The provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs at Marshall University will become Georgia Southern’s next provost and executive vice president.

In a release April 1, the university announced Avinandan (Avi) Mukherjee, Ph.D. will join Georgia Southern on July 1.

At Marshall since 2022, Mukherjee has more than 16 years of experience in institutional leadership roles, including provost and chief academic

officer of a public, comprehensive research university; dean of two AACSB-accredited colleges of business; and department chair of marketing for an AACSB-accredited school of business. He has served as a full-time faculty member, teaching courses at the undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral levels, in the U.S. and top international universities around the world.

'Dr. Mukherjee’s extensive experience in academic leadership, global perspective and commitment to discovery and innovation make him an outstanding choice to serve as our next provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs,” university President Kyle Marrero said. “His vision for academic excellence, research advancement and student success perfectly aligns with Georgia Southern’s values.

“His leadership will ensure that Georgia Southern reaches its stated goals of graduating career ready students, advancing the economic development in the region, and elevating our public impact research agenda.'

At Marshall, Mukherjee oversees all academic affairs for nine colleges and two schools, student affairs, research and enrollment management.

Prior to this role, he was the dean of the Lewis College of Business at Marshall (2017-2021) where he led a collaboration with external and internal stakeholders to strategically transform the college.

He has also served as the dean of the College of Business at Clayton State University.

For six years, he led the marketing department at Montclair State University in New Jersey as chair, where he helped establish an interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in environmental management.

“It is a great honor to take on the role of provost and executive vice president at Georgia Southern University, and I do so with great humility and excitement for the possibilities ahead,” Mukherjee said. “Georgia Southern has achieved tremendous momentum under President Kyle Marrero's visionary leadership and I am excited to become a part of this transformative journey.

“I am looking forward to working closely with the Georgia Southern faculty, staff and students, in collaboration with academic and administrative leaders, to foster a supportive environment that nurtures academic excellence, student success, innovations in teaching and learning, high-impact research and scholarship, strong institutional partnerships, meaningful service to the region, global impact, effective resource utilization, open and constructive dialogue and a sense of belonging.”