Juan Meng named SEC Academic Leadership Development Fellow

Juan Meng poses for a picture in a Grady College hallway.
Juan Meng, a UGA Athletic Association Endowed Professor, has been named an SEC Academic Leadership Development Fellow. (Photos/Sarah E. Freeman)

Juan Meng named SEC Academic Leadership Development Fellow

July 30, 2025

Juan Meng, a UGA Athletic Association Endowed Professor, head of the Department of Advertising and Public Relations, and director of the Cannes Lions Program, has been named a Fellow of the 2025-2026 Southeastern Conference Academic Leadership Development Program (ALDP).

The program, which launched in 2007, seeks to prepare campus leaders for executive careers in higher education. Fellows are selected through a competitive process and come from a wide variety of backgrounds in leadership and academic interests.

In addition to Meng, three other UGA faculty were named Fellows of the program:

  • Philip Hong, dean and professor, School of Social Work

  • Neil Lyall, associate dean for physical and mathematical sciences and professor of mathematics, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences

  • Connie J. Rogers, professor and department head of nutritional sciences and Bill and June Flatt Chair in Foods and Nutrition, College of Family and Consumer Sciences

“Drs. Hong, Lyall, Meng and Rogers have made extraordinary contributions to the University of Georgia, and I congratulate each of them on this well-deserved honor,” said Benjamin C. Ayers, the university’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost.

Juan Meng faces the camera and talks with a group of students who have their back toward the camera.
Juan Meng talks with a group of Talking Dog students at Battle of the Brands on April 16, 2025.

Meng leads the Department of Advertising and Public Relations’ faculty recruitment, performance evaluation, curriculum revision, program development, program assessment, operations and budgeting. She also oversees student and alumni engagement, outreach and development, emergency responsiveness and accountability. During Meng’s tenure as department head, the department was named one of the top five education programs in the nation in 2024 and 2025 by PRWeek, a leading trade publication. Additionally, she directs UGA’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity Study Abroad Program.

The SEC ALDP program includes three components: a university-level development program designed by each institution for its own participants; two SEC-wide three-day workshops held on specified campuses for all program participants; and a competitive fellowship designed to provide administrative growth opportunities for former Fellows.

UGA’s Fellows will meet monthly on campus with senior campus leaders and participate in leadership development activities that relate to the cohort’s interests.

Editor’s Note: This is an edited version of a full feature which can be found on the UGA Today webpage here.

Author: Tian Ding, Tian.Ding@uga.edu

Editor: Sarah Freeman, freemas@uga.edu