CHANCELLOR IMPRESSED WITH FIRST VISIT TO ABAC

University System of Georgia Chancellor Thomas Meredith came away quite impressed with his first look at Abraham Baldwin College.

“Of all the schools in the University System of Georgia, ABAC is right up there with the best of them,” Meredith said during his visit earlier this week when the Board of Regents met on the ABAC campus for the first time in 18 years.

Meredith took over Jan. 1, moving from the same position in Alabama, a post he had held since 1997. The University System office guides Georgia’s 34 public colleges and universities which include 217,000 students, 35,000 faculty and staff, and an annual budget of $4.5 billion.

After touring the ABAC’s 421-acre campus and seeing building projects such as the $7.1 million Ag Sciences Building and the $1.5 million Pedestrian Mall, Meredith believes Abraham Baldwin is heading in the right direction with solid leadership.

“I have the utmost confidence in (ABAC) President Mike Vollmer,” Meredith said. “I am also impressed by the students here. Wherever they go after graduation, whether it is right into the workforce or on to UGA or another institution, ABAC students are successful.”

With Georgia undergoing a budget crunch, Meredith said higher education is undergoing many changes.

“The University System is adapting to new ways of providing educational opportunities to its students,” Meredith said. “With the advances being made in technology, students have many options open to them, even the ability to complete a degree on-line. Georgia believes in education. We are a ‘can-do’ state. We cannot think of an idea that is too big.”

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