Education

The man leading one of the largest, non-manufacturing, employers in the Augusta area is preparing to step down. Dr. Brooks Keel, President of Augusta University (AU), will be retiring from the position effective June 30, 2024. He assumed the role in July 2015. Prior to his arrival, the Health Sciences campus downtown and the Summerville campus suffered a year-after-year decline in enrollment. Annual decreases ranged from 1.4% to 5.9% for a yearly average decline of 3.2% between 2010 and 2015. The turnaround began his first year as president. “We have

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