{"689797":{"#nid":"689797","#data":{"type":"news","title":"James Black promoted Executive Director of Graduate Student Success ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJames Black, Senior Academic Professional in the Office of Graduate Education, has been promoted to Executive Director of Graduate Student Success. In his new role, he provides strategic leadership for initiatives that enhance the graduate student experience and oversees a portfolio of services supporting the Institute\u2019s nearly 34,000 master\u2019s and doctoral students. These services include Institute-level orientation and onboarding, graduate student hiring, fellowship administration, thesis and dissertation processing, and the new graduate advising platform Navigate360.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBlack brings more than a decade of progressive leadership experience within the Office of Graduate Education, where he has advanced through several key roles since joining the office in 2015. Most recently, he served as Director of Student and Academic Affairs and previously held positions as the Assistant Director of Strategic Initiatives and Grad Life (2020 - 2022) and Special Projects Coordinator (2015-2020). His time in OGE reflects a deep institutional knowledge and a proven commitment to strengthening graduate education at Georgia Tech in partnership with graduate programs, faculty, and students.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBlack is a recognized advocate for graduate student success and has received multiple honors and awards for his leadership and service, including the Graduate Student Government Association (SGA) Administrator of the Year Award (2023) and the Graduate SGA Friend of the Graduate Student Award (2016). He served as president of the Georgia Council of Graduate Schools for the 2024-2025 term and remains actively engaged in faculty governance by currently representing the Services and Central Administration in the Academic Faculty Senate.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBlack is the founder of GT6000, Georgia Tech\u2019s small group, peer-led extended orientation program for first-year graduate students. As of fall 2025, GT6000 has supported over 3,500 graduate students in building community, accessing resources, and navigating their transition into graduate studies at Tech. The impactful, innovative approach of GT6000 to support the graduate student experience earned national recognition, receiving the 2025 \u0022Promising Practices in Graduate and Professional Student Services Award\u201d from the NASPA Administrators in Graduate and Professional Student Services (AGAPPS) Knowledge Community.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBlack completed his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech, researching a novel droplet levitation technique utilizing a fluid property called thermocapillarity. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Florida State University.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJames Black has been promoted to Executive Director of Graduate Student Success, where he leads strategic initiatives and oversees key services that support the experience of Georgia Tech\u2019s nearly 34,000 graduate students.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"James Black has been promoted to Executive Director of Graduate Student Success, where he leads strategic initiatives and oversees key services that support the experience of Georgia Tech\u2019s nearly 34,000 graduate students."}],"uid":"36363","created_gmt":"2026-04-16 18:41:02","changed_gmt":"2026-04-16 18:42:02","author":"Brittani Hill","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-04-16T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-04-16T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"679973":{"id":"679973","type":"image","title":"James Black, Ph.D. Executive Director of Graduate Student Success ","body":"\u003Cp\u003EPhotographed: James Black, Ph.D. | Executive DIrector of Graduate Student Success\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1776363403","gmt_created":"2026-04-16 18:16:43","changed":"1776363792","gmt_changed":"2026-04-16 18:23:12","alt":"Photographed above: James Black, Ph.D. ","file":{"fid":"264200","name":"james_black_resized.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/04\/16\/james_black_resized.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/04\/16\/james_black_resized.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":299598,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/04\/16\/james_black_resized.jpg?itok=JU9TkHLk"}}},"media_ids":["679973"],"groups":[{"id":"221981","name":"Graduate Studies"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"15156","name":"graduate education"},{"id":"1808","name":"graduate students"},{"id":"2248","name":"Graduate Studies"},{"id":"182976","name":"office of graduate education"},{"id":"195040","name":"Graduate Student Success"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBrittani Hill |Marketing \u0026amp; Communications Manager\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOffice of Graduate and Postdoctoral Education\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["brittani.hill@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}