University System of Georgia Chancellor Sonny Perdue visited Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College on Monday for a chat with future ABAC students and a long conversation with ABAC President David Bridges on his perspective after serving 16 years as the ABAC President.

“ABAC has always been a great place,” Perdue told students in the Donaldson Dining Hall who were on campus for a fall semester orientation session. “I don’t think I have ever met an ABAC graduate who didn’t like it here.”

Perdue eased around the dining hall, chatting with students and their parents. He even had a chance encounter with friends from Houston County where Perdue lives.

“It’s always a special day when we get to host the Chancellor at ABAC,” Bridges said. “I believe he realizes the key role that ABAC plays in the University System of Georgia.”

Bridges is the longest serving president among the 26 colleges and universities in the USG. He is also the longest serving president in the history of ABAC and the only ABAC president to have once been a student at the college. He announced his retirement in September 2021 and his last day as the ABAC president will be on July 31.

Dr. Tracy Brundage will become ABAC’s 11th president on Aug. 1. She is now completing her tenure as the president at Keystone (Pa.) College.