Ivan Pulinkala

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

Ivan Pulinkala has served as Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Kennesaw State University since 2021. He served as Dean of the Geer College of the Arts from 2018 to 2021 and founded Georgia’s largest collegiate dance program at KSU in 2005, serving as the inaugural Chair of the Department of Dance until 2018.

As Provost, Pulinkala developed a comprehensive ecosystem approach to student success that is transforming degree completion outcomes across KSU. Under his purview, KSU enrollment has grown 19.4% — crossing 51,000 students in fall 2026; with a record 67.8% growth of the Honors College; 27.3% growth of the Graduate College; and 41% growth in online enrollment. KSU has added 9 new degree programs under Pulinkala’s leadership, including the B.S. and M.S. in Financial Technologies, Ph.D. in Computer Science, B.S. and M.S. in Artificial Intelligence, and the B.S. in Aerospace Engineering.

Pulinkala has raised over $25 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 developed 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 acclaim for Pulinkala's choreographic work, with 3 successive Kennedy Center selections at the National American College Dance Association (ACDA) and 5 ACDA Regional Gala selections across the Southeast. Pulinkala’s choreographic commissions include works for the Israel Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Fresco Dance Company, Alliance Theatre, Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus, Georgia Shakespeare, City Lights Youth Theatre, as well as collegiate commissions 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 Geer College of the Arts, Pulinkala developed the first graduate degree in the arts at KSU and re-branded the arts to create the ArtsKSU presenting season. Under his leadership, the Geer College of the Arts enrollment grew by 40%, 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. Pulinkala envisioned and raised funding for the creation of the 200,000 square foot 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), the Executive Leadership Institute at the University System of Georgia (2013-14). He was 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 in India for 3 years, served as choreographer-in-residence for Delhi Music Theatre for 5 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