Jere W. Morehead, associate provost and director of the Honors Program and Foundation Fellows Program at the University of Georgia, has been appointed vice provost for academic affairs. He will assume his new duties Aug. 1.
Arnett Mace, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, said Morehead will fill the position held by Bonnie Yegidis, who is leaving UGA to become provost and vice president for academic affairs at Florida Gulf Coast University.
Under Yegidis, the position has been called associate vice president for academic affairs and associate provost. Mace said the position was renamed to reflect expanded duties and responsibilities.
Morehead, a faculty member in the Terry College of Business legal studies department since 1986, is an award-winning teacher and researcher and served in 1998-99 as UGA’s acting executive director of legal affairs. He has led the Honors and Foundation Fellows programs, as associate provost, since 1999.
In 2003, he was named faculty representative to the Georgia Athletic Association and was chair of the search committee that recommended Damon Evans as the university’s new athletic director.
Mace said Morehead’s duties will include oversight of the Honors Program, Foundation Fellows Program and Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities. In addition, he will oversee the Faculty Affairs office and will be the liaison between the provost’s office and the admissions office and student affairs division.
Mace said Morehead–who in 1997 chaired a task force on the quality of the undergraduate experience at UGA–will lead a new task force to assess changes in student learning and develop ways the university will respond to those changes. Other duties will include helping develop university strategic priorities, budget planning and review for schools and colleges, and evaluating curriculum issues and academic programs.
Morehead will continue as faculty athletics representative and will be the liaison between the athletic association and academic affairs.
“I am delighted that Professor Morehead has agreed to become vice provost for academic affairs,” said Mace. “He has demonstrated excellence in every position he has occupied at the University of Georgia and will bring a diversity of talent and experiences to the provost’s office. I look forward to working with Jere to further enhance the quality of university programs and responsiveness of the provost’s office.”
Under Morehead’s leadership the Honors and Foundation Fellow programs have attained new levels of excellence. The 450 Honors students who enroll this fall will have a record-high 1438 SAT average and 4.05 high school grade point average. Honors students consistently win the nation’s most prestigious scholarships including Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Goldwater, Gates Cambridge, Mellon and Udall awards.
Private giving to the Honors Program has increased ten-fold and the number of students on major scholarships in the Foundation Fellows Program has risen by more than 50 percent. Several new Honors scholarship programs have been created, along with an internship program for Honors students in Washington congressional offices.
Morehead has taught Honors classes and seminars during his entire 18 years on the faculty. He has received UGA’s highest teaching honors, including the Josiah Meigs and Richard Russell teaching awards, and was twice chosen Outstanding Honors Professor and business teacher of the year in the Terry College.
Morehead’s publications include more than 30 books, book chapters and articles. He is co-author of a leading undergraduate legal textbook, “The Legal and Regulatory Environment of Business,” and has been editor-in-chief of the American Business Law Journal.
He was advisor for the moot court program in the School of Law for nine years, helping student teams win five national championships.
Mace said a screening and advisory committee will be appointed to recommend a new director of the Honors Program from the ranks of UGA tenured professors.
