By Clement Lee and Ellie Fvas / The Emory Wheel

After five years, Gregory Fenves will leave his position as Emory University president on Sept. 1. As president, Fenves directed the University’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the past year, has addressed pro-Palestine protests on campus, announced open expression policy changes and grappled with recent federal funding uncertainties.

He is the 21st president of Emory University and previously served as the President of the University of Texas at Austin from 2015 to 2020.

On May 27, a university-wide press release announced that the Emory Board of Trustees appointed Board of Trustees Vice Chair and former Supreme Court of Georgia Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears (80L) as interim president. On Sept. 1, when Sears assumes her new post, Fenves will become Emory’s sixth chancellor.

Sears was the first woman and the youngest person to sit on the superior court at the time of her nomination. Previously, she was an adjunct law professor at Emory and a visiting professor in family law at the University of Georgia School of Law. Since 2016, Sears has been a partner at Atlanta law firm Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP. She will be the second woman and first Black person to serve as Emory’s president.

Currently, the University does not have a chancellor, and the last person to hold the position was Emory Healthcare CEO Emeritus Michael Johns from 2007 to 2012. In an email to The Emory Wheel, Assistant Vice President of University Communications Laura Diamond stated that the positions of chancellor and university president are separate and that both will report to the Board of Trustees. Diamond did not answer whether the chancellor’s role took precedence over the president’s.

After assuming his role in 2020, Fenves launched Emory’s 2O36 fundraising campaign, expanded the Emory Advantage grant program, which provides financial aid to students, started the AI.Humanity Initiative and redesigned Emory’s General Education Requirements. According to the press release, Fenves’ 2O36 fundraising efforts were the most successful in Emory’s history.

During his five-year tenure, Fenves appointed eight college deans. The only school that has not replaced its dean under Fenves’ leadership is the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. Additionally, Fenves oversaw hiring former Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Ravi Bellamkonda, who resigned in 2024 to join Ohio State University as their provost.

In the past 13 months, Fenves oversaw Emory’s handling of the April 25, 2024 pro-Palestinian encampment on the Quadrangle. Following the April protests, a majority of voting Emory undergraduates, the Emory College of Arts and Sciences faculty and other university bodies voted to censure or state they had “no confidence” in Fenves.

In an October 2024 interview, Fenves told the Wheel that he was not considering resigning in response to the votes.

Fenves’ new appointment comes at a “challenging moment for higher education,” according to the release. By altering Fenves’ role at the University, both the Board of Trustees and the new chancellor aim to focus more on Emory’s national engagement and fundraising efforts. Since January, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has attempted to cancel and change how billions of dollars in federal funding is distributed to private and public universities nationwide, which has triggered concerns about Emory’s own funding from federal agencies like the National Institutes of Health and Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the May 27 release, Sears noted that her appointment as interim president is “a full circle moment” because of her previous Emory affiliations. Board of Trustees Chair Robert Goddard III also elaborated on Sears’ strengths in navigating the leadership change.

“I’ve been privileged to work with Leah during my tenure as chair, and she’s one of the sharpest and most principled leaders I know,” Goddard said in the release. “She’s a great listener and a consensus builder. We’re extremely fortunate she is willing to take on this role, and I know she will guide the university with a strong and steady hand until we select a new president.”

As the search for Emory’s new provost continues, the University also plans to begin a nationwide search for a new president.