Atlanta — November 18, 2003

Dr. Dorothy Leland, vice president of the Boca Raton campus of Florida Atlantic University, in Boca Raton, Fla., and professor of philosophy, was named president of Georgia College & State University on Tuesday by the Board of Regents and University System of Georgia Chancellor Thomas C. Meredith.

Leland will assume her new post on Jan. 1, 2004.

“We are fortunate to have secured our first-choice candidate,” the chancellor said. “Dr. Leland has earned the esteem of her peers and colleagues for being an educator committed to the liberal arts experience. She is strongly supportive of educational access and diversity, and fosters a team-oriented approach in the organizations she leads. She has strong people skills and is well liked in her current position, as attested to by Florida Atlantic’s faculty, staff and students.”

Leland has held her current post since 2001. She has nearly 20 years of experience in a variety of college and university positions, six of them at Florida Atlantic. Her other faculty appointments have been at Purdue University, California State University, Northridge, California State University, Chico, and at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

At Florida Atlantic, Leland served as the university’s associate provost from 2000 to 2001, executive director of university strategic planning from 1998 to 2001 and special assistant to the provost from 1998 to 2000. From 1995 to 1998, she served as director of Florida Atlantic’s Women’s Studies Center and executive director of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women. Leland has provided leadership for a comprehensive revision of the general education program and has chaired the university’s athletics advisory board.

Prior to her arrival in Florida, Leland spent 11 years in administrative positions at Purdue University. From 1993 to 1995, she served as the inaugural director of Purdue’s Women’s Resource Office, and from 1984 to 1993, she directed an interdisciplinary doctoral program in English and philosophy.

She was a visiting assistant professor at California State University, Chico, from 1982 to 1983, at the University of California, Santa Cruz, from 1981 to 1982, and at California State University, Northridge, from 1977 to 1981.

Leland has made more than 40 presentations and publications in the field of contemporary continental philosophy over the course of her career, focusing on issues related to gender and personal, social and cultural identity. Her most recent presentations have focused on leadership issues and mentoring. She was named a protege of the American Association of State Colleges and University’s Millennium Leadership Initiative for 2002-2003.

She also has facilitated new university/community partnerships and earned the President’s Leadership Award while at Florida Atlantic.

Leland holds a B.A. in English, an M.A. in American Studies, and a Ph.D. in philosophy, all earned at Purdue University.

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To obtain an electronic image of Dr. Leland, contact Diane Payne: (404) 657-1295, diane.payne@usg.edu

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