Russell Keen, Georgia Southern University’s vice president for external affairs, is leaving to join Georgia Regents University as executive vice president for external relations and chief of staff to incoming GRU President Brooks A. Keel.Keel, who was president at Georgia Southern in Statesboro for more than five years, takes office Monday as president of Georgia Regents University in Augusta. Keen, the transitioning vice president, will begin his new role July 27."While I am honored to be chosen by Dr. Keel to serve as his chief of staff at GRU, it is with a heavy heart that I leave Georgia Southern,” Keen said in the news release announcing his departure. “The university has been part of my life for a very long time.