It was a full day this past Friday for Winthrop University’s Board of Trustees — and some faculty and staff members — as they looked ahead at where the university is headed as well as at recent progress Winthrop has made.
The morning began with a public presentation session hosted by the Board of Trustees in Owens Hall. The agenda for the meeting consisted of a presentation from the provost, an update from the College of Business Administration and an update on class and compensation study.
Board of Trustees Chairman Glenn McCall stressed the importance of being “mindful” of the time it takes to create the presentations that were given at the open meeting.
“It takes quite a bit of time preparing for these meetings,” McCall said. “We want it to be worthwhile for you and for us.”
Adrienne McCormick, Winthrop’s provost, said at the beginning of her presentation that “we are looking at restructuring to advance our priorities.”
Regarding the future of the university, one of the slides in McCormick’s presentation read that the university’s “Wildly Important Goal” is “student retention and success initiative.”
McCormick said that an example of “transforming some of the leadership positions in academic affairs to align with our priorities” is hiring a new vice provost for student success.
McCormick spoke about the “Academic Master Plan” which she said “should drive decision-making in the facilities master plan, which should drive decision-making in our budget development.” The AMP is largely about looking ahead and McCormick said that it needs to look as far ahead as 2030.
As far as involvement with Rock Hill, McCormick said that conversations with the Carolina Panthers — who are slated to move their headquarters to Rock Hill — are “absolutely” happening. She said that there is attention being paid to other opportunities for partnership with the city.
“How do we continue to leverage [opportunities] and really have Winthrop grow as Rock Hill grows,” McCormick said.
P.N. Saksena, the dean for the college of business administration, delivered the next presentation which he opened by saying that the mission of the CBA is to provide a “transformative education in the heart of the Carolinas.” Saksena went on to say that he had spoken with CBA faculty, staff and student leaders in the summer of 2017 which he described as a “listening tour.” He said that he heard from his colleagues that there was concern about “not growing” despite being housed in one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States. He said that he sensed a “hunger for innovation” while on the listening tour and emphasize the importance of making changes. He said that the concern about the lack of growth and innovation was underscored by a willingness to get involved.
That afternoon, there was a press conference regarding Miracle Park that was held prior to the Board of Trustees meeting. Miracle Park is a proposed recreational area that is designed for those who have special needs. According to the Miracle Park website, the park will feature two baseball fields, activity fields, a playground and a café.
Both Winthrop and the city of Rock Hill are partners in creating Miracle Park. Rock Hill Mayor John Gettys emphasized the relationship between the university and the city and said that “one couldn’t survive without the other.”
The Board of Trustees meeting saw updates from several committees regarding the progress they had been making recently. One of these updates was that Winthrop’s graduate school had recently seen significant growth, due in part to the university’s online graduate programs. Growth was also seen in the CBA, with a report that the college had enrolled 120 students in five cohort courses since the previous academic year.
It was noted that it was unclear how long Winthrop can continue to “be all things to all the people” and said that “serious conversations” were needed to figure out what is the “ideal student profile.”
Prior to the board meeting entering executive session, the subject of Winthrop athletics came up, with the point being made that “from a couple of the dynamics that the NCAA is looking at, we are knocking it out of the park [with] the second highest GPA” by only about a hundredth of a point.
Photo: Tate Walden/ The Johnsonian
