University System of Georgia announces search committee for Augusta University president

Editor's note: A member of the search committee has been added to a list of members noted in this story.

The University System of Georgia recently announced the committee to find a new president for Augusta University, after current president Brooks Keel announced he would be retiring at the end of this academic year.

The committee is made up of 18 members, including USG chancellors, AU alumni, instructors, students, and community leaders among others. The committee will work with the recruiting firm Buffkin Baker on a national search, and find three to five candidates to send to the Board of Regents.

"It is a great honor to chair this committee, and I look forward to finding top candidates who can work with faculty, staff and students to build on the university’s success," Regent Jim Hull, the chair of the committee, was quoted as saying in the news release.

Keel has served as president since July of 2015, and before that as president of Georgia Southern University starting in 2010. Earlier this year he told the Chronicle he is retiring fully once he steps down from this position, and plans to move to the Florida Keys for some "fishing and diving."

"I had always wanted to retire ... on a high note, when things were going well, and I think things are going incredibly well at the university," Keel said at the time.

In the news release, USG Chancellor Sonny Perdue praised Keel's tenure.

“President Keel has overseen eight straight years of enrollment growth, a 37% increase in funding by the National Institutes of Health and a strengthening of the university’s economic impact on the state by nearly $1 billion,” Perdue was quoted as saying. “He is leaving Augusta University in very good shape, and our national search must find a new leader with the right skills, energy and understanding of how to keep it on track to being the best university of its kind in the nation.”

The search committee will meet for the first time on Wednesday. A USG spokesperson said that there is no timeline currently for the search process until after that meeting.

Keel stepping down: 'On a high note': Augusta University President Brooks Keel talks decision to retire

The committee includes:

• Regent Jim Hull, committee chair

• Charles G. Green Jr., board chairman of the MCG Foundation

• Regent and Board Chairman Harold Reynolds

• Regent Tim Evans

• Brian Annex, chair of medicine at the Medical College of Georgia

• John Baker, president-elect of the AU Alumni Association

• Peter Basciano, associate professor at the James M. Hull College of Business

• Todd Boudreau, deputy commandant of the Army Cyber School

• Tiana Curry-McCoy, associate professor in the College of Allied Health Science and chair of the AU Faculty Senate

• Don Grantham, board member of the MCG Foundation

• Debbie Layman, co-chair and board member of the AU Foundation

• Angel Lovett, associate director of philanthropy for AU Health and president of the AU Staff Council

• Teresa MacCartney, chief operating officer for USG

• Dee Mallory, undergraduate president of the AU Student Government Association

• Will McKnight, president of the McKnight Construction Co.

• Robert Osborne, executive vice president of SouthState Bank

• Puja Punukollu, graduate president of the AU Student Government Association

• Candice L. Saunders, president and CEO of Wellstar Health System

• Yvonne Turner, AU executive vice president for finance and chief business officer

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Presidential search committee for Augusta University named - USG