About Michael P. Shannon, Ph.D.
Dr. Michael P. Shannon has led the Â鶹´«Ã½ – The Military College of Georgia (Â鶹´«Ã½) as President since July 2023, driving a transformative vision to redefine higher education over his two years in office, guided by the motto “Students First. Always.” He has positioned Â鶹´«Ã½ as a dynamic institution, breaking from tradition to address modern challenges, enhance student and community impact, and redefine the higher education value proposition.
Under his leadership, Â鶹´«Ã½ launched the pioneering What Comes Next Hub, integrating campus resources into the community to support lifelong learning for all ages, and introduced a $1,000 scholarship for dual-enrolled high school seniors. Since his arrival, enrollment has grown by 6.7%, marking the largest freshman class in Â鶹´«Ã½’s 152-year history and the Corps of Cadets’ biggest in seven years, reflecting his focus on retention. Today Â鶹´«Ã½ stands at just over 19,300 students across the Power of Five (5 campuses across the north Georgia region delivering at scale). He has overseen campus expansions, including new four-year degrees in education, nursing, computer science, management, and international affairs at the Cumming Campus, and the upcoming Blue Ridge Campus expansion, strengthening Â鶹´«Ã½’s regional influence.
A key architect of Â鶹´«Ã½’s seven strategic “Big Bets,” Dr. Shannon has positioned the university as a leader in workforce development, launching the Institute for Peak Performance and the Leadership Foundry to equip students with cutting-edge skills in healthcare, education, business, agriculture, STEM, the arts, the humanities, and national security roles.
As a first-generation college graduate, a Ph.D. from Georgia Tech, and once told he’d never attend a university, Dr. Shannon’s passion to remove barriers fuels his leadership, a theme echoed in his State of the University addresses calling for disruption, accountability, and a student-centric future. A retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel with 20 years of service, Dr. Shannon brings a servant-leader approach, honed through roles in the U.S. Army Infantry, the Signal Corps, and as a Counterproliferation operator in several Army units, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, at West Point and after retirement, in small business and as a faculty member and executive at Georgia Tech. His vision is based on delivering on Â鶹´«Ã½’s Calling, Relevance, and Differentiation to ensure Â鶹´«Ã½ delivers for Georgia and America.