Regents' Professor of Marketing
Biography
Dr. Beheruz N. Sethna is Regents’ Professor of Business and President Emeritus of The University of West Georgia (UWG). During his 19-year presidential tenure, UWG grew from a college with ~7,500 students to a doctoral degree-granting, SACS-Level-VI university (the highest level) with ~12,000 students, and is now classified as a Doctoral University (moderate research activity).
Shared accomplishments include: UWG increased full time enrollment by ~50%, land by more than 70%, square footage by more than 100%. UWG added more square footage than every other previous presidential administration combined in UWG’s 107-year history at a cost of ~$330M. UWG’s endowment grew by more than 10 times.
UWG acquired its first major endowment to name an academic college, started its first four doctoral programs, created Georgia’s first and only Board-approved Honors College and Advanced Academy, and awarded more degrees than every other presidential administration combined.
He served twice as Interim Executive/Senior Vice Chancellor for the University System of Georgia. He has been awarded Resolutions of Commendation from the Georgia Governor, Senate, House, and Board of Regents, and has been named among the 100 Most Influential Georgians six times.
He is the first person of Indian origin ever to become president of a US university.
The Carnegie Corporation has named him a “Great Immigrant – Pride of America.”
Guiding Undergraduate Research: Since 2003, 136 UWG students have had their work from Dr. Sethna’s classes accepted for presentation to at least one national conference; some to more than one, for a total of 214 national presentation “lines” on their resumes.
He credits his parents, his wife, Dr. Madhavi Sethna, and his two children (a doctor and an attorney), and three grandchildren.
Education / Degrees
- BS, B. Tech. (Honors) Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, 1971
- M.B.A., Master of Business Administration, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, 1973
- M. Phil., Master of Philosophy, Columbia University, New York, New York, 1975
- PhD, Business (Marketing), Columbia University, New York, New York, 1976
- Certificate, Certified Computing Professional, Association for Systems Management, Cleveland, OH, 1985
- Certificate, Advanced Faculty Development, MIS: A.A.C.S.B. and Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 1986
- Executive Program, Institute for Educational Management, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1991
- Executive Program, Experienced Presidents Seminar, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2008