Georgia Highlands College Names Interim President

Georgia Highlands College’s last president will be its next president.

Rob Watts, who served as interim president of GHC when it was still Floyd College, will take that interim post again Jan. 1 while the college searches for a permanent replacement for Randy Pierce.

The University System of Georgia announced Watt’s appointment in a news release this morning.

Watts held the interim post from 2000 until Pierce took the presidency in June 2001. Pierce announced in late September that .

“Rob is one of the University System’s most experienced leaders, given his responsibilities at the system office as well as leadership roles at three other institutions,” system Chancellor Hank Huckaby said in the news release. “We are extremely fortunate to be able to call upon his skills in this important assignment at Georgia Highlands.”

Watts was the University System’s chief operating officer from 2006 until earlier this year. He had worked in the system since 1986.

In addition to his time at GHC, he served as interim president of Middle Georgia College in Cochran from 2001 to 2002 and as interim president of Georgia Perimeter College in Decatur in 2005 and 2006.

Watts received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Florida State University and has a master’s from Johns Hopkins University’s Bologna Center in Italy.

USG officials have not announced plans for the search for a permanent president of Georgia Highlands.

Georgia Highlands’ original and main campus is in Rome, but its also attend classes in , , and Marietta on the .

The presidential transition comes at a time when the mission of Georgia Highlands is growing, . The college gained in May, added a with the support of WellStar and instituted .