Dr. Tanjula Petty is an experienced administrator who leads policy development and inspires change through collaborative leadership and data-driven decision-making. Dr. Petty’s career is distinguished by over 18 years of effective higher education leadership in community college and 4-year college settings across the country.  Dr. Petty has served in positions of increasing responsibility for academic and student affairs, diversity, enrollment management, institutional effectiveness and research, fiscal accountability, facilities planning, public relations, assessments, strategic planning, student learning outcomes, and accreditation.  Dr. Petty has expertise in program administration, new initiative development, increasing institutional resources, developing partnerships, and providing oversight of federal grant-funded programs.  She is an accomplished and professional leader who is energetic, experienced, with a collaborative nature. Most known for her transformative leadership skills, with a direct focus on moving the needle for student success in higher education.  

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Dr. Petty is considered a scholar-practitioner and possesses a wealth of experience in accreditation, assessments, partnership development, workforce development, strategic planning, and policy development to support students.  She has served in administrative and leadership capacities in both the community college, as well as in four-year institutions.  Dr. Petty has demonstrated expertise in program administration, new initiative development, grant writing to increase institutional resources by $2 million, 2+2 articulation agreements, and oversight of federal grant-funded programs. 

Currently, Dr. Petty serves as the Assistant Provost of Student Success and Special Initiatives at Alabama State University.  Prior to this position, she served as the Vice President of Academic Affairs for Albany Technical College and served in a variety of administrative positions in higher education to include as the Dean of Instruction at Trenholm State Community College in Montgomery, AL Dr. Petty also served as an adjunct instructor at Troy State in Leadership Studies, the University of Phoenix as a research faculty member, as well as Liberty University as graduate faculty.  She has been actively engaged in numerous university committees, councils, and task forces, and helped lead the college to an initial SACSCOC accreditation, and submission both Reaccreditation and Fifth Year Interim Report. 

During Dr. Petty’s tenure, as Chief Academic Officers at institutions her successes include:

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• Co-principal investigator (Co-PI) for the ASU GEAR-UP initiative funded for $24.7-million-dollar by the U.S. Department of Education. 

• Principal Investigator and was awarded $2.4 million Predominantly Black Institution Grant (PBI) to enhance online learning by the U.S. Department of Education. 

• Provide leadership to more than 200 full and part-time faculty and staff.

• Oversee a budget in excess of $30 million for Academic Affairs. 

• Worked in tandem with the college president to successfully gain the support of local and state legislators to obtain funding in the amount of $4.9 million.

• Worked with the Advancement team to secure a $200,000 HBCU technology grant.

• Partnered with an organization to secure a $100,000 gift to support online infrastructure and technologies during the pandemic.

• Responsible for right-sizing academic programs and personnel decreasing the cost of adjuncts by 50%, which led to an annual cost savings of over $800,000 annually. 

• Demonstrated gains in student enrollment, increasing successful course completion rates from 55% to 69%, an increasing fall to spring re-enrollment rates from 75% to 80%, and an increasing number of associate degree completions by 62%. 

• Provide leadership to increase the response rates for course evaluations, with the response rate improved from 17% to 83% in less than one year. This effort led to the institution being awarded the Smart Evals 2017 Partner of the Year for Inspired Campus Engagement

• Cultivated more than 40 partnerships and collaborations with community colleges, universities, federal and local organizations, and to strengthen institutions' infrastructure. Provided leadership for an institution to be recognized for offering the Top 15 Online associate’s degree programs.