At Columbus State, the mission is clear: “Become a first choice institution,” President Dr. Timothy Mescon says. He’s been at the helm six years, and has spent most of his life and career as a Georgian—growing up in Atlanta and earning his doctorate at Terry College of Business at University of Georgia.

Last year, Columbus State ranked as a top institution on three US World and News Reports:

• Online graduate program in business
• College of education program
• Top public comprehensive university in the South

And more good news for their Education program—“Our center for international education just won the very prestigious national recommendation from the SIMON program [initiated by Senator Paul Simon] as a top international education program in the USA.” This recognition was earned in part for having residential housing in England to ensure that annually, “at least 5% of our students study abroad every year,” Mescon says. 

Another big win? “We also recorded our best year ever for our annual fund, raising over $8 million for the university in a time of deeply constrained resources, those funds and gifts and support were very important for the university,” he shares. And supported by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents, Columbus State secured funding by legislature to renovate Howard Hall, the oldest classroom on campus. 

Those renovations only tell part of this year’s chapter in the university’s story. In harmony with their “First Choice” strategy, Columbus State just announced on Friday that they are creating a fifth college, “Our honors college,” President Mescon says, “and we are very, very excited about that. It’s a part of our intentional strategy to enroll highly competitive students.” The Honors College opens this fall. 

Other new initiatives earning buzz are the new online DN3 program bachelorette degrees in Communications and Criminal Justice to bring the total online degree programs to twenty. Dr. Mescon says, “We received funding from the Gates Foundation to make these new options possible.” 

Other technology initiatives are made possible through their array of industry partners. “We really have fantastic technology partners. We have a long term partnership with Oracle, IBM, HP—they have really moved the needle here in terms of technology,” Mescon says, “and just over five years ago we changed our entire email platform to Google; since then Google has become a fantastic partner. They make us better.” 

Columbus State has also taken steps to strengthen their commitment to helping those pursuing careers in the public service industry. “At that graduate level, we have a brand new master’s program in Justice Administration that’s part of our Command College for people in law, fire or corrections. And we have leaders in those fields that have come through this program that have come from all over the country. Our Servant Leadership program started a dozen years ago and it’s one of the core values of this university—which is about service to others. Not only do we run a baccalaureate program, but we have one of the few masters program in the country [Master of Science in Organizational Leadership] and it’s attracting an extraordinary number of captains at Fort Benning and is helping us develop a strong partnership with them.” 

But it’s not all work and no play at Columbus State, President Mescon emphasizes. “Columbus is now the second largest city in Georgia. We’re a river city. Last Memorial Day, the city opened up the longest stretch of urban whitewater in the world; Class III and IV rapids come right through downtown. And the world class nature of our Schowb School of Music attracts some of the finest musicians in the nation.”

To find out more, visit their website at http://www.columbusstate.edu/.