Dr. Ivan Pulinkala, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Ivan Pulinkala serves as Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ State University. He served as ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ’s interim provost from July 2021 until he officially assumed the role of Provost in December 2022. Prior to this role, Pulinkala served as Dean of the Geer College of the Arts from 2018-2021. Pulinkala founded Georgia’s largest collegiate dance program at ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ in 2005, serving as Director until 2012 and as the inaugural Chair of the Department of Dance from 2012-2018.

As Provost, Pulinkala has developed a comprehensive ecosystem approach to student success that is transforming degree completion outcomes across ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ, with a focus on academic advising, student retention, degree progression, and academic remediation. Under his purview, ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ enrollment has grown over 13%, crossing 50,000 students in Fall 2025; with a record 30.8% growth of the Honors College and 41% growth in online enrollment. ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ has added several innovative new degree programs since Pulinkala became Provost, such as the M.S. in Financial Technologies, Ph.D. in Computer Science, M.S. in Artificial Intelligence, and the B.S. in Aerospace Engineering.

Pulinkala has raised over $22 million for ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ, resulting in the naming of the Geer College of the Arts and the Bailey School of Music. He has added over 300 new faculty positions at ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ since July 2021 and competitively advanced faculty hiring and retention across the institution. Pulinkala co-led the development of "Taking Flight," ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ’s 2025 Strategic Plan, and is guiding its implementation strategy.

Pulinkala is credited with developing Georgia’s largest collegiate dance program at ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ, building the program’s state-of-the-art studio facility at Chastain Pointe and creating Atlanta’s only discipline-specific Dance Theatre on the ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Marietta Campus. ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Dance has received regional and national attention for Pulinkala's choreographic work, with three successive Kennedy Center selections at the National American College Dance Association (ACDA) and five ACDA Regional Gala selections across the Southeast. Pulinkala’s choreographic commissions include works for The Israel Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Fresco Dance- Israel, the Alliance Theatre, Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus, Georgia Shakespeare, City Lights Youth Theatre, as well as collegiate commissions at Washington University at St. Louis, Shanghai Normal University, Brigham Young University, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of South Carolina, Western Kentucky University, Middle Tennessee State University, University of Tennessee at Martin, Vanderbilt University and Spelman College.

Serving as Dean of the College of the Arts, Pulinkala developed the first graduate degree in the arts at ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ, facilitated the naming of the Bailey School of Music, and re-branded the arts to create the Arts²ÝÁñÊÓƵ identity and virtual platform. Under his leadership, the College of the Arts enrollment grew by 41%, national accreditation was pursued in all four disciplinary units, structures were created to advance external peer-reviewed research, and the Virtual Masterclass Series was established in partnership with the Georgia Department of Education. Pulinkala envisioned the creation of the Arts District at ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ, that when completed, will be one of the largest arts training facilities in the Southeast.

Pulinkala completed the Executive Leadership Academy at the American Academic Leadership Institute (2024-25), Accelerated Leadership Academy at the University System of Georgia (2016-17), the Executive Leadership Institute at the University System of Georgia (2013-14), and was awarded the ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Foundation Award in 2011, the Clendenin Graduate Fellowship at ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ in 2010, 2011 and 2012, the NEA American Masterpiece Grant in 2010, the Cobb Symphony Orchestra Award for Artistic Excellence in 2010, and the Board of Regents award for Teaching Excellence from Murray State University in 2005.
 
Originally from New Delhi, Pulinkala was the artistic director of his own dance company in India for three years, served as choreographer-in-residence for Delhi Music Theatre for five years, and was named among the 25 Indian artists of the Millennium by the India Today Magazine in their December 1999 issue. He holds a Doctorate in Higher Education Administration from the University of Alabama, a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from Mills College, and a Bachelor of Commerce from Hindu College, Delhi University.