Fall 2020

Fall 2020: Brenau Alumni, Faculty and Students on the Front Lines of the COVID Fight

Nancy Benitez wearing a cloth mask with the Brenau University logo

BOARD OF TRUSTEES Michael H. Smith, Chair Emilie “Emmie” Henderson Howard, WC ’01, Vice Chair James. A. Walters, Secretary Pierpont “Pepper” F. Brown III Carole Ann Carter Daniel, WC ’68 Robin Smith Dudley, WC ’78 Kathryn (Kit) Dunlap, WC ’64 Robert “Rob” L. Fowler Jr. M. Douglas Ivester Anna Alexander Jacobs, WC ’86 Tim Knight […]

A Legacy of Leadership and Service

Woman and man in front of Brenau University's Pearce Auditorium

Have passion for the mission. Be knowledgeable. Do your homework. Ask the right questions. Stay involved and keep your fingernails dirty. These are some of the valuable lessons longtime Brenau trustee and former board chair Pete Miller says he has learned over his 20-plus years on the board — 16 of them as chair — […]

By the community, for the community

Philip Wilheit stands in front of Brenau University's Pearce Auditorium

When Philip Wilheit headed off to college, it never occurred to him not to come back to his beloved Gainesville. Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Wilheit moved with his family to Gainesville in 1949 when he was only four years old. He says that growing up in Gainesville was like growing up in Mayberry, a […]

First Class

Women stand side-by-side with arms in front of them to create equals sign.

Executive Women’s MBA students find friendship, support through the program As the Executive Women’s Master of Business Administration at The Women’s College of Brenau University wraps up its inaugural year this fall, the trailblazing women in the program’s first cohort already know they have made lifelong friends. The catalyst for those friendships came during the […]

Extraordinary Times For Extraordinary Lives

Woman and student laugh

Brenau University President Anne Skleder has hit the ground running during her time at Brenau as she has hosted over 25 events on campus and across the country. More than 700 alumni and friends participated in the events, some in person and many — as the coronavirus made its presence felt — in a virtual […]

Brenau Cares

Alumni, faculty and students on the front lines of pandemic By Michael Lowe and Kathryne Davis Brenau University alumni, faculty and students have been hard at work on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19 since its rapid spread began in March. At Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville, Georgia, just a few short […]

‘The right place for us’

Brenau business incubator a hub for COVID testing Nancy Benitez, WC ’17, has seen two sides of the coronavirus. The Women’s College of Brenau University alumna and adjunct professor was hired in mid-May by Pro-GeneX, a Gainesville-based pharmacogenetics company, as a lab technician tasked with testing COVID-19 samples. About a month later, Benitez found out […]

PA studies program set to begin in January

Brenau’s new Masters of Science in Physician Assistant Studies program is nearly ready to welcome its first cohort in January 2021. The curriculum is done, faculty have been hired and the PA Department’s renovated space in the Brenau Downtown Center is complete. Incoming students will have a couple of pieces in their program that are […]

Ivester gift elevates psychology to a school at Brenau University

The Lynn J. Darby School of Psychology and Adolescent Counseling is the newest addition to Brenau University’s Ivester College of Health Sciences made possible through a generous gift of Doug and Kay Ivester. Thenaming honors a lifelong friend of both Doug and Kay, going back to their days working together at Ernst and Ernst, and […]

Professors go the extra mile to support students 8,000 miles away in China

Woman sits at a laptop on a couch

The partnership between Brenau University and Anhui Normal University in China continues to thrive as about 75 Chinese students are taking Brenau classes from their homes nearly 8,000 miles away from the Gainesville campus. With students logging on for class late at night because of the 12-hour time difference, professors have adapted and used a […]