Dr. Michael Shannon, the new president of the University of North Georgia, said he has been "nothing but impressed, excited, inspired," in his first month in the role.
Shannon took up the role on July 1, following the retirement of former President Bonita Jacobs.
In an interview this week with AccessWDUN's Austin Eller, Shannon said the university community has been very welcoming.
"Those who live in the communities we serve have just been nothing but fantastic," Shannon said. "Warm, welcoming, inspiring people who believe in the mission of the University of North Georgia."
Shannon is a New Jersey native, a retired U.S. Army Officer, and was mostly recently the interim executive vice president for administration and finance and interim chief business officer at Georgia Tech. Shannon also served as Georgia Tech's vice president.
"What brought me to UNG is the mission of this institution, 150 years in the making," Shannon said. "The tradition, the heritage, the transformation of lives that UNG has been a part of for those past 150 years."
Shannon previously announced he would be holding a 45-day "listening tour" to learn more about the university as he begins his tenure as president. The tour kicked off Tuesday.
"We're going to be on all five of our campuses," Shannon said. "We're going to be interacting with students, staff and faculty because it's very important as you're trying to understand what a university is ... we're also going to engage with each of our communities, we're going to engage with our alumni, and we're going to do some virtual for folks that are not local, and really try to hear what makes UNG special. What's the UNG way? What are the things that we want people to know about us? And then, of course, how can we get better?"
Shannon joins the University amid a recent drop in state funding. The Georgia General Assembly approved a budget earlier in 2023 that included an estimated $2.54 million drop in state funding for UNG during FY 2024. Shannon said he believes the university will come out of the budgetary change in a stronger position.
"We were not the only institution to be a part of some of the decisions made in Atlanta this past year," Shannon said. "Our Board of Regents, our Chancellor are very committed to us ... and we will be fine at the University of North Georgia. Yes, nobody likes to take budget cuts. Those are always a challenge for any organization. But, generally, when you experience budget cuts you emerge from a position of strength. You get lean, but you get stronger."
A similar challenge for university systems across the country has been a drop in new student enrollment in the wake of several factors brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from the University System of Georgia shows enrollment at UNG in Fall 2019 was 19,748, while that number was down about -8.62% in Fall 2022 to 18,046. But Shannon said it's important to look at enrollment numbers on a large scale.
"The University of North Georgia grew by about 23% in the decade following consolidation, which is very good and it's very unprecedented," Shannon said. "The team under President Jacobs did a phenomenal job of bringing together [North Georgia College & State University and Gainesville State College], forming the University of North Georgia, and then leveraging that from a position of strength ... then the pandemic hits. The great news for the University of North Georgia is we are in a 30-county region that we serve, and the state of this region is strong."
Shannon said while high school graduation rates are increasing, college enrollment rates are down.
"That's really what we need to dig into," Shannon said. "We want to work with every student in our region and in our state and discuss why the value of a college education matters."
Listen to Austin Eller's full interview with Mike Shannon at the Soundcloud link at the top of this story.
