To paraphrase the university’s slogan, “It was an address like no other.” Dr. Brooks Keel, in a speech marked by humor and poignancy, summed up the past year and then turned to the future.
Keel hit all the high points of the past 12 months, beginning with increased budget allocations from the General Assembly for FY25, after a reduction a year earlier.
“So, here’s an increase in our FY 25 allocation, just over $10 million in revenue earnings of $13.8 million of new money,” he said, adding that increased enrollment pumped money into the university. “As you can see, it turns into real cash which allows us to reinvest and the great things that we’re doing here.”
Among those great things, Keel pointed to the official launch of Augusta University Online. He said enrollment is now more than 450 students, one more step in reaching the 16 by 30 goal, of enrolling 16,000 students by 2030.
During Keel’s tenure, the university has started, or completed multiple, large-scale capital projects.
“We’ve expanded the Georgia Cancer Center. We built a bridge across to the clinical component. We built the College of Science and Mathematics, and we finished off the fourth floor. We built two new dormitories on the Health Sciences Campus. We constructed 320,000 square feet of cybersecurity space. That’s $100 million, the largest single investment of any state and the country to date in cybersecurity. And we broke ground on a new parking deck,” Keel listed.
He also touted the agreement with Wellstar, creating Wellstar MCG Health. He said, while it came to fruition in August 2023, talks had started nearly a decade earlier.
“One of the first couple meetings I had when I started this position in 2015 was trying to determine what we can do to provide the type of support that the eighth largest medical school in the country needs. And that’s a strong and healthy health system,” he said.
“The relationship with Wellstar is going to provide us with just that. It is not just a business transaction; we made that pretty plain. It’s a true partnership. What it’s going to do for the Medical College of Georgia is going to be absolutely phenomenal. What it’s going to do for the community is going to be outstanding.”
Keel also noted the restoration of Augusta to the university name. He arrived as a communitywide campaign was underway to “Save the A,” after it had been changed to Georgia Regents University.
“We’ve gone from GRU to Augusta University, if nothing else happened, that’s enough,” said Keel, prompting laughter and applause from his audience.
“And thanks to the Board of Regents, seriously, having a lot of courage to go back on themselves and change the name. But that one single event I think is done more for the reputational aspects of this university,” he said. “But it’s given us a chance to instill pride, I think in the community, and spread our reputation throughout the state and certainly throughout this region.”
Looking to the future, Keel said one goal is to continue increasing the amount of funding the university receives from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Currently, the university is number 68 in NIH funding.
“Research has always been a huge part of what we do. It’s literally intertwined into the DNA of who we are, and we are on a march to reach the top 60 of NIH funding amongst medical schools in this country. Our goal is to be in the top 50. We are already in a process to try to get there, we need to get to 60 first, and we have made great strides over the past several years to get us just there,” he said.
As he closed his final State of the University address, Keel acknowledged the team behind him, from the administrative offices to the staff.
The Georgia Board of Regents has launched a search for the next president of Augusta University. Updates are available online at www.augusta.edu/president/search.php
Keel’s retirement marks the end of a 40-year career that began as an undergraduate at then-Augusta College in the 1970’s and included serving as President of Georgia Southern University.
He said he and his wife, Tammie Schalue, will move to Southern Florida. The audience bid farewell with a standing ovation.
