Message to Students 

 

Hello, Wolves!

Today marks the beginning of my journey as interim president of the University of West Georgia, and I am thrilled to join this vibrant community. UWG has a strong history of leaders stretching back 118 years – including, most recently, Dr. Brendan Kelly – contributing to the dynamic institution we know today. Now, it is my turn to continue this momentum.

It is the privilege of a lifetime for me to lead this terrific institution, and I will not waste a single moment.  

I will push on many fronts, but there is one goal that I want to focus on: helping you cross the finish line to graduation and then move on to the future of your choosing.   

There is nothing like higher education to provide meaning and fulfillment. And, yes, monetary rewards too! A bachelor’s degree increases lifetime earnings by approximately $1 million, and the increase is even higher for graduate degrees. As you pursue this promising future, you may face hurdles along the way, captured in this quote from the novel, Anna Karenina: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” 

What this quote means is that people face their own unique challenges. To succeed, every possible route to failure must be avoided. To graduate, every link in your chain of success must hold strong. So, watch out for any link in your chain that is under pressure, and never hesitate to reach out to us. Together with the dedicated faculty and staff of UWG, we will support you at every single step.   

A boost to our community will be the transition to Division I athletics. We will leverage our Division I status to improve our visibility and strengthen a sense of belonging so that you love your time here and move on to a bright future of fulfilled dreams.

Be sure to take advantage of all the wonderful things that UWG has to offer. Whether it’s watching a football game or dining at East Commons, I will be sitting right beside you.

 

Go West, and Go Wolves!

 

Dr. Ashwani Monga 

Interim President 

University of West Georgia

---

Message to Faculty and Staff 

 

Dear Colleagues, 

  

Today marks the beginning of my journey as interim president of the University of West Georgia, and I am thrilled to join this vibrant community. UWG has a strong history of leaders stretching back 118 years – including, most recently, Dr. Brendan Kelly – contributing to the dynamic institution we know today. Now, it is my turn to continue this momentum.

I expect to be here for the next several months, but as is the nature of interim presidencies, I do not know the exact duration of my tenure. Both you and I will need to live with that uncertainty. However, UWG is too precious for us to just sit on our hands. It is the privilege of a lifetime for me to lead this terrific institution, and I will not waste a single moment. I am determined to hand over a strong UWG to the individual fortunate enough to be the institution’s next permanent president.

I will push on many fronts, but there is one goal that I want to focus on: helping more students cross the finish line to graduation.

Higher education across the country performs poorly on this goal, with only about three in five students graduating with a bachelor’s degree within six years. At UWG, only about two in five students graduate within six years. I know that many schools like UWG have a similar graduation rate. But we aspire to play in the big league – our Division I athletics has to be paired with Division I academics. You may wonder why I am focused on mere graduation, rather than the high aspirations of our undergraduate and graduate students. The reason is simply that completing a bachelor’s degree is a necessary first step to higher aspirations, whether in a career or further education. It is not a coincidence that the best universities in the nation have near-perfect graduation rates. If we strive for high graduation rates, we will achieve excellence on all fronts.

Those who enroll at UWG make sacrifices in the present to pursue the future of their dreams. They are investing their time and money, forgoing alternative economic opportunities, and putting on hold other priorities in life. That so many leave UWG with no diploma is sad for students and their families. It is also sad for the reputation of UWG. When students end their journey with some credits but no degree, possibly even debt, they will not have good things to say about UWG to their families and communities. As a marketing professor, I know that it is hard to counter negative word-of-mouth by simply advertising our strengths, of which we have plenty. What we need is more positive word-of-mouth in which students tell others about our efforts to make them successful.

As our students pursue their degrees, they often face hurdles along the way, captured in this quote from the novel, Anna Karenina: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” The idea here is that people face their own unique challenges. To succeed, every possible route to failure must be avoided. To graduate, every link in a student’s chain of success must hold strong. So, as you interact with students, watch out for any link in their chain that is under pressure, and offer your support. Just one interaction filled with empathy, one note of encouragement, or one inspiring conversation may help a student persist and cross the finish line.

We also need to help students appreciate the promise of the future—to make them see how higher education provides meaning and fulfillment and, yes, monetary rewards. A bachelor’s degree increases lifetime earnings by approximately $1 million, and the increase is even higher for graduate degrees. Faculty members play a critical role in conveying the value of education. Those of us who teach know well the importance of our area and clearly see the path from what we teach students today to who they eventually become. But the curse of knowledge is that when we know that something is important, we focus on conveying the knowledge rather than its importance.

I will count on faculty members to help students appreciate the importance of what they are taught and to inspire them to dream big. And I will count on staff members to treat every interaction with a student as an opportunity to help them make purposeful choices in service of their dreams. All of us together can help students visualize their dreams and turn them into reality.

A boost to our community will be the transition to Division I athletics, and I am very excited about what this means for attracting and retaining students. We will leverage our Division I status to improve our visibility, enabling us to convey the promising future that awaits UWG students. We will also leverage our Division I status to strengthen a sense of belonging, connecting all those on campus with each other, our alumni, and the broader community.

Thank you for your dedication to helping our students progress toward a bright future of fulfilled dreams. I will be working right alongside you.

 

Go West, and Go Wolves!

 

Ashwani Monga, Ph.D. 

Interim President 

University of West Georgia