Jere Morehead

Jere W. Morehead (born c. 1956) is the 22nd and current President of the University of Georgia. He was formerly the Josiah Meigs Professor of Legal Studies at the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business and the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost.

Jere Morehead was born in Lakeland, Florida, and moved with his family to Atlanta as a teenager. He enrolled at Georgia State University in 1973 at the age of 16, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1977. He went on to attend the University of Georgia School of Law, graduating with a JD degree in 1980 at the age of 23.

Legal career

Morehead served as an Assistant United States Attorney from 1980 to 1986.

Academic career

In 1986, he returned to the University of Georgia as Assistant Professor of Legal Studies in the Terry College of Business. He has held an academic appointment within Terry College ever since, attaining the rank of associate professor in 1992 and full professor in 1999. In 1995, he served as a visiting professor of business law at the University of Michigan. In 2004, Morehead received a Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professorship, one of the University of Georgia's highest honors for a classroom teacher. From 1986 to 1995, he was advisor for the UGA Law School's award-winning moot court team, and he has since served as a judge for a number of moot court competitions.

Administrative career

Morehead was appointed interim executive director of the Office of Legal Affairs in 1998; in 1999, he became Associate Provost and Director of UGA's Honors Program. In 2004, he was promoted to Vice Provost for Academic Affairs; he then served as Vice President for Instruction from December 2006 to December 2009.

In late 2009, he was named Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost of UGA.

Presidency

On January 28, 2013, Morehead was announced as the sole finalist to be the 22nd President of the University of Georgia. Following a waiting period required by state law, the Board of Regents confirmed him to his new position, and he assumed office on July 1, 2013. He is the sixth president to be an internal hire from within the University, with the most recent prior being O.C. Aderhold in 1950.