University System News:
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Georgia Board of Regents announces finalist for Kennesaw State presidency
By Eric Stirgus
The Georgia Board of Regents announced Tuesday the finalist for the position of Kennesaw State University’s president: University of Georgia provost Pamela Whitten. Whitten has been in her current position since 2014. As UGA’s chief academic officer, Whitten oversees instruction, research, public service and outreach, student affairs and information technology. As UGA’s chief academic officer, Whitten oversees instruction, research, public service and outreach, student affairs and information technology. “Dr. Whitten has great depth as an academic leader, both in her training as a scholar and experience as a faculty member and administrator. She brings exceptional understanding of how to run large, complex institutions in both public higher education and the University System of Georgia,” University System of Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley said in a statement.
www.mdjonline.com
UGA Provost named sole finalist for KSU president
Staff reports
Pamela Whitten, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs for the University of Georgia, has been named the sole finalist to become Kennesaw State Univeristy’s president. Whitten was announced as the finalist at Tuesday’s meeting of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.
www.bizjournals.com
UGA administrator chosen to head Kennesaw State University
By Dave Williams – Staff Writer, Atlanta Business Chronicle
A high-ranking administrator at The University of Georgia has been named sole finalist for president of Kennesaw State University. Pamela Whitten has been serving as senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at UGA since 2014. Before that, her career included stints as director for telemedicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center and dean of the College of Communications Arts and Sciences at Michigan State University.
www.athensceo.com
Dr. and Mrs. Michael Pulliam and Family Honor Patriarch through Faculty Chair Position at UGA
Sharon Dowdy
To honor his legacy in agricultural education, Dr. Michael and Mrs. Elaine Pulliam and family have gifted $1 million to create the H.M. (Morris) Pulliam Chair Fund in the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. This endowed chair position will be awarded to a currently tenured professor or a tenure-track faculty member. The Pulliam Chair faculty member must have an outstanding record in externally funded research and/or scholarly publications and be engaged in teaching, research and public service. Dr. and Mrs. Pulliam’s decision to fund the endowed chair was fueled by life-saving surgery she received at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “A chair was being created for the surgeon Andrew Warshaw (at the Institute for Pancreatic Cancer Research), and we helped with that for several years. Once that seed was planted in our minds, we decided to do something that would memorialize my father’s life,” Dr. Pulliam said. A lifelong resident of Newton County, Georgia, Morris Pulliam loved his family, his community and his students. He became a teacher during the Great Depression to provide a better way of life for rural youth. …The elder Pulliam didn’t let his difficult upbringing hold him back. He enrolled at UGA, taught school while he attended college and, at 29, earned a bachelor’s degree from the UGA College of Agriculture.
www.ajc.com
Animal rights group demands UGA investigate “shocking incidents of negligence”
By Eric Stirgus
An Ohio-based animal rights group accused the University of Georgia of animal abuse in its experiments and demanded the university conduct an investigation to end harmful practices. The group, Stop Animal Exploitation Now, citing UGA correspondence with federal officials, wrote a letter to UGA president Jere Morehead on Monday asking for the investigation and the dismissal of all employees involved in the abuse. The documents show more than 100 mice and rats were killed in the last two-plus years and that some pigs and deer were endangered as a result of unsanitary staff practices. “These incidents…demonstrate a multi-year pattern of abuse, neglect, and incompetence at the University of Georgia, caused by lab staff. This negligence must NOT be allowed to continue,” the letter read.
www.middlegeorgiaceo.com
MGA President Dr. Christopher Blake Becomes Board of Presidents Chair of the Southern States Athletic Conference
The Southern States Athletic Conference has named Dr. Christopher Blake, president of Middle Georgia State University, as the new chair of the SSAC Board of Presidents. Blake takes over for William Carey University President Dr. Tommy King, who ends his two-year term. Blue Mountain College President Dr. Barbara McMillin takes over as vice chair. “The SSAC conference schools are blessed to have Dr. Blake’s strong and engaged presidential leadership,” said SSAC Commissioner Mike Hall. “The conference stands now at a position of strength and strategic potential in the Southeast,” said Blake. “With membership of the conference rising, and financial stability achieved, we can look forward to a period of strength and growth in the conference.” In fall 2014, Middle Georgia State accepted an invitation to join the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. Shortly afterward, Middle Georgia State joined the Southern States Athletic Conference, one of the NAIA’s 21 conferences.
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Report clears Tech coach Josh Pastner of sexual assault charges
By Alan Judd, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An investigator hired by Georgia Tech says sexual-assault allegations against men’s basketball coach Josh Pastner are “baseless” and were “concocted” as part of an extortion scheme. Attorney Scott Schneider of the Fisher & Phillips law firm in New Orleans said Pastner had been “suckered” into associating himself with Ron Bell, a former prison inmate and reformed prescription-drug addict who once described himself as the coach’s biggest fan. Schneider disputed all claims that Pastner molested or inappropriately touched Bell’s girlfriend, Jennifer Pendley, of Tucson, Ariz. “None of the allegations of sexual misconduct against Josh Pastner are credible,” Schneider wrote in a 29-page report, released Monday by Georgia Tech. He added: “I have concluded that those allegations were fabricated and only were made after Bell’s other attempts to ‘finish’ Pastner failed.”