Answering the call to serve

May 28, 2025

Editor's note: The following message from Justice Leah Ward Sears was sent to the Emory community on May 28.

Dear Friends,

I’m writing to share how deeply honored I am to accept the role of interim president of Emory University, a responsibility I will assume later this year with pride and purpose. As a proud Emory graduate with a longstanding history of engagement with and service to our institution, I am grateful to the Board of Trustees and to the broader Emory community for the trust you’ve placed in me.

I also want to commend and thank President Greg Fenves for his leadership. Greg has been a stalwart champion for Emory throughout his five-year tenure, enabling our community to successfully navigate unprecedented challenges while facilitating incredible forward progress. I look forward to partnering with him in the weeks to come to build on our strong foundation as he transitions to the role of chancellor.

I needn’t tell anyone connected to this university how challenging the current environment is for higher education. In partnership with each of you, I am committed to preserving and strengthening Emory’s academic and health care excellence, research mission, and strategic momentum. My commitment will always be to do what best serves our community’s future. While working through the difficult and sensitive issues that will continue to emerge, I promise to listen carefully and engage meaningfully with students, faculty, staff, health care workers, alumni, and other key partners.

In addition to my long association with Emory, I bring to this role 27 years of judicial experience, including the honor of serving as the first African American woman chief justice of any state Supreme Court in the U.S. and the first woman on the Georgia Supreme Court. My legal career and current legal practice have honed the analytical thinking and strategic decision-making I will bring to university leadership. I pledge to each of you that I will strive every day to lead with integrity and a commitment to collaboration and transparency.

This new role is a completely unexpected development in my life, but one that I will fully embrace. As I prepare to assume the duties of president on September 1, I remain an unshakeable optimist. In the course of my lifetime, Emory and Atlanta have been at the forefront of enormous social, economic, cultural, and scientific advances. Working together, I have every confidence that greater achievements lie ahead.

With warm regards,

Leah Ward Sears

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