Belinda Classens named Director of Operations for the Office of Research

The new face of the Director of Operations for the Office of Research at Georgia Southern University may look familiar to some.

Belinda Classens first worked for Georgia Southern in 2005 as a staff assistant in the Jack N. Averitt College of Graduate Studies before moving over to the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health Hsu College of Public Health as the budget manager, where she worked for nine years. In 2021, she left her position with Business and Finance as Research Accounting Manager to accept an opportunity at Emory University. While there, she was the Post Award Administrator in the School of Medicine’s Basic Sciences Department.

“We are very pleased to welcome Belinda back home to Georgia Southern,” said Interim Vice President of Research and Economic Development Chris Curtis, Ph.D. “She is already known for the high quality of her work and her professional demeanor. She will be a tremendous asset to the Research team.”

In her new role, Classens will work collaboratively across divisions to create efficiencies in research operations.

“My team’s main goal is to assist faculty with their research endeavors. Eliminating barriers to their ability to do this is essential to moving our institution forward in the research arena,” she said. “The opportunity to be a part of that positive facilitation is very exciting to me.”

Classens received her Bachelor’s of Business Administration in Accounting in 2017 from Georgia Southern University. Originally from Savannah, she and her husband have three daughters.

Last updated: 8/21/2023