Piedmont University President James Mellichamp is retiring. The embattled administrator says he’ll step down as head of the private liberal arts school in Demorest as soon as a permanent successor is named.
Mellichamp’s announcement comes on the heels of two recent high-profile faculty resignations and the Faculty Senate’s no-confidence vote against him in May.
The university sent out an email announcing Mellichamp’s decision following a special called meeting of the Board of Trustees on Monday. Afterward, Board Chairman Gus Arrendale thanked Mellichamp for his “extraordinary dedication and service to the university for more than four decades.”
“A broad-based search for Mellichamp’s successor will begin immediately,” a press release from the university states.
Upon hearing news of his impending departure, Mellichamp’s critics expressed relief, but some say they want him gone sooner rather than later. The Faculty Senate Executive Committee issued this statement Monday afternoon:
“It has not escaped our attention that the press release carefully worded his departure as dependent on the naming of a ‘permanent successor.’ The Faculty Senate, acting in accordance with the resolution approved by the majority of the faculty at our May of 2022 faculty assembly, asks the board to move immediately to name an interim President while a collaborative national search for a permanent replacement is conducted.”
Neither the university nor the Board of Trustees has released details of how the ‘broad-based’ search will be conducted. The executive committee wants the search committee to include representatives from the Board of Trustees, the Faculty Senate, staff, and the current student body.
“Allowing all voices the opportunity to share in the decision-making process is critical as we work together to build a better vision for Piedmont University,” the executive committee says.
Legacy and controversy
Mellichamp’s leadership has come under attack in recent years, much of it relating back to a lawsuit filed against the university in 2018 by a tenured professor who was fired. The wrongful termination lawsuit filed by former biology professor Robert Wainberg opened a floodgate of complaints against Mellichamp. That lawsuit is still pending, and so are several others including one Piedmont filed against the City of Demorest. Another suit filed against Piedmont by Demorest’s former mayor and ex-Piedmont employee Rick Austin was settled out of court.
Most recently, the university’s provost resigned in protest over faculty layoffs and the school’s top religion professor quit over what he referred to as “underhanded,” “unethical,” and even “abusive” behaviors allegedly demonstrated by Mellichamp and other administrators.
Despite the ongoing controversies, the retiring educator and musician has contributed much to Piedmont University, his supporters say. During his 40 years at the school, Mellichamp has served as a faculty member, dean, vice president for academic affairs, provost, and for the last 10 years, president.
“During Mellichamp’s tenure, the residential program has grown by more than 60 percent at a time when colleges and universities across the nation are struggling,” says Piedmont University’s Director of Communications Rachel Pleasant.
According to Pleasant, the incoming freshman class will be the largest in the school’s 125-year history, numbering more than 300 students.
Piedmont University has expanded its undergraduate and graduate degree programs under Mellichamp as well as its athletic programs. He helped lead the effort to create the Collegiate Conference of the South – a new NCAA Division III athletic conference that launches July 1.
During Mellichamp’s tenure, Piedmont University has also forged cooperative degree programs in engineering with Georgia Tech and Kennesaw State University and an early-entry program with the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University.
A renowned organist, perhaps Mellichamp’s most enduring legacy will be the construction of the school’s $10.1 million Conservatory of Music which opened in 2019. It’s one of seven capital improvement projects undertaken by Mellichamp’s administration in the past ten years. Other improvements on the main Demorest campus include the Student Commons, Piedmont Village student apartment complex, Smith-Williams Art Studio building, the Sewell Education Center, and, opening this fall, Mystic Hall, the largest residential facility on campus. Piedmont’s Athens campus also moved into a new four-story center on Prince Avenue last year. All totaled, these projects represent a $50 million investment in the school, paid for through fundraising and private financing, Pleasant says.
Steering clear of comment on the controversies that have surrounded him lately, Mellichamp on Monday instead chose to reflect on his achievements saying, “we have positioned this university for even greater things ahead.”
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve this institution for the last four decades,” he says. “I am humbled and grateful to say that Piedmont University will forever be part of me.”
