Beheruz Sethna

Beheruz Nariman Sethna is a professor of business and innovation in nationwide competitions. He is the author
retired sixth President of the University of West Georgia or co-author of a book and 69 papers, more than 25 of
(UWG).
which have been after becoming President.
Sethna was the catalyst for many of the changes that elevated UWG from a liberal arts college of 7,947 stu1 Early Life and Education
dents in 1993-94 to an institution with full university status whose full-time equivalent enrollment has grown by
Sethnas educational credentials include a Bachelors de- 50 percent since his arrival. It has also conferred more
gree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute than 20 doctoral degrees in the past year, including its
[1]
of Technology, Bombay (at which institution he has been rst Ph.D.
named a Distinguished Alumnus), an MBA from the President Sethna has held several board memberships and
Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (named a has chaired boards and committees at the state, regional
Distinguished Alumnus as well), an M.Phil. and Ph.D. and national levels. For example, he has served on the
from Columbia University in New York, and participa- Board of Directors of the Georgia Chamber of Comtion in post-doctoral programs at Harvard and Indiana. merce and the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in EdHe is a Certied Computer Professional and a certied ucation; he has completed a two-year term as Chair of the
Six Sigma Green Belt.
Board of the Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education (ARCHE); and he is the past Chair of the Board
of the Gulf South Conference (GSC) and the Policies
and Purposes Committee of the American Association of
2 Career
State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). He also serves
as AASCUs national Chair of Asian-American Presi2.1 Early career
dents.
In 2012, Dr. Sethna announced his retirement as President after 19 years of service to University of West Georgia. His retirement came in eect June 30, 2013. He
continues at UWG as professor of business administration and intends to spend summers teaching English and
science at Balgram, an orphanage school in India.[2]

Sethnas previous work experience includes 13 years at

Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York (Carnegie
classication: Research University with high research activity; Doctoral, STEM dominant) and ve years at Lamar
University in Beaumont, Texas. He held tenured positions at both institutions and a named professorship at
Lamar, in addition to administrative positions of increasing responsibility from the department chair to the executive vice president levels. He also has signicant corporate experience having worked in major multinational
companies in the U.S. and overseas.

2.2

Notable Accomplishments During Presidency

Elevated UWGs reputation such that it was recognized for the rst time by U.S. News & World Report
magazine in 2012 as the Souths #46 public university and #91 regional (public and private) university

University of West Georgia

Became the rst known person of Indian origin to

become president of a university in the U.S. and the
rst person of any ethnic minority to become president of a college or university in Georgia (beyond
an HBCU)

Sethna remains active in teaching and scholarship. He

has taught undergraduates every year since arriving at
UWG, even while serving in the University System Ofce. He was elected Honors Professor of the Year and being the faculty advisor for student research teams which
won the National Social Sciences Association competition, and for multiple student research teams which have
received national recognition at the National Collegiate
Honors Council and the National Council for Undergraduate Research. Seven of his courses (including the one he
currently teaches) have won recognition in instructional

Awarded more degrees than every other presidential

administration combined
Created Georgias rst and only Board-approved
Honors College and the Advanced Academy (for
exceptionally-gifted students to complete their last
1

REFERENCES

two years of high school and rst two years of col- 2.4 Honors and Awards
lege simultaneously); Academy students have gone
Named among the 100 Most Inuential Georgians
to the best universities in the world, such as Yale
six times: 2003, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012
and Oxford, and one alumnus earned his MD at
age 21
Recognized as the University System of Georgia
Chancellors 2012 Customer Service President and
Obtained the universitys rst endowed chair and
Institution of the Year
rst major endowment to name a college
Received a Resolution of Commendation from the
Georgia Board of Regents for service to the Univer Won approval for UWGs rst four doctoral prosity System as Interim Executive/Senior Vice Changrams; awarded the rst Ph.D. in University System
cellor
of Georgia history outside of the four research universities and awarded UWGs rst honorary doctor Awarded a Resolution of Commendation from the
ate degrees
Senate of the State of Georgia
Increased FTE enrollment by approximately 50%
with very signicant increases in admission standards (for example, in 1994, 51% of the entering
freshman class required remedial education, and today, it is a fractional percentage)
Increased UWGs investment in students, faculty,
and technology by several million dollars (approximately 90% of UWGs current faculty members
were hired during this tenure)

Earned the Cornerstone Award from the Board of

Regents of the University System of Georgia
Elected Honors Professor of the Year by the Honors
students
Named the second ever recipient of the Carroll
County Chamber of Commerces Thomas S. Upchurch Workforce Education Award

2.5 Of Note

Added more facilities square footage than every

other previous presidential administration com- Sethna is the rst person of Indian origin ever to become
bined in its 107-year history
President of an American university.[3] He is also the rst
person of any ethnic minority to become President of a
Increased both land holdings and academic facilities college or university in Georgia other than a Historically
Black one.
square footage by more than 70%
Recognized seven times for instructional innovation
by the Decision Sciences Institute a national record
Served as the research advisor for ~40 students
whose research projects were selected for one or
more national-level presentations; in addition, his
students garnered three rst prizes in the past decade
for undergraduate research at the National Social
Sciences Association

2.3

University System of Georgia

He has twice served (in 1999-2000, and 200607) as Interim Executive/Senior Vice Chancellor for the University System of Georgia with responsibility for Academic
Aairs, Student Aairs, Instructional/Information Technology, and Planning for 35 Research and Comprehensive Universities and Access Institutions, 260,000 students, and 10,000 faculty. Additionally, in 2006-07, he
had line responsibility with the Presidents of all 15 Comprehensive Universities reporting to him, accounting for
about 40% of the public sector student enrollment in the
entire state of Georgia.

3 Personal
He has been married for more than 38 years to Dr. Madhavi Sethna, a UWG faculty member who has earned her
MBA, MA, MS and Ed.D. They have two children: Anita
Sethna, MD, a Facial Plastics and Board-certied ENT
surgeon who heads the Emory Facial Center and is a graduate of Georgia Tech and Emory University School of
Medicine; and Shaun Sethna, JD, Senior Counsel - Intellectual Property for technology and nancial services
company in Houston, who is a graduate of Georgia Tech
and Columbia Law School.

4 References
[1] UWG President Announces Retirement. University of
West Georgia. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
[2] UWG President Announces Retirement. University of
West Georgia. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
[3] http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/your_
columbians/beheruz_sethna.html

External links
Sethnas Prole at UWGs website
Dr. Sethna Receives Chancellors Gold Award
Beheruz Sethna among '100 Most Inuential Georgians
How Beheruz Sethna Won the West
Sethnas Prole at Columbia Universitys C250
Interview with Sethna by Kavita Chhibber

6 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

6.1

Text

Beheruz Sethna Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beheruz%20Sethna?oldid=644602339 Contributors: Zundark, Timrollpickering,

Discospinster, Rich Farmbrough, Cosmodematteo, Reinoutr, Closedmouth, SmackBot, Aelfthrytha, Chris the speller, Fullstop, Thejerm,
Disavian, Girmitya, BeenAroundAWhile, Cydebot, Khatru2, Ninja Joey, RobotG, Seaphoto, Magioladitis, Waacstats, Pvmoutside, CommonsDelinker, Johnpacklambert, Kww, Ndenison, RogDel, Tcncv, Nmdenison, Yobot, AnomieBOT, Matttoothman, Sophus Bie, FrescoBot, RjwilmsiBot, ThomasHorn7, SandraStone, Jtp2012, Ucmwestga, Frietjes, BattyBot, LisaMatheson, UGAMD, Lisamathesonuwg,
Mechordeus and Anonymous: 17

6.2

Images

File:Ambox_important.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work, based o of Image:Ambox scales.svg Original artist: Dsmurat (talk contribs)

6.3

Content license

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