Interim President appointed after departure of Leland

In the wake of the departure of former President Leland, Georgia College has  received the appointment of the current Interim President, Stas Preczewski. Former University System of Georgia Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr. was the one who made the appointment.

Preczewski still currently holds his title at Georgia Gwinnett College as vice president of academic and student affairs, however, he is on a one-year leave of absence to perform his duties at Georgia College. Preczewski has been in his position at GC since July 1 and has spent the last month situating himself inside its culture.

Using his unfamiliarity with the student body to his advantage, Preczewski has had the opportunity to tour Milledgeville and receive honest feedback from students.

“I’ll ask them ‘Hi, do you go to school here? Are you from this area?’ and they are so proud to be at Georgia College and they just speak so highly of Georgia College,” Preczewski said.

gcsunade | gcsunade.com

Preczewski will remain with Georgia College until the Board of Regents makes their final decision as to who the next president will be. Preczewski said the process usually takes up to 10 months. Until then, he wants to continue working on issues on campus and provide students with ways in which they can give feedback—which include an open-door policy.

“I don’t own this office, this office belongs to the public – I just happen to be sitting here,” Preczewski said.

Preczewski realizes the task of finding a new president could potentially be stressful for students, faculty and staff; however, he sees it as an opportunity rather than a challenge.

“For the students, it shouldn’t be a student burden. They should be able to continue to function well without major changes or anything else happening this year. This year is not about change it is about transition,” Preczewski said.

Former President Leland, who was appointed as president of the University of California, Merced, also believes Georgia College will have worthy candidates to choose from.

“With Georgia College’s growing state and national reputation, this will be a most attractive position that will draw an excellent candidate pool,” Leland said in an email sent to faculty and staff before her departure.Preczewski is also focusing on holding costs down for students. This is a task he holds particularly important in today’s difficult economic times.

“The states are challenged, which means the system is challenged, which means the colleges are challenged, which means the students are sitting at the bottom of that pyramid, and that’s a heavy load to lift,” Preczewski said.

Although Preczeswki is new to Georgia College, his achievements at Georgia Gwinnett College were the driving qualities which lead to his appointment.

“Stas is both people-centered and success-centered, which is the best combination to be. He’s the catalyst who gets everybody to, not only give 100 percent to a project, but to enjoy giving 100 percent to the project,” said Dr. Jo Galle, associate vice president for academic affairs at Georgia Gwinnett College.

Dr. Galle also went on to say Georgia College is in for a memorable year with Dr. Preczewski.

Among Dr. Preczewski’s goals is his goal for meeting students, faculty and staff and coming to understand the campus better. His solution for doing so is becoming more involved, which takes action on his part but also the part of the campus.

“Invite me to your sporting events, invite me to your club meetings, invite me to your organizations, invite me to your fundraisers, invite me to your service projects, invite me to your classrooms—invite me,” Dr. Preczewski said. “Because that’s the way I learn what is going on and what the needs are.”

Posted by AubrieSofala on Aug 4 2011. Filed under Lead stories, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.