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Phone: 470-578-6023

Email: ipulinka@kennesaw.edu

Office Location: KH 4429

Office Hours:
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Ivan Pulinkala

Ivan PulinkalaDr. Ivan Pulinkala
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
Professor of Dance

 Ivan Pulinkala serves as Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Kennesaw State University. He served as KSU’s Interim Provost from July 2021 until he was named Provost in December 2022. Prior to this role, Pulinkala served as Dean of the Geer College of the Arts from 2018-2021. Pulinkala founded Georgia’s largest collegiate dance program at KSU in 2005, serving as Director until 2012 and as the inaugural Chair of the Department of Dance from 2012-2018.

As Provost, Pulinkala has developed a comprehensive ecosystem approach to student success that is transforming degree completion outcomes with a focus on academic advising, student retention, degree progression, and academic remediation. Under his purview, KSU enrollment has grown over 13%- crossing 49,000 students in Fall 2025; with a record 30.8% growth of the Honors College and 41% growth in online enrollment. KSU has added several innovative new degree programs since Pulinkala became Provost, such as the M.S. in Financial Technologies, Ph.D. in Computer Science, M.S. in Artificial Intelligence, and the B.S. in Aerospace Engineering. Pulinkala has raised over $22 million for KSU, resulting in the naming of the Geer College of the Arts and the Bailey School of Music. He has added over 300 new faculty positions at KSU since July 2021, and competitively advanced faculty hiring and retention across the institution. Pulinkala co-led the development of KSU’s 2025 Strategic Plan- Taking Flight and guides its implementation strategy.

Pulinkala is credited with developing Georgia’s largest collegiate dance program at KSU, building the program’s 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. The Department of Dance at KSU is distinguished by Pulinkala's choreographic work that has been commissioned by professional and collegiate dance companies nationally and internationally. 

Pulinkala developed the first graduate degree in the arts at KSU as Dean, and is credited with the naming of the Geer College of the Arts and the Bailey School of Music. He re-branded the arts to create the ArtsKSU identity and virtual platform. Under his leadership, the College of the Arts enrollment grew by 41% in three years and national accreditation/re-accreditation was pursued in all four disciplinary units. Pulinkala has envisioned and raised funds for the creation of the Arts District at KSU, that when completed, will be one of the largest arts training facilities in the Southeast.

Pulinkala completed the Executive Leadership Academy at the American Academic Leadership Institute (2024-25), Accelerated Leadership Academy at the University System of Georgia (2016-17), and the Executive Leadership Institute at the University System of Georgia (2013-14). Originally from New Delhi, Pulinkala was the artistic director of his own dance company 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. He holds a Doctorate in Higher Education Administration from the University of Alabama, a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from Mills College, and a Bachelor of Commerce from Hindu College, Delhi University.

Guest Artist Residencies

Pulinkala has choreographed and taught for a number of professional companies, universities and arts organizations:

Henny Jurriens Foundation, Netherlands (2016), Israel Ballet (2015) Atlanta Ballet - Wabi Sabi (2014) FRESCO Dance Company, Israel (2013) Rialto Center for the Arts (2010, 2011, 2013) Washington University in St. Louis (2009, 2012) Brigham Young University (2011, 2013) Georgia Shakespeare (2011) gloATL (2010) Shanghai Normal University (2010) Atlanta Ballet (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010) University of South Carolina (2008) Nirvana Films (2007) Governor's School for the Arts, Tennessee (2006, 2008) The Dancer's Studio (2007) Middle Tennessee State University (2005-2007) Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus (2007, 2008) Spelman College (2006) Modern Atlanta Dance Festival (2006, 2007) Decatur Arts Festival (2006) Shanghai International Theatre Festival (2005) Shelter Repertory Dance Company (2005) Full Radius Dance Company (2005) Murray State University (2001-2005) Western Kentucky University (2004) Danceworx (2004, 2009) Vanderbilt University (2003, 2004) U.C. Berkley (2004) Mills College (2004) Contemporary Dance Exchange of Nashville (2003-2005) University of Tennessee at Martin (2003) American College Dance Festival (2004-2012) City Lights Youth Theatre (2001) Delhi Music Theatre (1994-2002) American Embassy School (1997-2002) St. George's College (1994, 1995)

Awards

Clendenin Graduate Fellowship 2010, 2011, 2012 KSU Foundation Award 2011 KSU College of the Arts Distinguished Research and Creative Activity Award 2011 Cobb Symphone Orchestra Award for Artistic Excellence 2010 NEA American Masterpiece Grant 2010-11 Board of Regents Teaching Excellence Award 2005 (Murray State University) KSU Faculty Incentive Grant 2006-07 Faculty Teaching Development Grant Faculty Professional Development Grant Committee on Institutional Studies and Research Grant Individual Artist Fellowship Program Grant at the Kentucky Arts Council Middle Tennessee State University International Guest Artist Grant

Choreography

  • Labyrinth (2025)
  • ECOSYS (2023)
  • Forest (2021)
  • Moon Dust (2020)
  • Road Kill (2018, 2012)
  • Metamorphosis (2017)
  • 2.0 (2016)
  • 1.0 (2015)
  • Hypnophobia (2015)
  • Ipomoea (2015)
  • Rinpoche (2014)
  • PYROMANIA (2014)
  • TOUCHDOWN (2013)
  • Rhizome (2011)
  • Cocoon (2010)
  • Lost (2010)
  • Chakra (2009)
  • Succubus (2009)
  • Magnetic Fields (2009)
  • Metastasis (2009)
  • Incubus (2008)
  • Hyperspace (2007)
  • A Dream Discarded (2007)
  • Cloud Burst (2006)
  • Firestorm (2005)
  • Migration (2004)
  • No Way Out (2003)
  • Inside My Twisted Mind (2004)
  • Mock Abduction (2002)
  • Touchdown (2004)
  • Secret Garden (2003)
  • To Be Baptized (2003)
  • Passages (2003)
  • Coffee Break (2003)
  • As Time Moves On (2003)
  • Popcorn Suite (2002)
  • Dirty Business (2002)
  • Offerings (2003)
  • A New World (2002)
  • Cycle (2002)
  • Geometric Relationships (2001)
  • Second Construction (2001)
  • Slow (2000)

Professional musical theatre choreography/performance credits include: Tommy, The Music Man, West Side Story, Grease, Best Friends, Evita, Fame- the musical, Me and My Girl, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, among others.

Publications

A Reengagement Strategy for Administrators (Inside Higher Ed.) 2025

Student Development Through a Professional Arts Presenting Series (Journal of Performing Arts Research in Higher Education) 2020

Partnering for Change in Dance Higher Education (2014) (Research in Dance Education) 2014

Integration of a Professional Dance into College (Research in Dance Education) 2011

Polyphonic Dynamics as Educational Practice (Theatre Topics) Co-authored 2010