The University System of Georgia announced that Kimberly Ballard-Washington will serve as interim president of Savannah State University, effective July 1. Savannah State University enrolls about 4,200 undergraduate students and nearly 200 graduate students, according to the latest data supplied to the U.S. Department of Education. African Americans make up 83 percent of the undergraduate student body at the historically Black university.
Ballard-Washington currently serves as associate vice chancellor for legal affairs for the University System of Georgia. She is the former associate director of legal affairs for the flagship campus of the University of Georgia in Athens. Earlier, Ballard Washington was assistant to the president for legal affairs and director of equal opportunity programs at Valdosta State University in Georgia. She has previously served as interim president at Fort Valley State University and Albany State University, both in Georgia.
Ballard-Washington is a native of Montezuma, Georgia. She earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Georgia and a law degree at Texas Southern University in Houston.
Ballard-Washington will become interim president on July 1 upon the retirement of Cheryl Davenport Dozier. Cheryl Davenport Dozier was named president of Savannah State University in 2012 and had served in the post on an interim basis since April 2011. Prior to being named interim president, she was associate provost for institutional diversity and a tenured professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Georgia.
Dr. Dozier is a graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey. She earned a master of social work degree from Clark Atlanta University and a doctorate in social welfare from the City University of New York.
