As the abnormal Fall 2020 semester comes to an end, the Winthrop administration plans ahead to future semesters where they will revitalize efforts towards providing financial and humanitarian support to the university and Rock Hill community as part of the next step in the “Winthrop Plan” initiative.
“‘The Winthrop Plan’ was launched five years ago, so we now have five years worth of data, which is great,” said Interim President George Hynd. “As part of our yearly report and accreditation standards, we are expected to go back and review plans to revise them as necessary to make new plans and fine-tune what we have. I will be asking the chairs of the action groups to reignite and reconstitute their associated committees to take a deeper look at the five goals we have in the Winthrop Plan.”
“If we’re moving towards the direction we hoped, that’s great. If we’re not, we need to ask what seems to be working and, more importantly, what seems to not be working to see if we need to redeploy some of our resources to, say, drive up our enrollment and retention rates. It should be viewed as a positive thing; we’re not seeking to redo or significantly change it, but it’s definitely time to revisit it.”
According to Hynd, Winthrop had launched at least two philanthropic campaigns in the past; the first ranging from the late 1990s to the early 2000s and the second campaign beginning in 2012 and concluding in 2015. Hynd stated that now is the opportune time to begin rebuilding a comprehensive fundraising campaign.
“As a university, we build natural relationships all the time,” Hynd said. “It’s up to us to reach out to those people we already have relationships with such as corporations, businesses and schools to start solidifying those relationships to make sure that those we have partnerships with feel that they are gaining from our relationship.”
“As part of that relationship, we hope that they can support the university. Despite the fact that we’re in the middle of the COVID pandemic, in my view, we have a terrific opportunity to start reaching out towards people and our supporters with maybe a little more intention than we had in the past.”
Hynd outlined some of the partnerships that members of the Winthrop community could participate in and benefit from.
“Right now, we have partnerships with at least 10 school districts and more than 50 individual schools,” Hynd said. “The College of Education at pretty much all universities I’ve been at typically does a really good job in forming productive
partnerships.
“I also know our College of Business Administration under Dean P.N. [Saksena] has a number of relationships with local businesses and industries where that relationship is such that they could provide us advice and consulting, but also they’re willing to take some of our business students and give them internships or co-ops to give them some kind of work experience so that when they graduate, they already have some experience in business. Frankly, we need to reach out to the city of Rock Hill and York County to build on the relationship we already have with them.”
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Adrienne McCormick, also commented on some of the philanthropic efforts the newly organized Winthrop Plan could generate.
“Areas where we can apply funds that we raise through donations and gifts are unlimited,” McCormick said. “Donors often want to support students, so they fund scholarships. Another frequent area where we rely on donors is in supporting faculty through named positions and funding for special initiatives.”
“Public institutions across the country are increasingly seeing larger gifts as well, that may help with big capital projects or initiatives that require more substantial investment. Whenever you see a named scholarship, room, or faculty chair position, there is a proud donor behind that name who believed in Winthrop enough to invest in the work we are doing to educate students.”
Both Hynd and McCormick see local small businesses and community outreach as primal real estate for Winthrop to aim their philanthropic efforts towards.
“Other areas where you will see activity in the future is in community partnerships,” McCormick said. “We believe strongly in preparing students to work and live engaged lives in the community. Local employers often partner with us and invest in initiatives that help prepare students for their area of the workforce.
“We want to see more partnerships in that regard, so we have students who graduate career-ready and employers and communities who benefit from hiring and attracting our skilled graduates.”
Hynd announced through email on Oct. 13 that the university would be transitioning into the third phase of the Winthrop Return to Work Plan. Though students, staff and faculty will still be expected to follow CDC guidelines to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the transition heralds the gradual return of a more intimate and interactive Winthrop campus environment.
“I think we need to be doing more community engagement, more engagement here on campus, and more volunteering,” Hynd said. “Right now, we’re locked down into the doldrums of 2020 dealing with COVID. I think as we move into 2021, we’re moving into an era where if we can just get through the Spring semester, continuing to do as we’re doing and staying safe, we’ll see a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Photo by Jamia Johnson
