can’t wait!

[@JameishaWilliams]

aw i love that for you! ty for the support, and i hope you have a great time! 💗

[@simonebradley774]

I can’t wait to attend this fall!! Thank you for this video!!

[@JameishaWilliams]

you’re welcome, I’m glad you enjoyed it! have fun! 💗

[@collinhooks689]

As a transfer student from Kennesaw state to Dalton state, you spoke facts! Lol it was definitely a fun school, I couldn't afford to stay there any longer also. But if you go during the summer its really cheap! Thanks for the great video!

[@JameishaWilliams]

thank you so much!

[@ludic3538]

Planning to go to ksu next fall. Hope i get accept 🙏 #2022

[@doubleosevenstat7111]

Your pretty.

[@GeorgianaLynnJohnson-sj4oz]

I love you Kennesaw State university I wanna just hugged the whole university to you Kennesaw happy day Kennesaw I am 14 years old and I am attending Kennesaw State university and you gonna be more surprised if I tell you this……. I was born in….. drum row please I was born. At Kennesaw State University I lived their my whole life since when 22 years and 2001

[@carlexus3133]

Did you like the po po