{"id":11970,"date":"2025-10-01T08:58:47","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T12:58:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/?p=11970"},"modified":"2025-10-10T11:05:35","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T15:05:35","slug":"alumnus-soars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2025\/10\/01\/alumnus-soars\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumnus Soars: Eagle Grad Helms Major University in Metro Atlanta"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Clayton State University President Georj Lewis, Ed.D., (\u201907) has deep- rooted connections to Georgia Southern University. Not only is he an alumnus, but he also has served in pivotal leadership roles at Georgia Southern, including dean of students and vice president for student affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was one of the best times in my life and in my career,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was faith, adventure and growth for me and my family, and a lot of happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing up south of Pittsburgh, Lewis didn\u2019t have to look too far to decide on a career path. He was raised primarily by his father who was a school principal. His mother was a teacher, but she died when he was four years old. A grandmother was also a teacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was my foundation from home,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cI understood that education was probably the best career pathway for my future. I was raised \u2018old school.\u2019 My father didn\u2019t make any excuses, nor did he accept any excuses. He always taught me to be the best or work to be the best regardless of the situation and encouraged me to anticipate challenges and work through them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEducation is my ministry.\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Georj Lewis, president of Clayton State University<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since leaving Georgia Southern in 2019, Lewis has served as president of Atlanta Metropolitan State College, and for the last two-and-a-half years he has led Clayton State University. Despite the signifi cant responsibilities and challenges in leading a metro Atlanta university, Lewis explained why he embraces the weight of the role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI see these responsibilities as a blessing and as an opportunity to advance the lives of our students,\u201d the alumnus said. \u201cI wouldn’t be in this position if it wasn’t meant to be. As with anything that carries a little bit of weight, you learn to bear that weight and over time, you gain strength. This strength comes with experience. For me, education is my ministry, and I believe this is what I’m meant to be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lewis arrived at Clayton State with a vision. It started with developing a strategic plan for creating stability in key areas on campus. But that quickly evolved into a plan of expansion and growth. His top priority now is promoting the social mobility of students by improving their outcomes through education. Their success, he said, will have an impact on their families for generations to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We meet students where they are, giving them the tools needed to achieve social mobility,\u201d Lewis remarked. \u201cWhen they graduate, we want our students to experience the best of things and that means in their careers, income, health and opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A TYPICAL DAY As the president of a university, the hours are long, and no two days are alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you’re doing something every day that you enjoy, you don\u2019t consider it work,\u201d he said. \u201cMy days are fi lled with everything from tough decisions to collaborating with faculty, staff and students, as well as engaging with the community. However, I\u2019m naturally an extrovert, so even on days when I\u2019m tired, as soon as I start interacting with the campus community it reenergizes me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lewis is proud of his accomplishments at Clayton State, citing students\u2019 improved retention and graduation rates. But what excites him most is his connection with students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne example is a student who is one of our presidential scholars,\u201d the university president said.\u201c She is a first-generation student from a local high school who is also a mother. To be able to see her and support her as she’s navigating the challenges of being a mother and being successful in college, to me, that is success.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe best part of the job is the opportunity to positively impact students and the community every single day,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s about making dreams a reality. When our students cross the stage at graduation, it\u2019s just a sense of enjoyment, thankfulness and pride.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former Georgia Southern vice president for student affairs counts himself as lucky to have found a fulfilling career in higher education. Because he values it so much, he doesn\u2019t hesitate to encourage students to follow that path if that is their goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThink of it like other careers,\u201d he noted. \u201cFor example, in a big department store, there’s more than selling clothes \u2013 there\u2019s logistics, marketing and finance. Higher education is similar, offering a wide range of opportunities. You can work in student affairs, academic affairs or facilities. I started as an admissions counselor at my alma mater, and found I really loved what I was doing. Once I identified that higher education is where I wanted to stay, it became a rewarding career because of the impact you can have on people.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BUILDING ON AN EDUCATIONAL LEGACY Over the years, Lewis\u2019 path has taken him to various colleges and cities on the East Coast and in the Midwest. Refl ecting on those experiences, he emphasized that he values the opportunity they gave him to form meaningful relationships with both colleagues and students. \u201cI have met and grown to know, like and love so many of the students, faculty and staff that I’ve worked with over the years,\u201d he said. \u201cMany of the students I worked with at Georgia Southern are now professionals, and are in the same fi eld as I am. It\u2019s incredibly rewarding to see and work with them now as professionals. Overall, it\u2019s been a deeply fulfi lling experience, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.\u201d The married father of three believes he has upheld his family\u2019s educational legacy, drawing inspiration from his father\u2019s journey and advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think he would be proud of me,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cHe was a fi rst- generation college student who became a teacher and a principal, and he told me it was my job to do more. I’m not saying that being a president is more or less than being a principal. But what I’m saying is, I think he would be proud based on the progress that our family has made, and it’s because he was the fi rst one who went to college and was the foundation for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014SANDRA BENNETT<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clayton State University President Georj Lewis, Ed.D., (\u201907) has deep- rooted connections to Georgia Southern University. Not only is he an alumnus, but he also has served in pivotal leadership roles at Georgia Southern, including dean of students and vice president for student affairs. \u201cIt was one of the best times in my life and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":898,"featured_media":11971,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[90],"class_list":["post-11970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-spring-2025"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/898"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}