Catching up with… Jermaine Whirl

An Aspen Fellow, Whirl previously served as president of Augusta Technical College before taking on the leadership of Georgia’s oldest public Historically Black College and University (HBCU) on April 1, 2025.

Dr. Jermaine Whirl, President, Savannah State University. Photo credit: Frank Fortune

What attracted you to the job at Savannah State University?

The location, Savannah. You’ve got the port, you’ve got Hyundai, Gulfstream, all those industries. And it’s a fast-growing community. You’ve got two military installations. You have a wonderful hospitality community. I had lived there before. I was a dean at Savannah Tech for a few years and taught at Georgia Southern. I always said that Savannah State was a hidden jewel and that if I had the opportunity to come here, I would bring all my connections to networks, institutions and industry, as well as my experiences specifically in workforce development. I feel like I can make an impact.

What was the biggest challenge when you became president?

We had multiple vacancies at the vice president, dean, director and associate vice president levels, about 15 vacancies. I was busy the first few months getting a search committee together, hiring a financial officer, a vice president of academics, a provost and a vice president of enrollment. That probably took my first four months getting those folks in. We also hadn’t had a strategic plan in place since 2022.

That’s something you enjoy: strategic planning, culture-setting, vision-casting.

That’s my sweet spot. We now have a strategic plan in place: The UpRoar 2030. In my 100 Day Address, I put out a very big, bold vision. We’ve always been a master’s degree-granting institution, but in terms of research productivity [and] dollar-spend in sponsored research, we’ve been middle-of-the-pack. I put out the goal that we’re going to be an R3 institution, which really sets the pace for us to be more aggressive in undergraduate and graduate research. I also set a bold goal that we’re going to offer doctoral degrees. We have the faculty to do it; we have some programs that fit, and I’ve asked the faculty to bring those proposals back. We’ve dusted them off, and we’re beginning that process with the [university] system support to pursue them. The other part is capital infrastructure. We went aggressively on a large [capital] project: a health, engagement and student support center. We received $6.5 million from the legislature for the design, and a $48.6 million [request was approved by] the Board of Regents. All in, it will be about a $59 million project, the largest capital project in Savannah State history. That project will be transformational for us.

Last fall, Hyundai donated $5 million to establish the Hyundai College of Education at Savannah State University. How did that gift come about?

Hyundai was talking with Savannah State before I got here, but I took a trip to Seoul, South Korea, with a group of higher ed experts. That was where the conversations [with Hyundai leaders] picked up. The question was asked, “How can we help Savannah State?” And, as always, when you get to things like this, it’s really never about the dollar amount. It’s about the impact. We talked about each of the [newly reconfigured] five colleges (Business Administration; Education; Engineering, Technology & Computing; Sciences and Humanities; Media, Arts & Communications). Most folks would assume that Hyundai would invest in the engineering school because the company manufactures vehicles. Engineering wasn’t even on their radar. They wanted to support education because they said, “We need to ensure that we have STEM-educated young people in the year 2050 and beyond.” They want to influence STEM education at the elementary, middle and high school levels.

They also said that even if the students never work for Hyundai, the Georgia workforce will be better off because well-trained teachers will come into their school districts. That is such a powerful way to look at an investment because it was not a transactional thing. It’s not, “We’re giving you money so we can hire graduates.” They want to invest in the next generation of young people, period.