Presidential Appointments for Three USG Campuses

The Board of Regents had news for three University System of Georgia campuses regarding their presidencies in January – the interim presidents of the College of Coastal Georgia (CCGA) in Brunswick and South Georgia College (SGC) in Douglas received permanent appointments and Clayton State University (CSU) in Morrow learned who will serve in an interim capacity when its leader steps down this summer.

The regents approved the permanent appointments of Dr. Valerie Hepburn and Dr. Virginia Carson at CCGA and SGC, respectively, in mid-January. Two weeks later, Chief Academic Officer Susan Herbst appointed Dr. Thomas J. (Tim) Hynes Jr. – who has for years served as the chief academic officer at the University of West Georgia (UWG) in Carrollton – to be interim president of CSU once President Thomas K. Harden steps down as planned on June 1.

Hepburn was assistant dean of the University of Georgia’s (UGA) College of Public Health in Athens when she was called on to serve as CCGA’s interim president, a position she has held since July 1, 2008. She has had the challenge of leading the College of Coastal Georgia through its change of mission from a two-year community college to a four-year state college. The institution is scheduled to begin offering its first baccalaureate programs in fall 2009.

Carson was vice president for academic affairs at Georgia Highlands College in Rome, a position she had held since 2001, when she was called on to serve as South Georgia College’s interim president. She has been in the interim position since March 1, 2008, and is credited with having transformed the campus’ community relationships and focused faculty and staff on accreditation-related issues and on increasing SGC’s enrollment since her arrival in Douglas.

Hynes has served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at West Georgia for all but two years since 1996. On two occasions over the past decade, Hynes served as acting president of UWG when President Beheruz N. Sethna was called to the University System Office in Atlanta to serve as interim executive vice chancellor for academic affairs. He is the author of numerous textbooks on educational reform and various social issues.