December 21, 2022
The University of Georgia ended the semester with Fall Commencement on Dec. 16, congratulating 3,202 graduates and welcoming them to the UGA alumni association. These outstanding graduates are a testament to the university community’s dedication to pursuing excellence.
Continuing in the spirit of celebration, UGA earned reaffirmation of accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). UGA met the quality of education and facilities standards with a perfect score, meaning that SACSCOC had zero recommendations regarding the university’s compliance. I want to extend a special thank you to Meg Amstutz, UGA’s SACSCOC liaison, and Allan Aycock, Maggie Parker and Katie Chapman from the Office of Accreditation and Institutional Effectiveness for their critical role in this reaccreditation process.
It’s been a notable month for student scholarship at UGA. Elise Karinshak, Foundation Fellow in the Morehead Honors College, was selected as the university’s seventh Schwarzman Scholar. Honors seniors Natalie Moss and Lauren Wilkes were both named as Marshall Scholars, setting a university record for the most Marshall Scholars in one year and making UGA the only public institution of higher learning to have multiple recipients this year.
One of the ways that UGA upholds its mission of teaching, research and public service is by hiring world-class faculty. To this end, the Presidential Interdisciplinary Faculty Hiring Initiative in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence has been expanded to recruit 20 additional faculty members in the areas of computational social sciences and data science, AI and virtual reality in teaching and learning. The expansion brings the total to 70 faculty positions across 12 interdisciplinary clusters in this hiring initiative.
This successful semester was made possible by the dedicated service from our faculty, staff and academic leaders, and I want to extend my deep appreciation for your commitment to the university. I wish you all a happy holiday season with time for rest, rejuvenation and cheers for our Georgia Bulldogs in the College Football Playoffs.
Go Dawgs!
