By: Armone’ Gates, Editor & Chief

Since starting the first term of presidency at VSU on Aug. 1, President Don Green’s main priority on campus right now has been increasing student retention, creating the message for students to “start here, and finish here.” 

Dr. Green joined Valdosta State University in May when he was announced as the university’s new president, making him the 11th president at VSU. 

VSU needed a new president because our previous president, Dr. Carvajal, left to become president of California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. 

Dr. Green elaborated more on his plans surrounding this topic. 

“I want to increase student retention, which ultimately leads to higher graduation rates as well,” said Dr. Green. “With retention, we are focused heavily on a graduation message. A lot of students show up for college, show up to attend, but they don’t necessarily lock into a vision of graduation.” 

Dr. Green explained more information revolving around increasing student retention. 

“So, the minute that they run into any kind of challenge or struggle, they say, ‘well, college is not for me,’ and they walk away,” he said. “But they’re walking away from tremendous opportunities without a college degree, no matter what degree you major in, research has shown just recently that having a degree increases your income.”  

Dr. Green explained the importance of having a degree and the impact it can have on your future. 

“Across the state of Georgia, the difference between a high school diploma and a college degree is $400,000 over a lifetime in salary benefits, and the big one people forget is retirement funding,” said Green. 

He then described ways to achieve higher retention rates at VSU. 

“So, one of the first things that we’re doing for student retention is the graduation message, trying to get it into students that they need to graduate,” he said. “That’s what they’re here for, so that’s a big priority.” 

“In addition, we’re focused heavily on tutoring. We also want to push harder on student attendance, to make sure that students are in class,” he said. 

 Aside from retention, Dr. Green looks forward to the many different projects that are taking place within his first year of presidency. 

 “I have four big priority projects that I’m working on,” said Green. “ I want to increase enrollment along with increasing student retention, which leads to higher graduation rates. I want to bring more innovative degree programs and also bring more student life activities to our campus. ”

Dr. Green explained the process behind expanding admissions and marketing. 

“We are going to expand our admissions and marketing reach, and then we will be going after a variety of unique campaigns that can help us,” he said.  

“With marketing, we are going to expand our social media admissions; we are going to be visiting our k-12’s across the 41 county areas. We’re going to be seeking transfer students at our state colleges and our technical colleges,” he added. 

Dr. Green described this process in more detail. 

“We’re going to expand the number of visits that we get from high schools for juniors and seniors, so they can see this beautiful campus,” he said. “Also, they can see all the different majors that the university offers.” 

He then elaborated on disciplined, pathway-based events. 

“Let’s say you’re really into films. We could organize a film festival for a weekend where you would come and you’d get 24 hours to be able to produce a film, and then you’d be able to compete with other groups that come to visit campus,” said Dr. Green. 

Dr. Green explained wanting to bring more unique degree programs. 

“ One of the things we have to be very clear about is that faculty has a significant role in the development of the curriculum, so I’m now going around to visit different departments and speak to those faculty members and talk about new degree programs that could be explored possibly, “he said. 

“One of the things that I would like to see is that we expand computer science and bring more AI to it,” said Dr. Green. “Also, (we are) looking at expanding biology. Just before this, I was over at the biology department talking about an expansion of biotech.”  

Dr. Green emphasized the importance of expanding these programs. 

“Why am I talking about this? Because these are the more high-demand career paths that are coming within the next decade,” he said. “And we want to be a part of it.”  

He also talked about more emerging career paths, along with expanding the entrepreneurship program.  

“Next one: energy engineering and management; I would love to at least explore construction management. We need to expand our entrepreneurship program more, as the School of Business has a wonderful program,” he said. 

President Green discussed campus life. 

“You can see where we sunk $8 million into the residence halls this summer because we want to have a better environment,” he said. “In addition to that, we want to have more activities on campus. I think we need to promote programs and activities better, so that more students know about them and, that way, they can get more involved.” 

Dr. Green explained how he balances his mental health while being in a huge leadership position. 

“I exercise as I desperately need it, and it helps burn off stress,” he said.  “I’m also blessed to have a supportive family, which I believe has been a big part in helping me succeed in the presidency.”