ATHENS, Ga. – University of Georgia President Michael F. Adams was elected president of the Southeastern Conference by fellow SEC presidents and chancellors at the league’s annual June meeting in Destin, Fla.
Adams brings extensive intercollegiate athletics leadership experience to the position, having served as a member of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics and as vice president of the SEC. He has been a member of the SEC’s Executive Committee, chairing the league’s Investment Committee.
Adams will serve a two-year term as SEC President beginning July 1, and by convention, other officers in his administration will assume leadership roles in the conference. For example, Arnett Mace, UGA’s academic Provost, will head the SEC’s Academic Consortium for a two-year term.
“In size and potential, the Southeastern Conference is one of the nation’s premier intercollegiate athletic leagues,” said Adams. “The conference presidents are providing great leadership at a time when campus athletic programs are facing many challenges. I believe this election is an indication of the esteem that UGA enjoys in the SEC, and it certainly gives UGA an additional opportunity to have a positive impact on the conference’s academic and athletic development.”
SEC Commissioner Mike Slive and Adams will work closely on setting policy for the league. “Over the past several years, Dr. Adams has played an important role in the affairs of the conference,” Slive said. “I now look forward to working with him in his role as President of the Southeastern Conference as we address the many challenges and complex issues facing intercollegiate athletics.”
Adams will succeed outgoing SEC President John White, Chancellor at the University of Arkansas. “Mike Adams is well-prepared to assume this key position within the conference,” White said. “He is a skilled administrator with considerable experience in intercollegiate athletics issues. We are fortunate to have his leadership at this time.”
The Southeastern Conference president presides at all meetings of the conference and the executive committee and calls to order all special meetings of the league. The president is the official representative of the conference in all business concerning intercollegiate athletics, and, in cooperation with the commissioner, sees that rules and regulations are observed by all members.
The Southeastern Conference was formed in 1933 and consists of 12 member institutions: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. The league currently sanctions championship play in nine men’s sports and 11 women’s sports.
Adams was named the 21st president of UGA on June 11, 1997. He also holds an academic appointment as professor of speech communication.
Adams is widely recognized as a national leader in the advancement of higher education, and was recently elected chair of the Council of Presidents for the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges. He is the only person to serve as chairman of both the American Council on Education and the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. He has been chair of the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and chaired the Rhodes Scholarship committee for Georgia for five years.
Under his leadership, UGA has risen into the upper echelon of American public universities and has now been in the U.S. News & World Report top 20 for four consecutive years. External funding for UGA research now approaches $150 million annually and private giving is at an all-time high.
Adams holds an undergraduate degree in speech and history from David Lipscomb University and a master’s and Ph.D. in political communications from the Ohio State University.
He served as chief of staff to U.S. Senator Howard Baker and as a senior advisor to Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander. He was vice president for university affairs at Pepperdine University and president of Centre College in Kentucky before coming to the University of Georgia.
