James January-February 2025 web - Flipbook - Page 26
but, Keen concluded, “throughout
it all our students, faculty and staff
demonstrated strength and resilience,
and we were committed to the safe
reopening of campus, so we could
continue our mission.”
B O O S TI N G R E S E A RC H
So, with great help from our
colleagues at Gordon State College,
our students were able to relocate to
dorms on that campus in Barnesville,
for about a week.”
Another big challenge was the
clean-up of over 2,000 downed trees
spread across campuses in Augusta.
The art studio lost its roof, and some
other buildings were slightly damaged. The assessment of damage is
over $6 million and the estimated the
cleanup could be around $2 million.”
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JAMES
JANUA RY/F E BRUA RY 2 02 5
Our conversation then pivoted
to his main priority: Expanding AU’s
research enterprise and building upon
the university’s impressive record of
research-based discoveries. “We are
going to tell our story more statewide,”
he says, starting with explaining that
“a large part our research reputation is
built on our Medical College of Georgia. We have many world-renowned
researchers here, but we need to recruit
more, and right now space is our biggest limiting factor.” The university is
actively raising funds for a new 150,000
square foot translational research building to accommodate the growth.
He explains that the stature of a
medical school is based on National
Institute of Health (NIH) funding.
“Medical schools are ranked on the
amount of funding they get, so our
goal is to really boost our rankings.”
Augusta University already has the
fourth largest medical school class size
in the country and for a faculty its size
(around 700) the president notes it has
the most productive public medical
school faculty in country in terms NIH
funding. A fact that bears repeating,
he continued, is that “you’re not going
to have a higher return on investment
than if you invest in a public medical
school that will improve healthcare for
the entire state.” Furthermore, when
it comes to those not familiar with the
economic impact this research has on
a community, he underscores that “for
every dollar of NIH funding at least
$2.60 goes into the local economy.
That’s a statistic that stands out.”
He notes that the partnership with
Wellstar also enables more clinical
research and “we’ll be able to provide
more access to clinical trials to Georgians. And that means longer and
better quality of life for more people.”
