VALDOSTA STATE MAGAZINE 11 hopes his work with this group will help address real challenges facing South Georgia; advance the area鈥檚 progress and prosperity in the fundamental areas of education, healthcare, the arts, business and industry, and government; and make rural communities a place more people want to call home. Valdosta State University Magazine: Describe your involvement with the Georgia Chamber of Commerce鈥檚 Rural Prosperity Council. Dr. Richard A. Carvajal: In January 2017, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce announced the Rural Prosperity Council, a new initiative focused on improving the lot for rural Georgia and trying to bring prosperity to an area that has fallen behind the metropolitan parts of our state. I was asked to serve as chairman of the Talent and Leadership Development Subcommittee. We have been working with folks from education, business and industry, economic development, and other areas from across the state to try to begin to create answers for what we can do to make rural communities more successful. One of the big challenges that we have identified is trying to make sure that we have a workforce that can meet the needs of business and industry for the next generation. There has been a significant change in the way millennials look at how they鈥檙e going to make decisions post college. A lot of us knew it was happening, but we didn鈥檛 realize how transformative it was. When folks my age and older graduated from college, we went and looked for a job, and wherever we found a job, we tried to figure out if we could make a life there. Millennials pick a place to live