Ivan Pulinkala

Ivan Pulinkala is the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Kennesaw State University. Pulinkala founded the Program in Dance at KSU in 2005, serving as the Director until 2012 and as the inaugural Chair of the Department of Dance from 2012-2018. Pulinkala served as Dean of the College of the Arts from 2018- 2021. He served as KSU’s interim provost from July 2021 until he officially assumed the role of Provost in December 2022. He received his Doctorate in Higher Education Administration from the University of Alabama, his M.F.A in Dance from Mills College, Oakland, CA, and his Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) from Hindu College, Delhi University.

Pulinkala is credited with developing Georgia’s largest collegiate dance program at KSU, building the programs state-of-the-art studio facility at Chastain Pointe and creating Atlanta’s only discipline-specific Dance Theatre on the KSU Marietta Campus. KSU 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 commission 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 KSU, facilitated the naming of the Bailey School of Music, and re-branded the arts to create the ArtsKSU 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. As Dean and Provost, Pulinkala has raised over $21 million for KSU.

Pulinkala was selected for the Accelerated Leadership Academy at the University System of Georgia in 2017, the Executive Leadership Institute at the University System of Georgia in 2013, awarded the KSU Foundation Award in 2011, the Clendenin Graduate Fellowship at KSU 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 for three years in India, 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.