The Maxwell Theater on Augusta University’s Summerville campus resounded with enthusiastic applause, Wednesday afternoon, as President Brooks Keel presented his final State of the University address.
In what Keel described as part of a “season of lasts,” referring to his round of presentations and public appearances on behalf of AU before his retirement, he surveyed the school’s accomplishments over the past year: breaking ground on the new Health Sciences campus parking deck, as well as the hospital in Columbia County and the launching of AU Wellstar Health System, just a few among them.
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“We had been working on [the Augusta University and Wellstar partnership] well before COVID,” said Keel. “One of the first couple meetings I had when I started this position in 2015 was trying to determine what can we do to provide the type of support that the eighth largest medical school in the country needs.”
Keel went on to acknowledge allocations for the upcoming fiscal year, including an increase in state funds to $10 million and enrollment earnings of more than $13 million.
Emphasizing a “laser-focus” on the school’s goal of attracting 16,000 students to AU by 2030, Keel observed the 27% increase of enrollees since 2015, and the 3% average increase of enrolled students each year since 2017, surpassing 10,000 students last fall.
“When when we first started going up to the system office for our annual budget conference with the chancellor, we were literally laughed out of the room for setting a goal for 16,000 students,” said Keel. “They’re not laughing anymore.”
Keel also gave his cabinet and staff heartfelt praise, starting by lauding Executive Vice President Russell Keen, who followed Keel from administration at Georgia Southern University nine years ago.
“[Russell Keen] has been not just my chief of staff—that title does not do him justice,” said Keel. “He’s been my colleague, my friend and my brother in so many ways.”
Keel was president of Georgia Southern before his appointment as president of AU in July of 2015, but the conclusion of his 40-year career in higher education ultimately brings him full circle with the Augusta campus. In 1978 he graduated from what was then Augusta College with a degree in biology and chemistry and earned his doctorate in reproductive endocrinology from MCG in 1981.
Dr. Keel will retire from his position as president of AU in July.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
