(a) There is created a Board of Trustees for Athens State University. The board shall consist of the following voting members:

(1) Six members shall be residents of either the Fourth or Fifth Congressional District as constituted on October 1, 2012, at least two of whom shall be residents of the county in which the main campus of the institution is located.

(2) Two members shall be appointed from the state at large.

(3) One member shall be appointed from the governing body of the two-year institutions of higher education located in the district where the main campus of the university is located.

(4) The Chancellor of the Department of Postsecondary Education.

(5) The Governor, who shall be ex officio president of the board.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, trustees shall be appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the Senate, and shall hold office for a term of seven years and until their successors are appointed and qualified. Of the initial members appointed to the board pursuant to subdivisions (1) and (2) of subsection (a), three members shall be appointed for terms of three years, three members shall be appointed for terms of five years, and two members shall be appointed for terms of seven years. These initial trustees, appointed after October 1, 2012, shall have immediate, interim authority to conduct such business as may be necessary to fulfill the intent of this chapter without Senate confirmation for not more than 12 months after appointment. No trustee shall receive any pay or emolument, other than his or her actual expenses incurred in the discharge of his or her duties as a trustee. No employee of the university, or any person related by blood or marriage to the president of the university, shall be eligible to serve on the board. No trustee may serve more than two terms of office, except that the initial trustees appointed pursuant to subdivisions (1) or (2) of subsection (a) may be appointed to one additional term regardless of the previous number of terms served.

(c) No member of the board, individually, as a partner, as a stockholder, a board member, or an officer of a corporate body, shall conduct any business transaction, directly or indirectly, with the university. Any person who violates this subsection shall be immediately removed from the board, and replaced for the unexpired portion of his or her term by appointment of the Governor. The president of the university may not as an individual, or as an incorporator, officer, or director of any for profit entity, engage in any business in any manner which would conflict with his or her duties as president or with the best interests of the university or the students enrolled in the university. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as forbidding the president from serving as a trustee of any other educational institution, as an officer of a church or other eleemosynary institution, or as an officer, director, or trustee of any organization from which no profit would accrue to him or her, or his or her immediate family, from any business of the organization for or with the university or the students enrolled in the university. Should the president of the university engage in any business in violation of this subsection, such action shall be sufficient cause for his or her immediate removal by the board.

(d) The Governor, the Chancellor of the Department of Postsecondary Education, and the member appointed pursuant to subdivision (3) of subsection (a), by virtue of his or her respective office, and the trustees appointed pursuant to subdivisions (1) and (2) of subsection (a), and their successors in office, are constituted and shall be considered a body corporate under the name of Athens State University.