Dr. Christopher Blake Installed As MGA President
Author: News Bureau
Posted: Friday, October 17, 2014 4:51 PM
Category:
Pressroom
Macon, GA
“Today I pledge my commitment to strive to be a president that earns your confidence each day,” Blake said in his inauguration address to a crowd of about 700 gathered in the Recreation and Wellness Center on the Macon Campus. “With God's grace and with the collective participation of our outstanding faculty and staff I shall strive to provide the leadership you rightly expect as we serve the public of middle Georgia by educating men and women, as our vision statement promises, with an extraordinary higher education that will transform their lives and that of their communities.”
Blake connected the inauguration theme to the responsibility Middle Georgia State must take as it builds on the strengths of its five brick-and-mortar campuses to transform itself and the communities and students it serves.
“We stand today on the crest of an extraordinary transition and achievement, namely designation as a state university,” he said. “The story of how we got here is less important today than the vision of where we must soon go. I believe the title ‘United Possibilities’ gives us a clue. We are united in the responsibility to take diverse communities, places and traditions, originating in Macon and Cochran, and uniting them into a greater organization, where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts—where our four institutional values of stewardship, engagement, adaptability and learning bind us together.
“Whether we educate an aviation student in Eastman, a student-athlete in Cochran, a nursing student in Dublin, a returning veteran in Warner Robins, a first generation student in Macon, an online student in Americus, or any of the 8,000 students who entrust their learning to us, our promise must be a unified commitment to all our students, whatever their ages and stages, with the promise of a distinctly Middle Georgia State education and credential. We do this now with a greater dedication to lifelong learning and across the credentialing range, from associates through baccalaureate to – quite soon! - master’s degrees.”
The inauguration ceremony began with a processional of about 40 delegates and the nearly 300 faculty of Middle Georgia State dressed in academic regalia. The presidents of many of the University System of Georgia's other institutions attended as delegates, as did representatives of the Board of Regents and its central administration, including Chancellor Hank Huckaby. Other distinguished guests included civic and business leaders from throughout Georgia, Middle Georgia State retired faculty and staff and many of Blake’s friends and former colleagues.
A week’s worth of celebratory events on Middle Georgia State’s five campuses led up to inauguration day. Those included a 5K, student arts festivals, a technology showcase, healthcare, business and humanities symposiums, musical performances and special presentations. Capping the week’s events is the October 17 inauguration gala and silent auction, presented by Sheridan Construction Company, which is expected to raise more than $60,000 for the Middle Georgia State College Foundation to fund scholarships, faculty initiatives and other projects on behalf of the institution.
Blake, in his inauguration address, said one of the strengths of Middle Georgia State is that it is uniquely placed to carry the “torch of learning” forward in the region.
“The vast majority of our students are recruited here and remain in employment in middle Georgia after graduation, and the quality of middle Georgia’s businesses, hospitals, clinics, schools, public agencies and non-profits is profoundly shaped by our students and graduates daily,” he said. “That quality is not obtained or developed by intellectual activity alone. Mind and reason, while I believe gifts from God that substantiate our humanity, if unused for the Common Good miss the core essence of the human experience of life, which requires our humanity and all our human capacities to work toward the betterment of our communities.”
A highlight of the inauguration was the investiture ceremony, the formal induction of Blake as Middle Georgia State’s president. In his charge to the president, Huckaby said, “I charge you, Dr. Christopher Blake, to preside with firmness, and fairness, but always with humaneness, over the affairs of Middle Georgia State College.
“I charge you to use your stewardship of this institution to create an even higher level of academic leadership excellence. And furthermore, I charge you to maintain and to defend at this institution a climate that encourages the search for truth and an expansion of the limits of knowledge.
“Finally, I charge you to always place first and foremost in your thoughts and actions the needs of students and how we can better serve them.”
Huckaby also presented Blake with the mace, an academic emblem used by many colleges and universities as a reminder that education is a symbol of the institution’s authority to confer degrees. Steven L. Kruger, chairman of the board of the Middle Georgia State College Foundation, presented Blake with the presidential medallion, an emblem representing authority.
Other ceremonial flourishes included the unveiling of a portrait of Blake and a performance of Middle Georgia State’s newly penned alma mater, “Knights of Truth and Honor.”
Middle Georgia State College was created in 2013 under the direction of the Board of Regents. It was among the first of new institutions resulting from mergers intended to boost the efficiency and accessibility of higher education to the citizens of Georgia. Building on the considerable strengths and legacies of two former colleges, Middle Georgia State is a powerful force for economic, social and cultural growth. The institution has campuses in Macon, Cochran, Dublin, Eastman and Warner Robins, and many programs online.
Blake became president on January 1, 2014. He came to Middle Georgia from Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he was president and professor of education for seven years. His earlier professional experience includes serving as provost and professor of education at Mount St. Mary's University, Maryland, where he developed new academic programs and oversaw strategic planning. Other career highlights include serving as associate dean of the College of Graduate Education and Research and associate professor of secondary education, Towson University, Maryland; senior lecturer in education at Brunel University, London; and teacher of religious studies and social studies, Henry Box High School, Oxford.
Blake holds bachelor's and master's degrees in theology from the University of Oxford, Keble College; a post-graduate Certificate in Education from Westminster College, Oxford; and a Ph.D. in education from the University of London, King's College.
Blake has a long record of community service. Since arriving in Middle Georgia, he has joined several civic groups, serves on the Macon Pops board of directors and is volunteering with a mentor's program. He is a member of Kappa Delta Pi International Honors Society in Education.
So far under Blake’s tenure, Middle Georgia State has successfully completed a Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation review; merged three schools into the first standalone college, the College of Arts and Sciences; crafted a new, bold vision and embraced a set of core values to help reshape the institution into Georgia’s newest state university; transitioned the Knights athletics program to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics; and established major community partnerships to extend higher education opportunities through the Georgia Department of Public Safety, Georgia Military Academic Training Center (now under construction in Warner Robins) and GEICO, among others.
Among Blake’s hobbies are reading history, following global news and professional soccer, exercising daily, watching movies and traveling. Originally from Wimbledon, England, Blake's family includes two sons, attending colleges in Massachusetts and Colorado, and a father and siblings living in England.
Read Blake’s inaugural address in its entirety at president.mga.edu/.