Two years ago, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue instituted a customer service program for state divisions, including 35 public universities. Since then, each of those universities has started its own program, and evaluations of each are sent back to the system office.

Deborah Scott is a liaison between the system's program and the campuses.

ON FACULTY BUYING INTO THE CUSTOMER SERVICE CONCEPT: "In an education environment, we deal with students, so our focus is a little different than other agencies across the state. There are some challenges with faculty over what the definition of customer service means. You and I might say you're there to provide me with a service. The faculty might say we're here to teach you in a class. So there are some challenges. But we have a lot of faculty who embrace it. They realize it's not just you giving the student a grade. The student still has to earn the grade. But you have to be there on time, there have to be hours for the students to come see you. So that's the service you provide. Everyone needs a reminder about what is expected in our jobs."

ON EMPLOYEES, EVEN THOSE RELUCTANT AT FIRST, EMBRACING THE NEW SERVICE PHILOSOPHY AS NEW PROGRAMS -- LIKE A 24-HOUR CAFETERIA AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA -- ARE CREATED: "They see some of the successes. We try to emphasize the successes. We're awarding for excellence in customer service. The chancellor has an award program. The awards help because they give you an idea of what other people are doing and how they're doing it."

NEARLY A DOZEN CAMPUSES FIRST ADDRESSED TELEPHONE ETIQUETTE. ON WHY THAT IS SO IMPORTANT: "You have employees coming and going a lot, so let's make sure we start with basic things. People may come from different environments and may not know how the phones should be answered. You can turn people off. You're the first person they speak to. You may not get another chance to interact."