Teammates:
Since my arrival at the University of North Georgia in July, I have focused on hearing from students, staff, faculty, and community leaders across our five campuses to understand our strengths and opportunities, and the expectations of UNG in the coming years. Through 26 listening sessions and numerous conversations and meetings with many of you, I have begun building a strategy that is grounded in the belief that our students are first and always, leverages our existing and emerging strengths, and encompasses the opportunities and expectations that lie ahead.
This coming year, we will be strengthening our base by addressing challenges in functional areas that are essential to achieving our strategic priorities, particularly UNG’s ability to attract and retain students and the employees who educate and serve them. Shortly, we will announce seven “Strategic Big Bets” that are aligned with UNG’s existing Strategic Plan and will principally differentiate UNG. The Strategic Big Bets are key areas in which we already have a firm foothold but need strategic focus, direction, and acceleration. As we focus on strengthening our base and preparing to launch these future strategic directions, organizational restructuring in the following critical areas is necessary to align our operations with this approach.
Enrollment Management
Upon my arrival as President, I created a new role for UNG focused on guiding and implementing strategy, the Senior Vice President for Strategy and Chief of Staff (SVP/COS), and was pleased to recruit Jennifer Herazy into that position. The intention for this position is to bring focus to areas of strategic importance to university growth and success as well as monitor progress and maintain accountability of our strategic goals. Foundational to our aspirations and overall strategy is stabilizing and growing enrollment. This includes developing a high-performing enrollment management function. To emphasize the importance of enrollment to our core mission, the unit will be retitled as Strategic Enrollment Management and will be led by a vice president reporting to the SVP/COS. The incumbent, Brett Morris, will be retiring at the end of the calendar year and a search for the new leader of this unit will commence this fall. The current Enrollment Management team will report to Jen until the search for the new vice president is concluded.
Academic Affairs
To align activities and programming that support our instructional and scholarly mission, the following offices will be moved under Provost Chaudron Gille. These moves will increase collaboration with academic units in areas of co-curricular, pipeline and scholarly outreach for our faculty and students.
- Center for Global Engagement, which will continue to be led by Associate Vice President for International Programs Sheila Schulte.
- University Press, which will continue to be led by Director BJ Robinson.
- Professional and Continuing Education, where Teresa Moore has agreed to serve as Interim Director until the search for the next permanent director results in a hire later this academic year.
Community and State Relations
To elevate the importance and visibility of state government relations, the Director of State Government Relations will report directly to the President, and Mark Pettitt will continue as the interim Director.
The regional campuses provide UNG a unique reach into our 30-county service region. This is a positioning that can be further leveraged by bringing our economic development and community engagement activities in closer collaboration with our regional campuses. The Executive Director of Economic Development and Community Engagement, Bobbi Larson, will report to the Vice President of Regional Campuses, Steven Smith.
Cadet Leadership Academy (CLA)
We will further strengthen our identity and mission as the Army’s Senior Military College by building the Corps of the Future. To facilitate this ambitious vision, we will eliminate the Division of Leadership and Global Engagement and the Institute for Leadership and Strategic Studies, and create a single unit focused on the complete development of our cadets. The new unit, the Cadet Leadership Academy, will be led by the Senior Vice President & Superintendent and will be part of the Senior Leadership Team reporting to me. Lt. Col. (Ret) Keith Antonia has agreed to serve as the interim Senior Vice President & Superintendent of the Cadet Leadership Academy until a national search results in a permanent hire later this academic year.
The following offices will consolidate under the leadership of the Superintendent:
- Commandant of Cadets; Col. (Ret) Joseph Matthews will continue in this role.
- Professor of Military Science; Col. Bryan Kirk will continue in this role.
- Cadet Recruiting; Nicholas Rossi will assume the role of interim Director until the search for the next permanent director results in a hire later this fall.
- Global Military Programs, which will be led by Lt. Col. (Ret) Wesley Pirkle.
- The current Director of Federal Liaison and Military Education Coordinator will assume responsibilities under the title of Executive Director of Cadet Career Success, and Lt. Col. (Ret) Heath Williams will assume this role.
Coordinating relationships will be maintained between the Commandant of Cadets and the Vice President for Student Affairs, the Professor of Military Science and the Office of the Provost, and the Director of Cadet Recruiting and the Vice President for Strategic Enrollment Management.
This reorganization will strengthen the university's mission as the premier senior military college – the Army’s Senior Military College and The Military College of Georgia. It will result in more efficient and effective communication and collaboration among cadet program-related entities. It will better enable the purpose of the cadet leadership program: to develop leaders of character for the Total Army, public or private entities, other military services, and civic organizations for the good of our Nation, and the states and communities they serve.
Communications & Marketing
Upon my arrival, I announced the creation of a new position, Vice President for Strategic Communications & Marketing, with an exclusive focus on developing a robust strategic communications and marketing function that aligns with our aspirations. As announced previously, Kate Maine will lead this unit (formerly titled University Relations), which will include the current communications and marketing staff as well as the university events team.
Serving our People through Operational Efficiency
To further support our faculty and staff in their work, we are realigning some additional administrative functions.
- The university’s chief legal officer will be titled General Counsel to align with industry best practices, and Elene Garrison will continue in this role on a permanent basis.
- The Policy and Procedure Coordinator, Wesley Burnett, will report to the General Counsel.
- The position held by our university human resources lead, Beth Arbuthnot, will be retitled from Associate Vice President for HR/Risk/Compliance to the Associate Vice President for HR to reflect the exclusive focus of this position, and the human resources team, on employee recruitment, retention engagement, and development. The following additional moves will support this refocus of human resources:
- The position of Director of Diversity and Inclusion will be changed to the Director of Multicultural Employee Affairs and will report to the AVP-HR. Pablo Mendoza will continue to serve in this role. This realignment will foster a broader focus on faculty and staff engagement as well as ensure our employee and student community is reflective of the diversity of our service region.
- The Director of Risk Management and Compliance, Darren Martin, will report to the General Counsel.
- The Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) Specialist, Steven Thellman, will report to Associate Vice President for Facilities, Todd Berman.
The employees associated with each of these above-named units will be transferred as part of these described changes. We plan to roll out these changes over the coming weeks and make them fully effective during October 2023.
This updated organizational structure will allow us to fully embrace the opportunities and expectations that lie ahead for the University of North Georgia. Please join me in thanking all of our above-named teammates for their nimbleness and resolute commitment to working collaboratively toward UNG’s mission. I look forward to working with all of you as we move forward in strengthening our base and preparing to launch the Strategic Big Bets that will define and differentiate UNG over the coming years!
If you have any questions about these changes, please do not hesitate to reach out.
Take care,
Mike