James Jan-Feb 2024 web - Flipbook - Page 28
“Everyone quickly realized that
there was a lot of consternation
about the name of Regents University,” Keel said. “We had the opportunity to incorporate ‘Augusta’ back
in the name, and we found it led to
tremendous community-wide support. The members of the community, donors and the alumni got behind
‘their university’ and that set the
tone for the branding take-off. The
entire community now saw this as
their university.”
The name change and re-branding have also played a major role in
recruitment. More than 50 percent
of students are from outside the Augusta area and coming from all four
corners of the state. “This speaks
to the reputation of the university,
and demonstrates that we are now
viewed as a destination campus,”
said Keel.
During Keel’s tenure, more than
18,000 students have graduated
from Augusta University. They’ve
gone on to find success in job fields
as varied as the 160-plus academic programs at the university, 40
of which were added since 2015,
including cybersecurity engineering
(Augusta University’s first engineering degree), animation, biomedical
systems engineering, neuroscience,
digital/visual storytelling and
sports management, among many
others. Enrollment hit 10,546 last
fall— breaking the 10,000-student
ceiling for the first time.
BUILDING ECONOMIC CLOUT
Augusta University’s economic
impact on its community is multifaceted and substantial— just ask all
the city’s political, business and civic
leaders. It not only provides employment opportunities but also fosters
innovation, enhances healthcare
access, educates the workforce, and
actively engages with the community to address its needs.
Keel says that today, Augusta University is the only
university in the country
The name change speaks to the
reputation of the university,
and demonstrates that we are now
viewed as a destination campus.
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JAMES
JANUA RY/F E B RUA RY 2024
that has more than $50 million in
annual National Institutes of Health
funding, while also being part of the
U.S. Cyber Command’s Academic
Engagement Network and in the
top five percent of universities that
improve economic outcomes for
students with low- and moderate-income backgrounds. The university
is home to the state’s only public
academic medical center, anchored
by the Medical College of Georgia,
and is also home to the state’s Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training
Center. That milestone during Keel’s
tenure is the largest single investment in cybersecurity of any state
in the country.
“We have been able to develop
an ecosystem here between academics, government and industry,” Keel
emphasizes. “It has resulted in an
incredibly unique opportunity.”
WHAT SETS AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY APART
“I believe having two marquee
programs has definitely set us apart
from everyone else,” said Keel. “And
those would be our cybersecurity
program and our location in the
backyard of the Army’s Cyber Command Center— and the fact that we
are designated as a health science
medical college.”
Other significant additions to
Augusta University during Keel’s
presidency include the founding
of the Augusta University Online,
and the School of Public Health; the
Transdisciplinary Research Initiative
in Inflammaging and Brain Aging,
and the Immunology Center of Georgia; the four-year Medical College
of Georgia Partnership Campus in
Savannah; and a new College of Science and Mathematics building, two
on-campus residence halls, and a major expansion of research laboratory
space in the M. Bert Storey Cancer
Research Building.
Another one of Keel’s most notable accomplishments is completion
in late August of a partnership with
Wellstar Health System to create
Wellstar MCG Health. Through the