 Sethna was the catalyst for many of the changes that elevated UWG from a liberal arts college of 7,947 students in 1993–94 to an institution with full university status whose full-time equivalent enrollment has grown by 50 percent since his arrival.It has also conferred more than 20 doctoral degrees in the past year, including its first Ph.D. 

President Sethna has held several board memberships and has chaired boards and committees at the state, regional and national levels.For example, he has served on the board of directors of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education; he has completed a two-year term as chair of the board of the Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education (ARCHE); and he is the past chair of the board of the Gulf South Conference (GSC) and the Policies and Purposes Committee of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU).