BRINGING BRUNDAGE ON BOARD: ABAC faculty, staff, students, University System of Georgia institution representatives, and community officials celebrated Dr. Tracy L. Brundage’s investiture as ABAC’s 11th president on September 22, 2023.

TIFTON — Students, staff, faculty, and alumni of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College came together to officially welcome their newest president to their ranks.

ABAC held an investiture ceremony the morning of Sep. 22 to formally recognize and instate Dr. Tracy Brundage in her position as the eleventh president of the college.

Brundage began her term at ABAC in August of last year, and immediately set to work striving to improve the school however she could and becoming immersed in the college’s community. A year later, that same community was now happy to celebrate her official inauguration into the ranks of their school presidents.

Joining them in the audience of the ceremony in the Gressette Gymnasium were various presidents, provosts, deans, vice presidents, and alumni of other colleges and universities, serving as delegates of their institutions and arranged in order of their institutions’ founding, as well as local and state elected officials, members of the ABAC Alumni Board and ABAC Foundation Board of Trustees, and vice chancellors and administrators of the University System of Georgia.

Looking out over the assembled crowd as he thanked them all for attending, public relations director Chris Beckham, serving as the master of ceremonies for the event, commented that the importance of the day’s events was only bolstered by the attendance of all of its special guests.

As an official welcome to her position, community members and local leaders were invited to extend words of greeting and gratitude to Brundage, beginning with a message from Georgia governor Brian Kemp.

Though Kemp was unable to attend the event in person, he sent his best wishes over a recorded video, where he expressed his utmost certainty that ABAC’s newest president would usher the college into a new era of success.

“Whether pursuing careers in our state’s number one industry of agriculture, business, healthcare, the arts and sciences, or so much more, students leave ABAC prepared to prosper wherever their path takes them,” Kemp said. “As this institution continues to grow in size and importance, I am confident President Brundage will provide the vision and guidance needed to carry out its mission.”

Following that, Tifton mayor Julie Smith offered her own welcome to Brundage, drawing attention to the deep and storied connection between the college she had begun to lead and the city surrounding it and expressing her excitement to invite the new college president into that intertwined community.

Smith spoke on behalf of her fellow city council members, as well as the members of the Tift County board of commissioners, in thanking those in attendance for supporting Brundage and welcoming ABAC’s newest president and its first female president to Tifton.

“Being the first of anything brings additional responsibility, additional leadership requirements, and I know that Dr. Brundage is up to that task,” Smith said. “I am so proud of what we will create as we move down this pathway, building a strong, successful future together.”

Members of ABAC’s community, past, present, student, faculty, and staff, were also invited to welcome Brundage to their ranks. Many of these speakers chose to reflect on their past experiences with the president, both across the previous year and in the time leading up to the start of her tenure at ABAC.

Diantha Ellis, former president of the ABAC Faculty Senate and a member of the Presidential Search and Screen Committee that examined Brundage’s qualifications for the position, recounted the moment the two of them met, and how she seemed to stand out so much from the other candidates they were reviewing. She was confident that Brundage would be a valuable asset and a dedicated ambassador for ABAC.

Recounting her initial start at the college and how much of a whirlwind it must have been, Jaclyn Ford, chair of the ABAC Foundation Board of Trustees, expressed her admiration for Brundage’s ability to hit the ground running. She recalled how easily she began to cultivate relationships and work towards her vision for ABAC’s future, drawing particular attention to her accomplishments regarding the ABAC athletics program, and was excited to pledge her and the foundation’s full support to the college’s newest president.

“As a woman in agriculture, I’m pleased to welcome Dr. Brundage as the first female prudent of this agricultural based college,” Ford said. “I have all the confidence that while she may be the first, she most certainly won’t be the last.”

Student Government Association president Brooke Patry spoke for her fellow classmates in how much of a positive impact Brundage had made on the school in only a year. Explaining how the lively and open community of ABAC had helped her break out of her shell, she asserted that Brundage’s involvement with the school had only made it feel more like home, and praised her willingness to listen, approachability, and ability to lead.

Patry encouraged ABAC faculty, staff, and her fellow students to work together with their college president and one another to create an even brighter future for the college for generations to come.

Once her colleagues and community members had offered their welcomes, speakers representing Brundage’s time at ABAC, as well as her career in higher education prior to her arrival at the college, were invited up to conduct the official investiture.

Leading the procession was her predecessor Dr. David Bridges, who asserted that she would be assuming a position of great honor and responsibility, but one that afforded her the opportunity of leading an institution like ABAC.

He acknowledged that the school had gone through many changes since its founding over 100 years ago, but was resolute in his belief that their mission to educate and guide their students had remained unwavering all that time and that his successor would continue to carry on that mission.

“Among my hopes and prayers for you are a tenure filled with success, and the joy that you will enjoy seeing students come, students go, and most importantly, seeing students build lifelong bonds with one another in this great institution,” Bridges said.

David L. Passmore, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the Pennsylvania State College of Education, was proud to witness his former doctoral student make such an accomplishment. In reflecting on her time studying under him, he recounted much he admired her work ethic, knowledge, and persistence, and had no doubts such qualities would afford her and ABAC great success in the coming years together.

Finally, Dr. Sonny Perdue, chancellor of the University System of Georgia, came onstage to carry out the official investiture.

Perdue explained that the ceremony had long served as a symbol to the commitment to the pursuit of knowledge, and urged the audience to understand the role and responsibility higher public education played in their society, something he believed Brundage understood as much as the higher calling to educate and lead she was answering.

“In embracing the long-held vocation of accessing knowledge, ABAC is adding to the tradition of educating students and contributing to the prosperity of the facilities and communities who are its strongest supporters, and that makes having a good leader all the more important,” Perdue said. “Tracy Brundage, this area–this school, this community, this state–is a group of people who will follow a good leader, and I know you’ll lead well.”

Perdue asked Brundage to lead the college with the benefit of the community and state in mind and to commit herself to the development of ABAC’s students and the future generations of their state.

And with a hearty “Gee-haw!” to the audience before her, President Tracy Brundage accepted her investiture.

Officially inaugurated as ABAC’s president, she thanked everyone, whether they spoke, organized, or were attending the ceremony, for their part in making the day such a momentous occasion.

She acknowledged the tremendous responsibility now on her shoulders, but accepted it wholeheartedly, reflecting on the presidents of ABAC before her who had done the same and who she would now be expected to follow in the footsteps of.

Recalling the efforts of presidents like George King, president of the college during World War II, when the school had a student body of only 85, George P. Donaldson, organizer of the Greater Baldwin Foundation by collaborating with local businesses and organizations, and even her direct predecessor David Bridges, who served the longest tenure of any ABAC president and was responsible for bringing bachelor’s degrees to the college, Brundage felt fortunate and elated to be among their ranks and carrying on their legacy, and encouraged those in the audience to celebrate and honor her predecessors’ accomplishments for allowing them to be here today.

She also found a bit of serendipity in being appointed ABAC’s eleventh president, remarking that she had also been Keystone College’s eleventh president.

Turning her thoughts to the future, Brundage expressed her hope to be truly revolutionary for ABAC, asserting that she would continue working on strategic initiatives and outcomes that would support and further the college’s goals, as well as reminding her fellow ABAC community members that they had to be on constant watch to ensure that they were meeting the needs and demands of the students of today and tomorrow.

Following the ceremony, guests were invited to enjoy refreshments and conversation in the Edwards Hall for a reception. As the community gathered for the ceremony left the gym and celebrated at the reception, they did so confident in a brighter future for ABAC together with the college’s newest president.

“Our success depends on many people,” Brundage said in her closing remarks. “There are many constituents that make up our college: our students, first and foremost, faculty, the board of regents, the chancellors and University System office, administration, alumni, the local community, civic leaders and organizations, the local, state, federal governments, corporate and foundation partners. We are all part of this story, and I will do my best to inspire others to reach for the possibilities for which they have yet to imagine.”