Andy Clark Leaving VSU, Heading to MGSU

VALDOSTA — Andy T. Clark, vice president of the Division of Enrollment, Marketing, and Communications at Valdosta State University, has announced his resignation effective Oct. 31.

Beginning Nov. 1 Clark will be the new vice provost for academic quality in the Office of Academic Affairs at Middle Georgia State University in Macon.

“I want to thank Andy Clark for his service to Valdosta State University over the last four years,” said Dr. Cecil P. Staton, interim president. “We are grateful for his investment in VSU, and I am confident all of us wish him continued success and our very best wishes as he moves on to this new challenge at Middle Georgia State University.”

Clark joined VSU in 2011 as associate vice president of the Division of Enrollment Management. On July 1, 2013, he was named interim vice president of the newly formed Division of Enrollment, Marketing, and Communications, and a year later, he was appointed vice president.

Always dedicated to ensuring VSU becomes a university of choice through recruitment, marketing, and communications, Clark has achieved much during his relatively short time with the university. He has developed and implemented an admission portal that assists with the recruitment of students, collaborated with the English Language Institute and Center for International Programs to broaden recruitment efforts across the globe, and created a Centralized Advising Center to improve students’ academic success. He has overseen the signing of more than a dozen Pathways Program and Transfer Admission Guarantee agreements with two-year and technical colleges throughout Georgia and North Florida, opening more doors for students who wish to pursue a university education, and he has been instrumental in the university’s overall success with Gov. Nathan Deal’s Complete College Georgia initiative.

Under Clark’s leadership, the university conducted an institutional identity study to better understand VSU’s core strengths and invested more dollars than ever before in marketing and communications to ensure that those strengths were shared with prospective students, alumni, potential donors, and friends at home and abroad. Through his work with Information Technology, he helped develop the university’s data warehouse, which has received national attention for improving student retention and success. He said that his most memorable achievement involved writing a justification to the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia to allow Florida residents to come to VSU at in-state tuition rates. Not only was his request approved, but the board members also granted unlimited out-of-state tuition waivers to Alabama and South Carolina residents wanting to pursue a bachelor’s degree at VSU.