December 5, 2024

President Stuart Rayfield has appointed Dr. Shannon B. Campbell as Columbus State University’s new provost, executive vice president and chief academic officer. Currently the dean of fine and applied arts at Appalachian State University in North Carolina, Campbell will officially begin her CSU tenure on Jan. 21, 2025.

As a senior university leader and member of the president’s Executive Leadership Team, Campbell will lead the university’s academic enterprise, overseeing a total Academic Affairs budget of $54.7 million and a team of more than 450 faculty and staff. This includes many of the university’s student success and academic support programs; academic colleges and deans; research, outreach and faculty development centers; and affiliated administrative units.

“I’m thrilled to welcome Dr. Campbell to Columbus State at such an exciting time,” Rayfield said. “Her impressive background—especially in developing creative academic programs and stackable credentials—will help us continue to reshape our students’ education experience. We want to be a destination of choice where students can excel, grow as individuals and launch successful careers after graduation.”

Part of reshaping education at Columbus State will include realigning the core curriculum—general education courses like English, mathematics, science and social studies—with the career competencies required by today’s employers. This move bolsters the University System of Georgia’s systemwide focus on equipping graduates with communication, critical thinking, problem-solving and conflict resolution skills that will complement what they learn in their chosen majors, improve their post-graduate employability and enhance the state’s workforce.

Campbell will provide leadership for student success priorities comprising the university’s five-year strategic plan, launched earlier this year. That plan calls for increasing student retention rates to 85% from fall to fall and undergraduate graduation rates to 60% by 2030. Activities to support those priorities include instituting a new student success infrastructure, an enhanced advising standard of care, and more intentional linkages between students’ declared majors and their career pathways.

ABOUT CAMPBELL

Campbell’s higher education career has spanned nearly three decades—including tenure-track faculty appointments and leadership roles at the departmental, college and university levels. At Appalachian State, Campbell has been dean of the College of Fine and Applied Arts since June 2021. There, she has overseen a college with more than 3,500 students, 475 employees and a $49 million budget across seven academic departments.

Her teaching and research focus in public relations, communication, and integrated marketing has benefited from her extensive corporate and consulting experience. She holds a bachelor’s in communication management from Missouri State University, a master’s in organizational communication from the University of Southern Illinois, and a doctorate in marketing communication and media studies from the University of Texas at Austin.

“I’m most excited about joining the leadership team at Columbus State University because of the close alignment between the university’s stated mission, vision and values and my own,” Campbell said. “I was deeply moved by the sense of community I felt during my brief campus visit.  I look forward to partnering with faculty, staff and students to identify opportunities and implement systems of support for all.”

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Media contact: Michael Tullier, APR, Executive Director of Strategic Communication + Marketing, 706.507.8729, mtullier@columbusstate.edu