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Augusta University president hired as searches start for two Georgia HBCUs

The Georgia Board of Regents hired Russell T. Keen to be the next president of Augusta University.

Credit: University System of Georgia

Credit: University System of Georgia

The Georgia Board of Regents hired Russell T. Keen to be the next president of Augusta University.
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June 14, 2024

Augusta University has its next president, and the search for new leaders for Albany State and Savannah State universities is underway.

The Georgia Board of Regents voted Friday to hire Russell T. Keen to lead the 10,500-student university, which includes medical and dental schools. Keen has worked at Augusta since 2015, and the board last week picked him as the sole finalist for the presidential post.

Keen is currently the executive vice president for administration and chief of staff to retiring president Brooks Keel. Keen starts as president July 1.

On Thursday, the board announced the search committees tasked with helping to find the next presidents for two of the University System of Georgia’s historically Black universities.

Albany State University President Marion Ross Fedrick is stepping down to take a job as executive vice president and chief of staff to M. Brian Blake, president of Georgia State University. She’ll also serve as University System of Georgia Chancellor Sonny Perdue’s senior adviser for the state’s three public HBCUs.

Lawrence M. Drake II will serve as Albany State’s interim president, starting July 1. He is the president and CEO of the Atlanta-based LEADing for Life Enterprise, an educational outreach organization, and also has a background as a former interim president of Bethune-Cookman University in Florida.

The Albany State presidential search committee will be led by Bárbara Rivera Holmes, a member of the Board of Regents and the president of the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce.

The Savannah State University presidential search committee will be led by Board of Regents member Patrick Jones, a businessman who lives in Blackshear, Georgia, and the board chairman for PrimeSouth Bank.

The Savannah State vacancy was created by the 2023 departure of Kimberly Ballard-Washington. Cynthia Robinson Alexander is serving as the interim president.

The University System hired the higher education consulting firm AGB Search to help with the Albany State and Savannah State searches. The Board of Regents will make the final hiring decisions after the two committees recommend up to five candidates for each position.

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