As Dean of the Graduate School and Professor at the University of West Georgia (UWG), Dr. Matt Varga provides strategic leadership for more than 60 graduate programs serving approximately 6,000 students and oversees a $4 million budget. Since 2022, graduate enrollment at UWG has increased by 47 percent, reflecting an institutional commitment to expanding and modernizing graduate education.

When asked what accomplishment he is most proud of, Varga does not identify a single position, program, or milestone. Instead, he describes a pattern that has followed him throughout his career: transformation. Whether expanding academic programs, reshaping graduate education, or helping to move SACSA forward, he has consistently sought ways to make things better than he found them.

An unexpected start

Varga’s entry into the field of student affairs was shaped by the breadth of his own undergraduate involvement at Christopher Newport University. Those experiences gave him an early understanding of how institutional life, student leadership, and community intersect and eventually led him to recognize student affairs as a profession.

“I was an RA. I was in housing, facilities, Greek life, really doing all the things,” Varga recalls. “And then… ‘Oh wait, I can do this as a job.’”

He took that realization to the University of Tennessee, earning an M.S. in College Student Personnel and a Ph.D. In Higher Education Administration. His professional career began in housing and residence life, and at the outset, he envisioned a relatively conventional progression through student affairs toward senior institutional leadership.

What followed was considerably broader. Over the course of his career, Varga moved between student affairs, faculty leadership, graduate education, and academic administration, building a professional identity that would ultimately extend well beyond the trajectory he initially imagined.

The experience that changed his perspective

Since joining SACSA in 2007, Varga’s career has been shaped by both his eagerness to embrace new challenges and the colleagues and professional relationships that have inspired, challenged, and supported him. Throughout his time with SACSA, he's been influenced by figures like Dr. Don Stansberry, Dr. Jason Cassidy, Dr. Deborah Kladivko, Dr. Ellen J.. Neufeldt, Dr. Jane Adams-Dunford, Dr. Beau Seagraves, and Dr. Lindsey E. Woods, along with many other mentors, colleagues, and friends who have provided guidance, perspectives, and growth opportunities. He recalls moments when colleagues questioned his ideas and advised him to reconsider approaches, experiences that shaped his understanding of leadership and collaboration. These relationships have not only impacted his professional growth but also fueled his dedication to mentoring emerging student affairs professionals.

Varga began his involvement with SACSA by volunteering in web development. His service was clear: “Do the work that nobody else wants to do.” This willingness to take on undervalued tasks became a recurring theme in his SACSA journey. His service broadened from web work to membership work, where he helped address challenges related to renewals, engagement, and the organization’s infrastructure. His contributions over time led to increased leadership roles, including serving as Vice President for Membership.

In 2016, Varga was elected SACSA President.

“I was scared. I was terrified,” he recalls.

At the time, Varga was an assistant professor working alongside professionals he had long respected. The prospect of leading an association with SACSA’s history and professional standing brought on a sense of self-doubt. Rather than allowing that uncertainty to limit his leadership, he approached the presidency as another opportunity to contribute, strengthen the association, and continue doing the work that had brought him there in the first place.

Transformation by design

During his presidential year, Varga focused on the association’s future.

He helped advance strategic planning, worked to increase graduate student involvement, and established the Presidential Scholar position, creating an opportunity for emerging professionals to become more deeply engaged with SACSA.

He also led efforts to rebrand SACSA, helping establish the visual identity that members recognize today.

Years later, he returned to the association’s digital infrastructure, helping transition SACSA to a new website and strengthen its use of organizational data.

His institutional career reflects the same commitment to transformation.

At UWG, Varga designed the Master of Education in College Student Affairs and doctoral programs in Higher Education Administration and Professional Counseling and Supervision. He helped grow the College Student Affairs master's program from approximately 12 students to a peak of about 60 and contributed to significant growth within the university's graduate education infrastructure.

For Varga, the numbers are meaningful, but they are evidence of something larger.

“I think my biggest accomplishment,” he explains, “is my ability to continuously improve and transform things.”

His goal is straightforward: Leave everything better than you found it.

Lead as you want to be led

For Varga, transformation has never been an individual endeavor.

“You can never do it alone,” he says.

That understanding is reflected in the way his approach to leadership has developed over time. For Dr.Varga, one principle has remained consistent: “lead as you want to be led.” He does not ask others to take on work he would not undertake himself, but he has also learned that effective leadership requires more than modeling expectations.

People require different forms of leadership at different moments. Varga describes learning to distinguish between when someone needs direction, when they need management, when they need mentorship, and when they simply need someone willing to meet them where they are.

That flexibility can shape even the most ordinary interactions.

His understanding of leadership has also been shaped by the people willing to challenge him. During his SACSA involvement and throughout his career, colleagues have offered perspectives that prompted him to reconsider his own approach.

For Varga, the ability to respond with “You know what, you’re right” is not a concession of leadership. It is part of it.

The willingness to reconsider, adapt, and learn from others has become as important to his leadership as the willingness to lead in the first place.

“SACSA is a big part of who i am”

When asked what SACSA has contributed to his professional development and career, Varga immediately points to relationships. “The relationships, the colleagues, the friends, the growth, the professional development, the opportunities.”

For Varga, SACSA has become much more than a professional association.

He describes it as a family, one built through years of shared experiences, mentorship, collaboration, and trust.

He entered SACSA as an assistant professor who questioned the value of professional networking. He eventually found himself leading membership initiatives, serving as president, creating opportunities for graduate students, and contributing to the association's organizational identity and infrastructure.

Each opportunity required him to learn something new.

Each relationship expanded what he believed he could contribute.

“I think it’s a big part of who I am,” Varga reflects. “A big part of my growth, a big part of even where I’m going. And I don’t know what that is yet, but I know that SACSA is going to be a part of that.”

Recognizing a legacy he didn’t always see

Varga did not expect to be named to the Gavel & Gravel Society.

The recognition prompted him to revisit contributions he had long since moved. “I was just doing myself, just doing my work, just being me,” he says.

What once felt like simply getting the work done had become part of SACSA’s history. For Varga, the honor offered a reminder that contributions can have a lasting impact long after the work itself is finished.

For him, the point is not simply to take on undesirable tasks. It is about looking beyond what is expected and recognizing what else needs to be done. “Somebody is going to recognize that work,” he says. “Somebody is going to see the contributions that you have.”

His challenge is to move beyond fulfilling expectations and toward “contributing the unexpected.”

That idea captures much of Varga’s approach to SACSA: contribute where there is a need, take on work others may overlook, and leave each organization better than you found it.

For nearly two decades, that approach has shaped his service to SACSA—and now, the Gavel & Gravel Society has given the association an opportunity to recognize it.