Big Moves for Former Georgia State University President
With your Southeast Regional Ag News, I’m Haylie Shipp.
Move over, Big Ten! There’s a new leader for the Public University System. Throughout its modern history, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (known previously as the National Association of State and Land-grant Universities) has been led by former presidents of major flagship and land-grant universities. The APLU’s previous three leaders all hailed from institutions in the Big Ten Conference.
Not today. Just announced, Mark P. Becker, president of Georgia State University from 2009 up until his retirement a year ago, is the newly announced APLU President.
Under Becker, Georgia State’s federal research funding rose 150% from fiscal 2010 to 2022. That was coupled with an intense emphasis on driving its 50,000-plus students to complete their educations, increasing its graduation rate by 23 percentage points over a decade.
In a press release, Becher said, “Public and land-grant universities are the bedrock of American higher education, promoting student success and driving a highly skilled workforce while addressing the needs of their communities and our world through community engagement and cutting-edge research.”
He starts his new job September 1.
