’100 Most Influential Georgians’ lists Leland

GCSU President Dorothy Leland was listed this month as one of the “100 Most Influential Georgians” in Georgia Trend magazine. The list is compiled annually and features a variety of names from Gov. Sonny Perdue to University System of Georgia Chancellor Erroll Davis.

Given the harsh economic times, the chosen individuals are, “men and women helping guide the state during the roughest economic patch in decades” the magazine stated.

Leland did not claim all the recognition for herself.

“I am truly honored. I think to a great extent it is a reflection of the school. I would like to give credit to the students, the faculty, our alumni, and our friends who have helped us and have funded projects to improve the school,” she said.

Leland has been at Georgia College for six years now and has made some significant changes to the campus during that time. Campus Theatre, located a 135 W Hancock St. in downtown Milledgeville, was purchased by the school and is undergoing renovations along with other historic homes that were bought.

“One particular project we have worked on was the Sally Ellis Davis house. It is a historic home that we discovered a year ago, which the school owns, but it was not on our property inventory,” Leland said. “We joined part with the students, a construction company, and other volunteers to raise the house and keep it on a more stable foundation.”

As for other stable foundations, Leland has managed to keep GCSU thriving despite the arduous economic times, which was one of the things Georgia Trend looked at when compiling its list.

“I’m a very conservative fiscal manager. Luckily, when the economic downturn occurred, we had built up reserves in our finances so it wasn’t as much of an issue as it could have been,” Leland said.

This is Georgia Trend’s 12th year publishing the list. Those honored by the magazine are selected by its editorial staff, and are generally politicians, business people and those in the education community.

Those on the list will be honored during an award luncheon given by the magazine next week.

“The major benefit of this award is recognizing (Leland’s) efforts,” Associate Vice President for Strategic Communications Harry Battson said. “She helps guide the university, which greatly effects Baldwin County and subsequently the city of Milledgeville.”

Posted by Joanna Sullivan on Jan 22 2010. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry