James MagazineJames_July-August_2026_web - Flipbook - Page 16
SPRING 2026
• Applications for Fall 2026 enrollment topped 10,000 for
the first time in GCSU history, making admission for
the 1,800-member freshman class even more selective.
• GCSU was named the Institution of the Year for
Sportsmanship by the NCAA Division II Peach Belt
Athletic Conference for the fifth consecutive year.
How did your previous experience in the education
昀椀eld help in your day-to-day leadership of GCSU?
Taking Young Harris from a two- to a four-year college gave me a unique perspective on navigating
large-scale, multi-year projects that require in-depth
knowledge of curriculum and academic affairs. It also
immersed me for a decade in focusing on what makes a
great liberal arts education. I gained a far greater understanding of budgets, facilities, auxiliary services, campus safety, collegiate athletics, growing and all aspects
of recruiting students during my decade there.
Working with students who are aspiring lawyers is
something I keep close to my heart at GCSU. I take personal interest in pre-law students and am always happy
to mentor those students as they prepare and choose
their path to law school. It was also invaluable to serve
in the role of a dean to better understand the leadership
16
JAMES JULY/AU G U ST 2 02 6
of faculty and the granular work of operating academic
programs at the graduate level.
What are the most sought-after degrees/areas of
study at GCSU, and how many graduates remain
in Georgia to join our state’s workforce?
More than 95 percent of the students who attend are
from Georgia, and the vast majority stay in state for
their careers after graduation. They choose their areas
of study here from GCSU’s four academic colleges— The
College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Health Sciences, the John H. Lounsbury College of Education and
the J. Whitney Bunting College of Business & Technology— each of which has earned top rankings.
The College of Arts & Sciences is the core of GCSU
and our liberal arts education. It’s the largest of our four
academic colleges. While we offer degrees in traditional
liberal arts fields, our most popular majors are workforce related. In the hard sciences, we boast a Pre-Med
Mentorship program created in 2008 by Dr. Kenneth Saladin, professor emeritus of Biology and Environmental
Science, and now led by Dr. Ashok Hegde. In 16 years
in operation, 100 percent of the students who have
gone through the mentoring program and decided to go
to medical school have been successful in gaining admission to medical schools— a success rate unmatched
by any other USG institutions.
We also have a unique partnership with Georgia
Tech for students to earn dual degrees from GCSU and
from Georgia Tech in engineering when they begin their
academic career at GCSU majoring in physics, mathematics, chemistry, computer science or data science.
Other sought-after College of Arts & Sciences
degree programs include communication, psychology,
environmental science and criminal justice.
The College of Health Sciences is home to the
Georgia College School of Nursing, which continues to
earn national recognition and offers nursing degree programs at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels. In
fall 2024, we launched a Mobile Health Unit that serves
as a dynamic hands-on learning environment for our
nursing and public health students while addressing
rural healthcare disparities throughout middle Georgia.
The College of Education offers degrees at the
bachelor’s, master’s, specialist, and doctoral level for
educators, with large numbers of new teachers in Georgia earning their MAT at GCSU after initially earning
degrees in other fields.
At the College of Business & Technology, the new
Bachelor of Science in Finance is tremendously popular,
along with top majors of marketing and management.
Business students also recently started a Student Managed Investment Club, thanks to $100,000 from the Georgia College Foundation, allowing the students to invest
