The 25-member national organization represents institutions in the U.S. and Canada and is dedicated to advancing the public liberal arts mission.

“I am pleased and honored to serve as president at this important juncture in COPLAC’s history,” Leland stated. “COPLAC has completed an ambitious strategic planning process and renewed its commitment to advocating for the importance of public liberal arts institutions to our states and nation. At the same time, COPLAC is focusing on initiatives that connect students and faculty from public liberal arts institutions across the nation through innovative collaborations and shared programs.”

Leland also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, and as a member of the National Collegiate Athletics Associations Division II President’s Council.

In addition, she serves as president of the Southern University Conference, an organization of select private and public Southern colleges and universities originally formed in 1935 to provide a forum for presidents from southern states to share perspective and strategies on higher education issues.

“My participation in these regional and national organizations is one of the ways in which I can tell the remarkable story of Georgia College to colleagues beyond the state of Georgia,” Leland said.