During the past weekend, the Board of Trustees reviewed the steps that the AUBG community has taken to fulfill the Strategic Plan accepted in May 2022. Board representatives had in-person discussions with students, faculty, and staff. They highlighted how glad they were that life on campus was back to normal and congratulated the AUBG community for the hard everyone put in to make it happen.
Remembering the Pioneers
On Oct. 22, 2022 AUBG’s Board, faculty, and staff celebrated the life and legacy of AUBG pioneers who influenced AUBG’s history immensely — David Flanagan, Board Chair (’03-’08), Edward Laverty, AUBG’s founding president, Thomas Chelli, Board Member, and Michael McGoldrick, AUBG Professor.
Discussion points:
- The highlighted success during this weekend’s meeting was welcoming the largest AUBG class in 14 years. The class is comprised of 274 freshmen coming from 19 countries. We commend the Admissions team for their hard work in not only increasing the number of incoming students but also on admitting them to a class that has the highest-ever Admissions points.
- The AUBG Provost outlined two key general directions for action that he sees in the Strategic Plan. These are strategizing for the student numbers growth mandated by the Board and revising and renewing the General Education courses framework.
- Tihomira Doncheva, Director of the Center for Information, Democracy, and Citizenship, presented the main activities of the Center over the summer and updated the Board of the planned activities and strategy for development.
- The financial report discussed Foreign Exchange volatility and the unexpected extremely high utility charges and their impact on our financials. We are considering ways to make AUBG’s and parent and student expenses more predictable. We are anticipating a balanced budget for this school year.
- The board and administration discussed how best to accommodate planned enrollment growth in terms of both space and human resources. The institution will continue working to ensure that AUBG remains true to its mission and to its goal of continuously improving the student experience.
Newly appointed executives welcomed at AUBG:
- Anjela Deyanska is now AUBG’s VP for Advancement. Anjela, who was previously Director of Development for Teach for Bulgaria, will be working on collaborations with all our constituencies on fundraising strategy.
- Nikoleta Stankova Wahl joins AUBG as the United States Special Advisor for Advancement and will help AUBG reach our strategic fundraising goals.
- Alexandra Stoyanova and Kostadin Shopov re-joined the AUBG team as Associate Director of Admissions for the Balkans and Associate Director of Admissions for Bulgaria respectively. There is still an ongoing search for the Director of Admissions.
Elections and approvals:
- The Board elected Angela Rodel as the Chair of the Student Affairs Committee. I would like to thank Reggie Chandra, former Chair, for his dedicated service and seasoned leadership of the Committee work.
- Dobrin Staikov (’96) was elected as a member of the Board in his capacity of University Council Chair.
