President Pamela Whitten reflected on the milestone of completing her first six months at Kennesaw State by describing her transition into the position, accomplishments as a leader and future goals for the university as a growing R2 institution.
Jan. 16 marked Whitten’s sixth month here at KSU. Throughout her presidency, she has emphasized how important it is for KSU to be a student-centered university by challenging the community to start each initiative with the question of, “how will it benefit our students?”
Whitten said that in order to “find the opportunities to transform Kennesaw State,” we must start with its students.”
Whitten upheld this commitment to students throughout her first six months as president by accomplishing several initiatives. Whitten, along with the help of university administration, faculty and staff, implemented university-wide wait lists, created more courses during the summer and built new 24/7 study spaces on both the Marietta and Kennesaw campuses.
On the first day of classes in the fall 2018 semester, she expanded a family tradition to the KSU community by hosting the First Day of School Cake celebration on the Marietta and Kennesaw campuses on Aug. 13, 2018.
Whitten also invited students to attend informal lunches with her throughout the fall semester to meet more of the student body and gain an understanding of what students expect from this university.
Whitten added that the lunches are a “great forum for students to tell me what we need to do at this university.”
One of Whitten’s major goals has been to increase communication between the Marietta and Kennesaw campuses. She noted that although changes must be made, the administration should approach this issue differently for each campus since they have their own character, environment and student body.
“I think we need to be more intentional and thoughtful about it,” Whitten said. “Our goal shouldn’t be to replicate Kennesaw and Marietta.”
In the fall semester, KSU elevated to an “R2” Carnegie classified institution under the office and administration of Whitten. KSU achieved this by appointing a renowned researcher, Phaedra Corso, as the university’s vice president of research and by assisting in KSU’s new designation as a “high research activity” institution.
Whitten said the next steps as an R2 institution are to continue the expansion of undergraduate research, to address the growth in enrollment in graduate degree programs and to pursue higher research productivity for graduate students.
In addition to the R2 designation, Whitten appointed Dr. Kathy Schwaig as the university’s fourth provost and vice president for academic affairs on Jan. 29, 2019. Schwaig will assume this position on Feb. 18, 2019.
“She’ll be a great partner,” Whitten said. “Dr. Schwaig is smart, pragmatic and student-centered.”
Whitten commented on her own transition from provost and vice president of academic affairs at the University of Georgia to the president of KSU. She that she is now much more outward focused and is concerned with the entire community of KSU.
“Fortunately, I’ve had a lot of experience in leadership and higher education,” Whitten said. “That doesn’t mean that there isn’t lots to learn.”
The KSU community will continue to see what Whitten can accomplish in the coming semesters and years as the leader of this university. Whitten said students, faculty and staff have much to be proud of at this university.
“We have students at KSU who love this university,” Whitten said. “And we have faculty who are deeply committed to the success of the students that they work with. That’s a pretty special combination.”
