Atlanta — May 9, 2012

Rob Watts has been named interim president of Georgia Perimeter College in metropolitan Atlanta by University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby.

“Rob is one of the University System’s most experienced leaders, given his responsibilities at the System Office as well as leadership roles at three other institutions,” said USG Chancellor Hank Huckaby in making the appointment. “We are extremely fortunate to be able to call upon his skills in this important assignment at Georgia Perimeter.”

Watts previously served as interim president of Georgia Perimeter College in Decatur, Ga., from 2005-2006 and begins his second stint as interim president on May 14, 2012. He takes over from former GPC president Anthony Tricoli, who is taking a position in the University System’s Academic Affairs Office.

Since January 1, Watts has served as interim president of Georgia Highlands College in Rome, Ga., following the retirement of current president Randy Pierce. Watts previously served as Georgia Highlands’ (then named Floyd College) interim president from 2000 until the appointment of Pierce in 2001.

Watts has an extensive career in the University System. He was chief operating officer for the USG until earlier this year, a position he held since 2006.

From 2002 to 2005, Wattts served as a senior policy advisor to the chancellor as well as the interim director of the Gwinnett University Center in Lawrenceville, Ga. From 2001 to 2002, Watts was the interim president at Middle Georgia College, in Cochran, Ga.

He first joined Georgia Perimeter (then known as DeKalb College) in 1986, and served for five years as director of Institutional Research and Planning. In 1991, he assumed the position of executive vice president for Fiscal Affairs, which he held until being named interim president at Floyd College.

Prior to joining Georgia Perimeter, Watts served from 1982 to 1986 as a budget analyst for the Legislative Budget Office of the Georgia General Assembly. Previously, he had served as a Humanities Scholar in Residence for the General Assembly, from 1979 to 1981.

Watts earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Florida State University, in Tallahassee. He also holds a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University’s Bologna Center, in Bologna, Italy.

Georgia Perimeter College serves 27,000 students in metropolitan Atlanta on four campuses in Clarkston, Decatur, Dunwoody and Newton, and at a center in Alpharetta. The College, which is approved by the Board of Regents to offer limited baccalaureate degrees, is the largest associate degree-granting institution in the USG.

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