Brenau University and its Board of Trustees will hold an investiture ceremony on Aug. 22 to celebrate President David L. Barnett, Ph.D., the eleventh president of the university.
An investiture is held for university presidents who previously have been serving as interim. During the formal ceremony, the president is conferred with the articles and symbols of the office and of the institution in an event that celebrates the school’s history and its future.
“An investiture is not merely a formal ceremony; it is a profound affirmation of trust and authority bestowed upon a leader,” Mike Smith, chair of the university’s Board of Trustees, said. “Though the Board of Trustees officially appointed Dr. Barnett to the presidency earlier this year, the investiture will publicly seal his role and the board’s confidence in his vision for Brenau’s future.”
The board appointed Barnett as president in February 2024. He succeeds Brenau’s 10th president, Dr. Anne Skleder, who passed away in October 2023.
“I was humbled and honored to have been selected by the Board of Trustees to serve as the eleventh president of Brenau University,” Barnett said. “Higher education is a tapestry woven together from threads of personal ambition, community investment and collective achievement. As the university embarks on the next chapter of its already remarkable history, I am grateful for the opportunity to share my vision for its future.”
Barnett previously served as executive vice president and chief financial officer at Brenau, overseeing the university’s day-to-day operations and its strategic financial planning. Barnett also teaches a graduate-level course in the College of Education. Previously, Barnett served as interim dean of Brenau’s College of Education from 2010-12 and associate vice president for nonresidential and online programs from 2005-12.
Before coming to Brenau in 2005, Barnett was academic compliance officer and associate dean of students at Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky. He previously held student-focused and academic administrative positions at the University of Louisville School of Medicine in Louisville, Union College in Barbourville, Kentucky, Truett-McConnell College in Cleveland, Georgia, and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
Due to limited seating, the investiture ceremony is an invitation-only event, but will be livestreamed on Brenau’s Presidential Investiture website. The public is invited to attend an afternoon reception on Brenau’s Front Lawn following the ceremony, and is asked to RSVP via this link.
