Pamela Whitten To Leave Kennesaw State And Is Named President Of Indiana University

Press release from Kennesaw State University:

Apr 16, 2021

Pamela Whitten to leave Kennesaw State; named President of Indiana University

Pamela Whitten

KENNESAW, Ga.
(Apr 16, 2021) — Pamela Whitten has announced that she will be stepping down as president of Kennesaw
State University and has accepted the position of president of Indiana University,
effective July 1, 2021.

The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia named Dr. Whitten as the
fifth president of KSU in June of 2018, following a national search. Prior to her
work at KSU, she served as senior vice president for academics and provost at the
University of Georgia.

“The opportunity to serve as president of Kennesaw State University over the past
three years has been one of the highlights of my career,” Whitten said. “I am honored
to have served alongside a dedicated group of faculty and staff who each day deliver
on the promise of putting our students first. KSU is a tremendous institution providing
world class instruction, and I am proud of the many accomplishments we have achieved
during my tenure.”

“President Pam Whitten’s outstanding leadership helped KSU over the past few years
achieve record-breaking enrollment, historic funding for student scholarships and
an R2 research designation that places it among a select group of colleges and universities
in the nation,” University System of Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley said. “Her unwavering
commitment to improve students’ experience and academic success made a direct impact
on the quality of education at KSU, including hiring more faculty and advisors to
support students’ achievement of a college degree. Pam never hesitated in helping
her colleagues across the system and is a valued friend, and I will miss her good
counsel. We are grateful for her service to our students and the University System
of Georgia and wish her well.”

Accomplishments during Dr. Whitten’s presidency include addressing barriers to enrollment
and graduation that led to two straight years of record growth with the number of
undergraduate and graduate students increasing from 35,500 in fall 2018 to over 41,000
in fall 2020. This growth also included an increase in racial diversity, with self-identified
minority students making up 48.7% of the student body in 2020, up from 43.1% in 2017.
She led the creation and expansion of high demand majors such as cybersecurity, engineering,
computer science and nursing and oversaw a significant faculty hiring initiative to
address student demand for these and other critical courses.

Whitten also was instrumental in securing pivotal gifts and financial support that
will directly benefit students for years to come. In just the last 16 months, KSU
was the beneficiary of three of the largest gifts in university history: $10 million
for the KSU Journey Honors College, $8.7 million from Wellstar Health System to double
the number of KSU nursing majors and $9 million to name the Radow College of Humanities
and Social Sciences. In addition, through the creation of the new GAP Scholarship,
students with financial challenges in their final semester are provided aid in order
to help them earn their degree. Since 2018, over 900 GAP scholarship recipients have
graduated.

During Whitten’s tenure, KSU acquired formal status as an R2 institution and she has
led the transition to develop broad research themes, set research goals and expand
the university focus on undergraduate research participation. In FY20 alone, KSU saw
a 15% increase in externally funded grants and a 37% increase in external proposals.

Whitten provided critical leadership during the extraordinary challenges faced by
KSU through the coronavirus pandemic, preparing and implementing plans to move the
institution to fully remote instruction in the spring of 2020. Since that time, Whitten
has directed the efforts of multiple advisory committees tasked with preparing the
university for a post-pandemic return to learning in Fall 2021.

During her tenure, Whitten also took concrete steps to identify and augment diversity
opportunities across campus. These included the elevation of the chief diversity officer
to the President’s Cabinet, the development of specific programs such as student diversity
ambassadors, diversity liaisons in each college and a new Women’s Leadership Academy
to help develop the university leaders of the future. Whitten also created a Presidential
Task Force on Race to develop recommendations that will bring elevated priority and
urgency to the university’s goal of an inclusive and diverse campus.

With the announcement of Whitten’s departure, the chancellor and Board of Regents
will discuss next steps.

A leader in innovative teaching and learning, Kennesaw State University offers more than 150 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees to its more than 41,000 students. With 11 colleges on two metro Atlanta campuses, Kennesaw State is a member of the University System of Georgia and the second-largest university in the state. The university’s vibrant campus culture, diverse population, strong global ties and entrepreneurial spirit draw students from throughout the region and from 126 countries across the globe. Kennesaw State is a Carnegie-designated doctoral research institution (R2), placing it among an elite group of only 6 percent of U.S. colleges and universities with an R1 or R2 status. For more information, visit kennesaw.edu.

This press release was produced by Kennesaw State University. The views expressed here are the author’s own.