June 26, 2025 – Soaring Through Summer…

June 26, 2025

Dear Colleagues,

I hope everyone is enjoying the season and preparing for family and fun this upcoming July 4th weekend. Please join us next week for our Summer Celebrations on campus to enjoy some fresh fruit, ice cream, and community. The events begin at 10 a.m. on Monday at the Liberty Campus, Tuesday at the Armstrong Campus, and Wednesday on the Statesboro Campus.

With seven weeks until the start of the fall semester, we are seeing record summer enrollment, and fall enrollment continues to look positive, with projected growth among incoming freshmen, dual enrollment, transfer, out-of-state, and graduate students. Part of this success is due to the projected record freshman-to-sophomore retention among our current students. This is a remarkable testament to you—our faculty and staff—and to the welcoming, supportive environment we provide for our students.

Summer is also the time when we assess where we are and define how we will ensure success into the future. This past academic year, we began developing a new institutional strategic plan. Over the coming months, we will launch “Soaring Beyond 2030,” a roadmap to a future that prioritizes people, is driven by purpose, and is powered by action. This is a pivotal moment for Georgia Southern University, as our vision—People. Purpose. Action. Growing ourselves to grow others—will lead the way to 2030 and position us to make a lasting impact.

With the initial launch of Georgia Southern University’s 2030 Strategic Plan, there is an opportunity to further align our organizational structures. Effective July 1, the Division of Student Affairs will report to the Provost and will align with Academic Affairs to foster collaboration between academic and student support units—a structure that will strengthen coordination between academic affairs and student life and promote a more integrated approach to improving student engagement, retention, progression, and graduation outcomes.  

In addition, through redirection of current resources and to further inform our strategic goals in developing, supporting and growing our people, we have newly formed the Office of Institutional Engagement and the Office of Student Engagement and Support. Housed within the Office of Organizational Effectiveness, Leadership Development, and Engagement (OELDE), these offices will focus on strategically engaging students, faculty, and staff to optimize their experience and success at Georgia Southern. Specifically, these offices will launch and lead new programs in student-to-student mentoring and faculty/staff mentoring, coordinate programmatic support, enhance our eLearning platform for professional development, and provide engagement opportunities to connect our people. Given their cross-divisional nature, these offices will report to the Associate Vice President for OELDE, within the President’s Division, and will collaborate with colleagues and leadership within Student Affairs, Student Success, Human Resources, and other areas. Both the Vice President for Student Affairs and the Associate Vice President for OELDE will continue to serve as members of the President’s Cabinet, ensuring that student, faculty, and staff voices remain an integral part of executive-level decision-making. 

The consolidation process between East Georgia State College and Georgia Southern University is progressing on schedule, and several organizational updates take effect July 1 as part of the continued alignment. Johnna Eaton has been appointed Campus Director for East Georgia State College in Swainsboro and will report to Jessica Williamson, Associate Vice President for Enrollment and Student Success. Candace Lynn, Desmal Purcell, and Courtney Joiner will report to Dr. Delena Gatch, Associate Vice President for Institutional Assessment and Accreditation, and will work throughout the Fall 2025 semester to support a smooth transition and enable coordinated planning with Georgia Southern deans and department chairs. Operational units at East Georgia State College will continue to align with Georgia Southern University’s cabinet-level leadership through the work of the consolidation action teams. Members of the East Georgia State College and Georgia Southern University campus communities are encouraged to continue submitting questions, feedback, and suggestions throughout this transition period using the feedback form located on the consolidation webpage.

More information and detail on the consolidation process and our new institutional strategic plan will be communicated throughout the fall -at the State of University addresses in September, and through Faculty Senate, Staff Council, SGA, and institutional communications. We look forward to involving and engaging with faculty, staff, students, and our community as we launch our future path together!

Finally, I am delighted to welcome our new Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Avinandan “Avi” Mukherjee, Ph.D. With Avi’s extensive experience in academic leadership, commitment to discovery and innovation, and vision for academic excellence, research advancement and student success, I’m certain he will be an incredible catalyst and partner for furthering our new strategic plan.

The remaining weeks of summer are flying by, and July 1 marks the start of my 13^th year as a President in the University System of Georgia. I couldn’t be more excited about our future together. Let’s continue to Soar Beyond!

Sincerely,

Kyle