Atlanta — January 13, 2009

University System of Georgia Chief Operating Officer Rob Watts announced today that the Board of Regents has approved the permanent appointment of Dr. Virginia Carson as president of South Georgia College (SGC) in Douglas. She has served as the college’s interim president since March 1, 2008.

“Dr. Carson has done an extraordinary job as South Georgia College’s interim president under challenging circumstances,” Watts said. “Not only has she done an outstanding job internally of focusing faculty and staff on accreditation-related issues and on increasing enrollment, she has successfully transformed community relationships. Dr. Carson has the very strong support of the college and the community.”

Carson, a Macon native, was vice president for academic affairs at Georgia Highlands College in Rome, a position she had held since 2001, when she was called on to serve as interim president. She previously served as dean of academic services for Georgia Perimeter College’s (GPC) Clarkston, Ga., campus from 2000 to 2001. Prior to this appointment, Carson served as chair of the Department of Mathematics, Computer Science & Engineering, also on GPC’s Clarkston campus. Her years as a math professor at GPC (formerly DeKalb College) extend back to 1982.

Carson spent the 1999-2000 academic year as an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow at Northern Virginia Community College, in Annandale, Va., under the direction of President Belle S. Wheelan, who is now president of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) Commission on Colleges. In 2004, she was chosen to participate in a Fulbright International Education Seminar in Germany.

Carson is president of the National Association of Community College Teacher Education Programs (NACCTEP). Until 2009, she represented Georgia on the executive council of the SACS Commission on Colleges and served as state chair of the Georgia SACS commissioners. Carson edited the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) Review, a refereed mathematics journal, from 1998 to 2003.

Carson is a product of the University System of Georgia. She holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia, and a M.Ed. and Ph.D. in mathematics education from Georgia State University.

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