Presidential Search Profile

Rock Hill, South Carolina

The Search for the Tenth President of Winthrop University

‘…Nothing worth having, intellectually or otherwise, can be secured without hard, persistent, earnest, faithful work.’

— David Bancroft Johnson,Founding President,

1910 Opening Address

W i n t h r o p U n i v e r s i t y

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The Search for the Tenth President of Winthrop University

‘Winthrop University will be – and will be recognized as – one of the best universities of its kind.’

With those words, Winthrop University expresses both its vision for itself and its vision for the reputation of the degree its alumni carry into the world of work or further study. For more than two decades, that vision has been pivotal in the development of Winthrop and its eventual achievement of wide recognition as one of the best universities of its kind.

Now, as the Winthrop Board of Trustees contemplates the responsibilities inherent in the selection of the Tenth President of Winthrop University, the trustees remain united in their support of those visionary words as the overarching principle that must continue to guide Winthrop in the future. With that obligation of stewardship foremost in their minds, the Board of Trustees of Winthrop University invites nominations and applications for an individual to become the institution’s Tenth President.

Working with the entire University community, the new president will have the opportunity to sustain and build upon Winthrop’s exceptional record of growth and innovation, while leading the University in continuing to achieve distinction and broadened recognition of the quality and value for which Winthrop is now known.


DiGiorgio Campus Center

‘ We have the opportunity here to create — out of the legacy bestowed upon us by the past and our dreams for the future — a zealous scholarly companionship that will saturate every corner of the campus: a mission compounded of service, of excellence, of diversity and of community.’

— Anthony J. DiGiorgio,Winthrop’s Ninth President,

October 1990 Inaugural Address


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Overall Campus Profile

Winthrop University is a highly residential, public, competitive-admissions comprehensive university offering a wide range of undergraduate and master’s level programs to a high-achieving, socially responsible and inclusive student body numbering about 6,000, with 41 states and 40 foreign countries represented. Founded in 1886, Winthrop’s roots are in the liberal arts, with emphasis on fostering success among traditional-age students in both academic and personal development terms.

Nestled in the heart of Rock Hill, South Carolina — part of the thriving Charlotte, N.C., metropolitan area — Winthrop offers both the sensibilities of a close-knit community and the amenities of a close-by sophisticated urban environment.

Winthrop’s 117-acre historic main campus features Neo-Georgian architecture amidst a verdant landscape of stately trees and winding streets, complemented by compatibly designed 21st century facilities lining pedestrian-friendly Scholars Walk. A second 325-acre campus less than a mile away provides a wide array of outdoor research, recreation and athletic facilities that are considered among the best in the Southeast. Facilities on both campuses are infused with state-of-the-art technology designed to engage 21st century ‘digital native’ learners on their own terms.

Major investments in new academic and campus community spaces for the 21st century include:

•Dalton Hall, a new Life Sciences Building — and the first new building on the Winthrop campus in more than three decades.

•Sims Building, a major renovation to complete Winthrop’s updated sciences complex.

•The Courtyard, a 404-bed apartment-style facility built by adjacent to campus the separate Winthrop University Real Estate Foundation to provide additional housing choices for Winthrop students. Major renovations also have been carried out on campus at Phelps, Wicker, Margaret Nance, Wofford and Richardson Halls.

DiGiorgio Campus Center


•The West Center, a 120,000-square-foot, state of the art health, physical education, sport, human performance and wellness facility.

•Carroll Hall, a new high-tech facility for the College of Business Administration, including the Carroll Capital Markets Trading and Training Center.

•Owens Hall, a 32,200-square-foot, high-tech, general-use classroom building.

•The DiGiorgio Campus Center. This 128,000-square-foot facility houses activities and meeting spaces for clubs and organizations, student recreational facilities, Markley’s food court, Starbucks, the Winthrop University Bookstore, post office facilities, Student Life offices and board meeting facilities.

•Hardin Family Gardens, a donor-supported outdoor facility designed for teaching and learning in a variety of disciplines, as well as a place for individual reflection.

•Scholars Walk, the central promenade of the Winthrop campus that connects Winthrop’s beginnings — the Little Chapel — to its future: major facilities joined by special green spaces along a pedestrian walk spanning the heart of campus.

Indeed, U.S. News and World Report, which has listed Winthrop among its Top Ten master’s level public colleges for 20 years, started off the decade by labeling Winthrop an “up and coming institution” noteworthy for “the most promising and innovative changes in academics, faculty, students, campus or facilities.” Other third-party verifications of excellence are reflected by Winthrop’s past inclusion in such publications as Barron’s “Best Buys in College Education,” and Princeton Review’s “America’s Best Value Colleges.”

The campus has been designed to create opportunities for faculty-staff interactions with students outside as well as inside traditional classroom or residence hall settings. It is those supplemental faculty-student interactions that often create mentorship opportunities and account for recognition of Winthrop by students as an institution “where faculty will not only know your name, but will really know who you are.”

Scholars Walk


Moreover, Winthrop’s exceptionally collegial faculty and staff infuse the campus community with an energetic sense of purpose that puts student learning and personal development at the heart of all initiatives.

Faculty number 286 full-time and 222 part-time, with 248 full-time and 68 part-time holding terminal degrees. Of the full-time faculty, 165 are tenured and 71 are tenure track. These include 77 full professors, 99 associate professors, 79 assistant professors, 30 instructors and one lecturer.

Winthrop faculty are organized into the following units: the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Business Administration, the Richard W. Riley College of Education, the College of Visual and Performing Arts, University College, and Dacus Library. Each college is headed by a dean, who reports to the Vice President for Academic Affairs.

There are five divisions headed by vice presidents reporting to the Winthrop president: Academic Affairs; Finance and Business; Student Life; University Advancement; and University Development and Alumni Relations. In addition, the university’s internal auditor and director of athletics also report to the president. (A copy of the Winthrop organization chart is available at: http://www.winthrop.edu/uploadedFiles/1-5OrganizationChart.pdf )

Winthrop is part of South Carolina’s network of public institutions that are run quasi-independently under the stewardship of each institution’s respective Board of Trustees. Winthrop trustees share a responsibility conferred by the institution’s state charter, which includes words found in no other S.C. institution’s charge of responsibility to trustees: that Winthrop be “a first-class institution of higher education,” with the power to add such features and programs “as the progress of the times may require.”

Winthrop is recognized in S.C. public policy circles as one of the state’s top-performing institutions, having repeatedly been given top ratings by the S.C. Commission on Higher Education (CHE) during a late 1990s iteration of performance funding tested by the S.C. General Assembly. That program, which was funded only partially, no longer exists, leaving CHE to act largely as a coordinating body in governance terms.


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Winthrop’s “Vision of Distinction”

Almost 24 years ago, retiring President Anthony DiGiorgio led the Winthrop campus community through a strategic planning process that ultimately produced a set of six “strategic value statements” describing the goals of the campus community in aspirational terms. Each spring since, the campus community has been able to contribute to the development of a work plan for the following academic year that will move Winthrop incrementally toward fulfillment of one or more of the aspirational value statements.

Winthrop’s six strategic value statements articulate:

•the kind of community Winthrop will become;

•the kind of student body it will build;

•the nature of academic life on campus;

•the type of facilities that concurrently will support classroom learning and create opportunities for engagement beyond the classroom;

•the support services that will facilitate the work of the campus and the campus community’s interactions beyond, and

•the kind of partnerships and collaborations that are essential to Winthrop fulfilling its mission of teaching, scholarship and service.

Together, these strategic value statements and the annual work plan that supports them — indeed, even the on-going planning process that advances them — are known as Winthrop’s “Vision of Distinction.” (The current iteration of the “Vision of Distinction” can be found at the following web address: http://www.winthrop.edu/uploadedFiles/WUcommon/pdf/VisionofDistinction.pdf )

This approach to strategic planning adds both a dynamic aspect and a capacity for nimbleness that often are lacking in other strategic planning approaches. Together with the University’s standard of excellence in all it does, this clear articulation of ends, means and expectation of quality outcomes has come to be known by many as “the Winthrop Way” of conducting business.

Over time, the “Vision of Distinction” approach has become a tool for collective accountability as well as collaborative forward-thinking. The strategic values statements and each set of annual initiatives are recognized by the campus community as inherently intertwined.

Cross-campus groups are tasked to complete each initiative, with mid-year progress reports used to gauge what steps will be necessary to complete an initiative in the given year, as well as to brainstorm what logically would follow as the related initiative for the following year.


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Winthrop’s Nature and Character

Congruently, in 2006, Winthrop faculty and staff collaborated on an initiative to define further the nature and character of the university, and developed a statement of shared commitments as part of that work. That statement is as follows:

As a community of learners:

Y We center the Winthrop Experience on student development inspired by our commitment to the liberal arts traditions, to national caliber professional education, and to developing leadership and civic responsibility;

Y We nurture collective and individual growth, enlightenment, and transformation;

Y We value the search for truth through reasoned and disciplined inquiry, innovation, and free expression;

Y We embrace multiculturalism and the broadest possible diversity of people and perspectives;

Y We share a strong sense of place — a beautiful, historic campus with a collegial, caring atmosphere; and

Y We fulfill and enhance the nature and character of the University through policies and resources that reflect and advance these ideals and aspirations.

Academically, doing things “the Winthrop Way” means that students will be guided toward a deeper kind of learning than mere rote repetition of the material presented in each discipline.

Personally, doing things “the Winthrop Way” means that students will be guided toward a deeper kind of reflection about the kind of lives they will lead both inside and apart from their work roles.

That holistic approach to student development provides students with the ability to build within themselves the capacities to live, learn and lead throughout their lifetimes.


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Deeper Learning Academically

To succeed in the highly competitive 21st century, students need to develop capacities that they will be able to use throughout their academic studies and into the remainder of their lives as well, no matter how rapidly change may alter the latest developments within their major area of study over time.

Winthrop faculty and staff have articulated the capacities essential to success, both in college and later in life. Together, they are known as the University-Level Capacities. They include:

1 – The capacity to think critically and solve problems.

2 – The capacity to be personally and socially responsible.

3 – The capacity to understand the interconnected nature of the world and the time in which they live.

4 – The capacity to communicate effectively, successfully expressing and exchanging ideas.

And increasingly, the times also require:

•The capacity to work as part of a problem-solving team.

•The capacity to use technology fluently.

•The capacity to innovate.

Given the pace of change in many disciplines these days, Winthrop educators recognized that these capacities will become the touchstones that the students can and will use throughout their lives to deal with whatever problems or concerns the world hands them.


As an introduction to this kind of deeper thinking and learning, Winthrop developed a set of Touchstone core courses to be taken by all students, regardless of major. These include:

•ACAD 101, which introduces first-year students to the concepts, principles, and skills necessary for successful higher learning and facilitates students’ engagement in the learning academy.

•WRIT 101 is an introduction to academic discourse. The focus of the course is on the writing process, a process that results in well-supported, thesis-driven prose.

•HMXP 102, “The Human Experience,” is a critical link between WRIT 101 and the next course in the core, CRTW 201, “Critical Thinking and Writing.” Students begin by reflecting on the Self in relation to Education, then move on to other aspects of the Self: The Autonomous Self, the Self and Community, the Social Self, the Self and Nature, and the Self and the Sacred.

•CRTW 201 focuses on critical reading, critical thinking, and deliberative/ argumentative writing, recognizing the limitations that cultural experiences and individual temperaments place on one’s perceptions. Human beings are innate problem solvers; this course will encourage thought that is more deliberate, analytical, thorough, informed, and creative.

Together, these core courses impart a solid foundation in critical skills as students move into advanced coursework in their majors, where their University-Level Capacities will be further developed and honed.

In addition, Winthrop in 2011 adopted its Global Learning Initiative (GLI) as part of its reaffirmation of accreditation commitment to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS,) which requires every institution to have a Quality Enhancement Plan as part of its work between reaffirmation visits. The GLI was designed by Winthrop faculty and staff to enhance and expand Winthrop students’ opportunities to explore global knowledge, global attitudes, and global engagement.


Deeper Personal Growth Developmentally

Winthrop is so committed to the concept of student learning intrinsically involving both academic and personal development that in 2003, it created University College to bridge the ‘silos’ that sometimes exist between academic affairs and student affairs, with the goal of creating greater synergy in the Winthrop Experience.

Through Winthrop’s University College, faculty and staff work across disciplines to help ensure that every Winthrop student, regardless of his or her ultimate degree goal, has a common academic foundation and a commitment to lifelong learning, leadership, and service. At the heart of the initiative was a belief that holistic student development occurs best when values, ethics and civic responsibility are infused across campus life, including in the curriculum.

In 2007, that approach led to Winthrop being chosen by the Association of American Colleges and Universities from among 128 applicants to become one of only 18 universities to lead the first phase of a national initiative called “Core Commitments: Educating Students for Personal and Social Responsibility.” The Core Commitments emphasized across the student experience at Winthrop are:

•cultivating personal and academic integrity;

•contributing to a larger community;

• learning and respecting the perspectives of others;

•developing a strong work ethic to achieve one’s best in all aspects of college and life; and

•refining competence in ethical and moral reasoning.


In 2009-10, Winthrop’s University College was awarded a $350,000 federal grant from the U.S. Department of Education to create a campus Academic Success Center (ASC) offering peer tutoring, individual/group study opportunities, “intrusive” counseling, and other support activities designed to help each student achieve his or her best and persist to degree attainment. When federal funding for out-year support was discontinued at the Washington, D.C., level, Winthrop identified campus resources to continue the work of the ASC.

When the time arrived for Winthrop’s re-affirmation of accreditation process, faculty and staff worked across campus through University College in 2010-11 to develop ideas for a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) required by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Winthrop’s regional accrediting body. The QEP is a five-year comprehensive initiative, begin in designed by each campus to enhance overall institutional quality and effectiveness by focusing on an issue or issues important to student learning.

Called the “Global Learning Initiative” (GLI,) Winthrop’s QEP program began in 2011-12. It has been designed to integrate global learning across the Touchstone core program to improve students’ learning in three categories: global knowledge, global attitudes, and global engagement. The goals of the GLI include facilitating student engagement in “local, regional, national and/or international experiences that may differ from one’s own culture,” so they will be prepared for 21st century life as leaders in their respective professions and communities.


Through the work carried out by faculty and staff under this initiative, all Winthrop students by the time they have graduated will have explored global influences, examined culturally diverse relationships, and will have come to understand how those intercultural dynamics impact their senses of self, their lives, and their careers to prepare them better for success in the contemporary world.

In summary, the overall Winthrop Experience guides students in developing skills they will use as professionals and as citizens to engage in critical thinking, thoughtful analysis, and meaningful 21st century problem-solving within a framework of ethical and personal responsibility.

Leadership Opportunities for Students at Winthrop

As noted, Winthrop’s challenge to contemporary students is to develop within themselves the capacities to “live, learn and lead” for a lifetime.

In addition to their classroom work, students have opportunities to develop their leadership skills in a variety of ways, from numerous residence hall opportunities across Winthrop’s highly residential campus, to more than 150 clubs and organizations (including 14 fraternities and sororities,) an energetic array of 30-plus recreational sports groups, and an NCAA Division I athletics program that has made Winthrop a campus of champions. Scholar-athletes at Winthrop compete in men’s and women’s basketball, lacrosse, tennis, golf, indoor/outdoor track, cross-country and soccer; women’s softball and volleyball; and men’s baseball.

To prepare students for these opportunities, Winthrop offers “The Emerging Leaders Program,” which is designed to offer incoming freshmen the opportunity to explore their leadership potential through a Leadership Inventory. Abilities are honed through study of leadership theories and practices, as well as personal leadership exploration opportunities.


Governance — in South Carolina

Winthrop University is a part of South Carolina’s ‘network’ of public colleges and universities; there is no “system” encompassing all public institutions in South Carolina. The public network is composed of the following:

Research sector: Clemson University, the Medical University of South Carolina (Charleston,) and the University of South Carolina flagship campus in Columbia.

Comprehensive sector, independent institutions: Winthrop University; College of Charleston; The Citadel; Coastal Carolina University; Francis Marion University; Lander University, and S.C. State University.

Comprehensive sector, USC system, four-year campuses: USC-Aiken; USC-Upstate (Spartanburg;) USC-Beaufort.

USC 2-year campuses: USC-Lancaster; USC-Sumter; USC-Union; USC-Salkahatchie.

Technical Sector: 16 two-year campuses operating under the S.C. Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education.

Each public research institution and each comprehensive non-USC public institution (e.g., Winthrop) operates under its own respective Boards of Trustees, which is responsible for choosing the institution’s president, among other things. Membership and selection authorities for each board are set forth in an institutionally specific section of the S.C. State Code of Laws. [Winthrop’s section can be found at the following web address: http://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t59c125.php]

The chief executive officer of each USC campus outside of Columbia is known as a “chancellor,” and is selected by the president of the University of South Carolina, who is based in Columbia.

Technical college chief executives are known as presidents, and are chosen by the respective technical college’s commission.

As noted, South Carolina has a coordinating body called the S.C. Commission on Higher Education (CHE.) The chair and commissioners are gubernatorial appointees. CHE carries out a variety of data-gathering and reporting roles, administers the state’s lottery scholarship and other aid programs, and has statutory program, degree and facility approval processes for all public institutions. In addition, private and for-profit providers must have its approval to operate within the state.

Budget requests from public institutions are submitted pro forma to the CHE, however the S.C. General Assembly historically deals with each institution individually during the appropriations process.

As in most states, Winthrop’s state operating support endured a series of deep reductions when the Great Recession began in 2008, concluding in 2011. In the middle part of the first decade of the 21st century, Winthrop had received almost $26 million annually in recurring state operating funds. While Winthrop’s appropriation for FY 2012-2013 is not expected to


be reduced further, it likely will continue at the 2011-2012 level of $12.3 million – the “new normal.”

Capital funding for new construction at S.C. public comprehensive institutions has been non-existent since 2000, leaving it to Winthrop to finance needed new academic and other facilities on its 126-year-old campus through institutional bonding.

During the 2011-2012 academic year, S.C. Governor Nikki Haley, the chair of the Commission on Higher Education, and the presidents of the state’s public institutions initiated discussions about creating a new “accountability-focused” aspect to appropriations for institutions.

While the details of the plan are still in development, the objective of the governor’s “Accountability Based Funding” initiative would be to utilize at least a portion of funding to reward outcomes rather than meet a formulaic target for the input of resources. The metrics to be emphasized in the governor’s initiative would be degree completion; affordability and access; educational quality, and economic development and institutional mission.

Governance — at Winthrop

The Winthrop University Board of Trustees is composed of 14 members including the Governor of South Carolina and the State Superintendent of Education (or designees) who serve in an ex officio capacity. The 12 other members are either elected by joint ballot of the state Senate and House of Representatives (based on Congressional District representation,) appointed by the governor, or elected by the Winthrop Alumni Association. (NOTE: As the result of growth documented in the 2010 U.S. Census, South Carolina will be gaining a seventh Congressional seat in 2012, which means an additional trustee will be added to the Winthrop board over the next year.) The Chair of the Faculty Conference and the Chair of the Council of Student Leaders also serve as non-voting members. [A listing of members of the Winthrop Board of Trustees can be found at the following web address: http://www.winthrop.edu/trustees/]

The S.C. Code of Laws confers the following responsibilities on the Board of Trustees: “It shall possess all the power necessary for the accomplishment of the trust committed to it, viz.: the establishment, conduct and maintenance of a first-class institution of higher education. The board of trustees shall have general responsibility for the scope of educational programs, policy on eligibility for enrollment, and other policy matters. The trustees may add, from time to time, such special features to the institution and may open such new departments of training and instruction therein as the progress of the times may require.”

As South Carolina is a right-to-work state, collective bargaining is not a part of decision-making within the state’s public colleges and universities.

The Faculty Conference is the principal legislative body of the faculty and is responsible for its own organization and procedures, academic programs, policies, and regulations, as well as other matters referred to it by the President or the Chief Academic Officer. In accord with the Bylaws of the Board of Trustees, all actions of the Faculty Conference are subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees and its policies.


Beijing, China


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Beijing, China

Partnerships and Collaborations — international

In addition to a student body that includes international representation of 40 nations, Winthrop maintains two long-standing relationships with international counterpart institutions:

Nantong University — A growing cadre of students from China are matriculating at Winthrop through a relationship between Winthrop’s College of Business Administration and its counterpart in Nantong. Winthrop is now in the second year of a 10-year articulation agreement to continue offering Chinese students a chance to earn a Winthrop degree in accounting. Winthrop professors travel twice a semester to China to teach a total of four courses per year to aid students in the transition. The first class of 27 students graduated in May 2011 with a bachelor’s degree, while 15 remain in the U.S. to earn their M.B.A. degrees. Winthrop now hosts more than 60 students from China, with more expected in Fall 2012.

ESICAD — Winthrop annually hosts 50-60 students from France and French-speaking nations in Africa through arrangements between the College of Business Administration and two French counterparts.

Winthrop also has arrangements with more than 20 universities abroad to facilitate Winthrop students studying for a semester or an academic year in cultural environments different from their own. The International Center at Winthrop, a part of University College, coordinates support for both international students studying at Winthrop and Winthrop students studying internationally.

Partnerships and Collaborations — regional

Being part of the Charlotte metropolitan area is a distinctive advantage for Winthrop students when it comes to internship opportunities. Faculty in various disciplines maintain on-going relationships with professionals — including Winthrop alumni — who are working with major employers in the region and beyond. Opportunities for students to make professional connections through internship experiences prior to graduation are as diverse

Charlotte, North Carolina


as Wells Fargo Bank, the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency, the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, Muzak, and NASCAR — not to mention thousands of small businesses that just might inspire students to start one of their own.

Likewise, Winthrop is supported by a wide array of corporate and individual donors from throughout the region. Distinction: The Campaign for Winthrop, Winthrop’s second-ever capital campaign, was launched in October 2011 with a $50 million goal. By Summer 2012, $36 million in gifts and pledges had been received.

Partnerships and Collaborations — local

Winthrop University is committed to modeling civic engagement at the institutional level, just as it encourages students to be engaged with the community on an individual level. Part of that institutional citizenship and engagement is as a “steward of place,” which is a part of the university’s public service.

While Winthrop works as an economic development partner throughout the S.C.-N.C. state-line region of which it is a part, its closest relationships are with the City of Rock Hill, York County government, and area school districts.

Given its roots in teacher preparation, Winthrop was a natural choice to host the S.C. Center for Teacher Recruitment, Retention and Advancement, which assists school districts throughout the state in finding quality classroom teachers and school leaders. In addition, the Richard W. Riley College of Education at Winthrop was selected to receive two major federal grants of almost $12 million to work with selected school districts in the region over five years.


On an economic development front, Winthrop University is considered a market-maker for urban core redevelopment in Rock Hill, which previously hosted a variety of textile mills in a corridor lining the one mile between the Winthrop campus and downtown Rock Hill. In 2002, a university-related foundation built apartment-style housing for the use of Winthrop students, which soon was followed by a private entity developing a similar project. On the downtown side of the corridor, a textile mill was renovated for adaptive re-use, with offices of a national collection firm specializing in college and university accounts now the principal occupant.

Winthrop also is working with the City’s development arm and the private sector to create new business locations in the downtown area, including a possible hotel for which Winthrop could be a room guarantor, as well as relocation of the regional Small Business Development Center from the Winthrop campus to a downtown location closer to business start-ups.

The remaining property along the one-mile corridor — once the site of a one-million-square-foot fabric printing and finishing operation that was then the largest in the world — has been substantially cleared. New uses are envisioned for remaining buildings, with the cleared property likely to become the site of a residential life-long learning village for active retirees — a development also reliant upon the presence of Winthrop.

Concurrently, Winthrop and the City of Rock Hill partnered to create a “College Town Action Plan” designed to increase the “college town” feel in the campus environs. Small businesses typically found in established college towns around campuses historically are fewer in Rock Hill because of Winthrop’s beginnings as an all-female institution and because of the textile manufacturing facilities that dominated one side of campus for many decades.

The plan’s first phase emphasizes improvements in the pedestrian and bicycle safety of the environs around campus, particularly on high-traffic Cherry Road, a major arterial route. Local voters approved a $1.2 million allocation for that purpose in a referendum in Summer 2011.


The entering Class of 2012... will be greeted by one president, and handed their diplomas by another. But so it goes... all over the world, in this wonderful enterprise of higher education.

— Anthony J. DiGiorgio,Winthrop’s Ninth President

annoucing his retirement will come in Summer 2013, after leading

the university for 24 years.


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Summary of Opportunities for Tenth President of Winthrop University [Preliminary]

At a time when American public higher education and the liberal arts are now at a pivotal point in their history, Winthrop University is seeking a next president who is ready to meet both the challenges and opportunities inherent in rapidly changing times.

The Tenth President of Winthrop will benefit from the transformative accomplishments of the institution over the past 24 years and will be expected to build on the growing level of recognition achieved by Winthrop in that timeframe as well. As the leader of a national caliber faculty and staff who place student learning at the heart of all they do, the next president must be prepared:

•To provide inspiring leadership to the campus community;

•To continue a high level of engagement with Winthrop’s broad array of stakeholders;

•To increase the national and international visibility of Winthrop by articulating the special characteristics of the Winthrop Experience;

• To seize and create new opportunities to expand Winthrop’s base of support across the Carolinas and beyond;

•To assure that Winthrop has the financial resources to advance the goals of Winthrop’s “Vision of Distinction.”

Central to the work of the next president will be guiding the incremental growth of a campus community of lifelong learners who hold in common a set of timeless values: excellence, service, diversity, community and leadership. Through continued commitment to those values and to educating students within a framework designed to build personal responsibility, the next president of Winthrop will exemplify what is expected of Winthrop students as they prepare to become leaders in their professions and leaders in their communities.

The “Vision of Distinction” — both as a dynamic, on-going process and as an annual work plan — will serve as a ready compass for the next president of Winthrop, providing that leader with a reliable sense of “true north,” while allowing for adjustments “as the progress of the times may require.”

In Rock Hill, the next president of Winthrop will find a community that readily embraces newcomers and offers them a quality of life that includes four defined seasons to enjoy. The quality of local schools reflects the community’s support for public education, and recreational amenities abound, both on the Winthrop campus and across the greater community, including along the Catawba River and on nearby Lake Wylie. Likewise, the community support for the arts is exemplary, both embracing Winthrop’s work in that realm and supplementing it with a wide array of activities and locally sponsored offerings.

As the metropolitan area’s hub, Charlotte, N.C., offers additional amenities, including national tours of theater productions and other entertainment, professional PGA, NFL and


NBA sports, a major international airport and an even broader array of culinary options — all within a half-hour’s drive. Beaches and snow-skiing are just 2-3 hours away.

It is the people of the region, however, who are its greatest attribute – especially those who already have found their niche on the Winthrop campus, amidst faculty who love teaching, students who love learning, and community residents who are supportive of Winthrop’s vision of being — and being recognized — as one of the best universities of its kind anywhere.

Qualifications and Characteristics [Preliminary]

The search committee seeks candidates who are eager to immerse themselves in both the ethos and energy of Winthrop University.

Strong candidates will possess personal qualities, characteristics, and habits of mind that complement the nature and character of Winthrop, including:

•A deep appreciation for the nature and value of a national caliber education, rooted in the liberal arts, that seeks to nurture the growth of students both academically and personally.

•A passion for excellence in all aspects of the higher education enterprise.

•A strong belief in academic freedom, coupled with a collaborative spirit that recognizes respectfully expressed differences of opinion are part of the vibrancy of an academic community’s process of collaboratively building consensus.

•A demonstrable record of commitment to the importance of maintaining Winthrop’s inclusive environment in multi-dimensional ways;

•Commitment to broadening and enhancing Winthrop’s international relationships and the continued globalization of the curriculum;

•Keen awareness of issues and current best practices in campus safety, combined with willingness and ability to maintain Winthrop’s leadership position in this area;

•A natural inclination toward thoughtful mentorship of talented team members who show potential for advancement within and beyond the campus community;

•The capacity and willingness to make difficult and timely decisions as necessary;

•Intellectual curiosity, personal warmth, exceptional energy — and the wisdom to apply each in appropriate measures across the myriad opportunities inherent in campus life.

Strong candidates also will possess an extensive record of administrative accomplishments, reflecting:

•Exceptional communication skills, including the potential to convey the goals of Winthrop’s “Vision of Distinction” to a wide array of stakeholders in congruent, yet tailored, terms;


•The ability to draw on the complementary talents and experiences of a variety of individuals from differing backgrounds to forge a high-performing executive team that shares a passion for working on behalf of an organization such as Winthrop;

•Experience in motivating all those who are part of a highly complex organization to adopt a large-scale vision as their own and incorporate it into their own professional plans and goals;

•The capacity to think and plan strategically, adjusting for change when needed, to bring ideas to fruition in a timely manner;

•The financial expertise to oversee the development of budgetary allocation plans concomitant with the long-term needs of an enterprise, while also adjusting as needed to meet present-day changing circumstances;

•Strong budgeting and financial management ability, including the use of data to inform decisions;

•Willingness and capacity to fund-raise successfully at the highest levels of philanthropic circles, be it with individuals or corporate entities.

•Experience in advocacy for higher education and participation in regional and national initiatives and organizations.

Procedure for Presidential Candidacy

Applications will be treated in confidence and should consist of a cover letter addressing the presidential agenda as described, a resume or curriculum vitae, and a list of five references with phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

Materials received by October 12, 2012, will be assured of full consideration.

They should be addressed to Ms. Kathy Bigham, Chair of the Presidential Search Committee, and sent electronically (MS Word preferred) to: (consultant email address here)

Material that must be mailed may be sent to:

Winthrop University Presidential Search c/o Kimberly Faust, Ph.D.Executive Assistant to the President and Secretary to the Board of TrusteesOffice of the PresidentWinthrop University114 Tillman HallRock Hill, SC 29733


rock hill, south carolina 29733

Presidential Search Profile

Documents

Transcript of Presidential Search Profile