Summarized by the Alliance for Fort Eisenhower
Published April 19, 2024
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. In his three years as president 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, established the Jim Hudson Center for Automotive Innovation (65,000 square feet – the largest automotive training facility in Georgia), secured $45.5m in state funding to build a new 81,000 square feet advanced manufacturing & engineering technology training center in the region, secured $5.5m to create a CDL Truck Driving Range in McDuffie County, established 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.