WORLD NEWS & PERSPECTIVES

AUC Appoints New President

he Atlantic Union College Board of Trustees appointed George P. Babcock as president of Atlantic Union College (AUC) on May 29, 2003. He was selected after a national search was conducted for a qualified individual to take over the leadership of the 121-year-old institution.

Babcock, who assumes his new duties on June 9, has experience in higher education, educational leadership, and consulting. He succeeds N. Clifford Sorensen, who served as interim president since March 2003.

Babcock comes to AUC from Southern Adventist University, in Collegedale, Tennessee, where he spent 13 years serving in various capacities including senior vice president for academic administration. Employed by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the United States and internationally. He served 12 years at the Adventist world headquarters as associate education director for the General Conference and as president of Griggs University (also known as Home Study International), a distance educational institution with branch offices around the world.

His earlier experience includes working in various educational capacities in institutions or offices of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Virginia and Georgia, and as president of the Pakistan Adventist Seminary and College.

Through the years, he has been a consultant for a number of colleges and ministries of education in several countries. He is also active in local and state educational organizations in Tennessee and Florida, has served on regional accreditation commissions, and holds a number of community and board memberships.

Babcock comes at a time when AUC's accreditation is under intense review by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. He is the third administrator to hold AUC's presidential post this year. Babcock's predecessor N. Clifford Sorensen, came to AUC in March after the previous president Sylvan Lashley, resigned.

One of Babcock's major goals is rebuilding AUC's credibility. "I would like Atlantic Union College to become a premier Christian educational institution in the Northeast," he says.

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