November 30, 2015 - Albany Technical College is pleased to announce the appointment of a new Vice President for Academic Affairs. Dr. Tanjula Petty will begin her new duties on Tuesday, December 1. As the college's chief academic officer, she will be responsible for the oversight of the quality of the college's instructional programs, and for the coordination of the college's administrative and support functions central to its academic mission.
Prior to coming to Albany Tech, Petty served in a variety of administrative positions, including serving as Title III Director and instructor at Vernon College in Texas. After relocating to Pensacola, Florida, she served as the Director of Institutional Quality Enhancement at Pensacola Junior College and Alabama State University. Recently, she served as the Dean of Instruction at Trenholm State Community College in Montgomery, Alabama. She also served as an adjunct instructor at Troy State in Leadership Studies.
Petty has been actively engaged in numerous university committees, councils and tasks forces, and has helped lead a college to an initial SACSCOC accreditation in 2014. Collectively, she holds over 12 years of experience in assessment and accreditation, community college experience, curriculum, higher education, research, and teaching.
A native of Montgomery, Alabama, Petty was a first generation college student who often states that she refused to live by society's standards of just getting by because of where she grew up, but she knew that it would be her faith in God and her education that opened many doors of opportunities.
A change agent in the field of education, Petty has dedicated her career to focus on objectives that relate to education that include helping retain minority students, who are at risk, and eliminating transitional barriers for
first generation students. Her research interests are assessment and accountability, higher education policies, curricular and program development, and first year transitional issues.
Petty holds a bachelor's degree in Resource Management and a master's degree in Public Administration from Troy State University. She completed her doctoral studies at Alabama State University in the Educational Leadership, Policy, and Law. An inductee of the Alpha Gamma Chi Honor Society, Petty received the 2013 Distinguished Dissertation Award presented by the Council of Historically Black Graduate Schools (CHBGS) and ProQuest/University Microfilms International (UMI), and joined the ranks of award recipients in the ProQuest "Hall of Scholars."
Active in professional, civic, and higher education organizations Petty is published in several peer-reviewed publications. She is married to William H. Petty, Colonel, Retired, and together, they have three daughters and one son.
Dr. Tanjula Petty, newly appointed Vice President for Academic Affairs at Albany Technical College.