Georgia Southern University Presidential Finalist Brooks A. Keel, Ph.D. to Visit Campus

September 25, 2009

Brooks A. Keel, Ph.D., a finalist in the Georgia Southern University Presidential Search, will visit the University campus next week.

Keel is one of several finalists who are visiting the University and the Statesboro area as the search for Georgia Southern’s 12^{th President continues. His visit will include meetings and interviews with University officials and open forums for the campus and community.www.georgiasouthern.edu.}

Keel currently serves as the Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development, and Professor of Biological Sciences, at Louisiana State University (LSU). He assumed his current position during the summer of 2006. As vice chancellor, Dr. Keel leads the university’s research and economic initiatives and activities, including expanding research funding opportunities for faculty and students, encouraging entrepreneurial activity and broadening LSU’s technology transfer operations and partnerships with statewide business organizations in support of long-term economic development for Louisiana. He coordinates the work of more than 1,300 faculty involved in approximately 2,000 sponsored research projects, and oversees the areas of LSU’s budget that deal with $156 million in externally funded grants and programs.

Prior to joining LSU, Dr. Keel was the Associate Vice President for Research, Vice President of the Research Foundation, and Professor of Biomedical Sciences at Florida State University (FSU).

 Dr. Keel is a native of Georgia and received his Ph.D. in reproductive endocrinology from the Medical College of Georgia in 1982. After three years of postdoctoral training at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston and the University of South Dakota School of Medicine, Dr. Keel moved to the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita (UKSM-W), where he established the Women’s Research Institute and the Reproductive Medicine Laboratories. He was the first recipient of the Daniel K. Roberts Distinguished Professorship, an endowed chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

 Keel was appointed Associate Dean for Research at the UKSM-W in 1991, and served in this role until moving to Florida State University. Nationally, Dr. Keel serves on the Board of Directors of the American Board of Bioanalysis, the American Association of Bioanalysts Board of Registry, the Oak Ridge Associated Universities, the Southeastern Universities Research Association, and the Executive Committee of the Council on Research Policy and Graduate Education of APLU. He was recently appointed by the Secretary of Commerce to serve on the Emerging Technology and Research Advisory Committee. Dr. Keel is the member of numerous other professional organizations and societies and has authored 65 peer reviewed scientific publications, 78 peer reviewed abstracts, 19 book chapters and edited four books in the area of reproductive medicine and biology.

The Community Open Forum will be held Monday Sept. 28, 2009 from 4:00 p.m.-5:30 p.m. in Georgia Southern’s Performing Arts Center. Members of the community are invited to attend.

The finalists’ visit to campus is the last step in the initial phase of the Presidential Search process. The University System of Georgia Board of Regents formed a Presidential Search and Screen Committee made up of Georgia Southern faculty, staff, and student leaders and members of the local community.

A nationwide search of candidates was conducted and the Search Committee reviewed the qualifications of the applicants. After on-campus interviews are completed, the campus committee will forward the credentials of three to five unranked candidates to a Special Regents’ Search Committee for the second phase of the search.

Regents Felton Jenkins, William H. NeSmith Jr., Benjamin J. Tarbutton III and Richard L. Tucker serve as members of the Special Regents’ Search Committee chaired by Regent Donald M. Leebern, Jr. This committee is responsible for recommending finalists to Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr., who will make a recommendation to the full Board of Regents.

Georgia Southern University, a Carnegie Doctoral/Research University, offers 115 degree programs serving 19,000 students. Through eight colleges, the University offers bachelors, masters, and doctoral degree programs built on more than a century of academic achievement. The University, one of Georgia’s largest, is a top choice of Georgia’s HOPE scholars and is recognized for its student-centered approach to education.