Jacobs, Gowan named to Who's Who list

July 14, 2021
UNG President Bonita Jacobs, left, and Mike Cottrell College of Business Dean Mary Gowan, right, have been recognized by Atlanta Business Chronicle for their leadership in the area of education.

Article By: Clark Leonard

Dr. Bonita Jacobs, president of the University of North Georgia (UNG), and Dr. Mary Gowan, dean of UNG's Mike Cottrell College of Business (MCCB), earned inclusion on the Atlanta Business Chronicle's 2021 Who's Who in Education list. The pair are among 100 education leaders in metro Atlanta to be recognized.

Through Jacobs' leadership, UNG has been named a top producer of Fulbright students for four years in a row and scored consecutive decisive victories in the NSA Codebreaker Challenge. In recent years, UNG has been recognized by numerous national publications, including Forbes, U.S. News & World Report, Money magazine and Kiplinger, as one of the nation's leading universities for academic excellence, student success and affordability.

Since she became dean in February 2019, Gowan has helped plan and design the Cottrell Center for Business, Technology and Innovation. The new facility is scheduled to open in fall 2022 and will serve the business, computer science and cybersecurity programs at UNG. Of UNG's nearly 20,000 students,  more than 4,800 are majoring in degrees through the MCCB, which offers an array of undergraduate and graduate programs across four of UNG's five campuses and online. The computer science program received ABET accreditation in the fall of 2020.

Three UNG alumni also were included on the Atlanta Business Chronicle list: Dr. Brian Hightower, superintendent of the Cherokee County School District since 2016; Dr. Tavarez Holston, president of Georgia Piedmont Technical College since 2018; and Dr. Jeremy Williams, superintendent of the Gainesville City School System since 2017.

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