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President's Bio
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From The Desk of the President
DR. JERMAINE WHIRL
Dr. Jermaine Whirl, an Aspen Fellow, is a nationally sought-after, award-winning authority in workforce education. He currently serves as president of Augusta Technical College (ATC), a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia. Since his arrival to the college in November 2020, he’s completed a full-rebrand of the institution, implemented a new five-year strategic plan, established 5 new academic schools, established a new School of Health Sciences Campus at Summerville in partnership with Piedmont Augusta (the first and only two-year healthcare school operating in a hospital), became the first institution of higher education in Augusta to be selected an Amazon Choice Partner, established the Augusta Advantage Transfer Program with Augusta University, launch the state’s first Cyber Summit, helped the college achieve its 10-year reaffirmation for SACSCOC accreditation, established the Jim Hudson Center for Automotive Innovation (65,000 square feet - the largest automotive training facility in Georgia), secured $5.5m to create a CDL Truck Driving Range in McDuffie County, established Accelerate Augusta- a $2.3 million incubator/microenterprise center in partnership with the Downtown Development Authority of Augusta with congressional dollars, obtained the college’s first ever million dollar gift (obtained three separate million dollar gifts in 8 months), obtained a $1m gift to name the college’s first academic school (T.R. Reddy School of Advanced Manufacturing & Engineering Technology) helped to recruit the largest freshmen class in the past three years (1,500 new students), co-chaired the Biden-Harris Administration’s Workforce Hub Augusta Initiative, and most recently partnered with Augusta National Golf Course (Master’s Tournament) and First Tee of Augusta to revitalize the Augusta Municipal Golf Course to establish the nation’s first corridor of golf education in partnership with the City of Augusta.
In the last year alone he’s been awarded the Paragon Award for new presidents from Phi Theta Kappa, Man of the Year award from the Success Team Non-Profit Organization, Georgia Southern University’s George and Lucy Armstrong Alumni Award, Soul Awakening Award of Excellence from Perry Broadcasting of Augusta, been inducted in the second annual Titan 100 class, and was an inaugural member of the Georgia Trend 500 most influential leaders in Georgia. He’s a graduate of the Executive Leadership Augusta Forum, Leadership Columbia County, Furman University’s Diversity Leadership Institute (DLI), the SC Economic Development Institute, Leadership Greenville Class 44, and Leadership Gwinnett Class of 2016. He is also the only college president in the United States selected to serve a three-year term on the U.S. Inaugural 21st Century Energy Workforce Advisory Board that provides guidance to the Secretary of Energy. Dr. Whirl also serves other regional and national boards, taskforces, and councils for organizations such as TD Bank, HERDI, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Queensborough National Bank, the Warrior Alliance, and the American Association of Community Colleges. Within the CSRA he serves on the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce Board (Chairman Elect), United Way of the CSRA Board, CSRA Regional Commission, SRS Community Reuse Organization, and the CSRA Alliance for Fort Eisenhower. He also holds an honorary board membership with the Morris Museum of Art and is a member of the Rotary Club of Augusta.
Before accepting the presidency at ATC, Dr. Whirl served as the Vice President for Learning and Workforce Development at Greenville Technical College. In this role, he served as the chief academic and continuing education officer, and he was responsible for the leadership of the college’s credit and non-credit programs serving approximately 20,000 students a year in five locations. He also served as the college’s Vice President for Economic Development and Corporate Training where he served as the official economic development liaison to the Greenville Area Development Corporation, Upstate SC Alliance, and the SC Department of Commerce helping to recruit over 20 companies over a four-year span. Dr. Whirl holds the special distinction of being the first and only chief academic officer in the SC Technical College System to author a bachelor’s degree with full approval by the SC Commission on Higher Education.
Additional administrative experience includes serving Gwinnett Technical College as Dean of both the School of Business Sciences and School of Art & Design; Dean of Adult Education at Savannah Technical College; full-time faculty member within the Parker College of Business Administration at Georgia Southern University, and full-time faculty member at East Georgia State College. Dr. Whirl also held adjunct faculty positions at Charleston Southern University, South University, and Toccoa Falls College in the areas of business administration, economics, and leadership. His higher education career began at Winthrop University where he first served as a tutor to provisionally admitted students in the LEAP program, and he then served in the office of alumni relations where he led the student alumni council.
A Charleston, South Carolina native and second-generation technical college graduate, he earned his associate of arts degree at Trident Technical College, a bachelor’s degree in economics at Winthrop University, a Master of Business Administration degree at Charleston Southern University, a second master’s degree in adult education & community leadership at Georgia Southern University, and a doctorate in organizational leadership at Valdosta State University.
Dr. Whirl is married to Mrs. Marqueta Whirl and has two children: Jaylen Lee Whirl and Madison Renee Whirl.