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Presidential Search

Search Committee

Biographies of Search and Selection Committee
for the Tenth President of Winthrop University

The Search and Selection Committee consists of ten members overall, eight current trustees, including the current chair of the Council of Student Leaders and the current chair of the Faculty Conference and Faculty Representative to the Board. In addition, two distinguished members representing the Winthrop Foundation and the Alumni Association are included. Together the Search and Selection committee has over 125 years of service to Winthrop, including the experiences of three former Board chairs; the three current, longest-serving trustees; an appointed trustee; four alumni, the immediate past president of the Winthrop Alumni Association--who is also co-chair of Distinction: the Campaign for Winthrop; the Council of Student Leaders chair; a former and current chair of the Winthrop Foundation; a former faculty member and a current faculty member who chairs the Faculty Conference; six men, four women, two African-Americans. Careers represented include large and small business, finance, law, higher education, and secondary education.

Committee
Bigham, Kathy
Kathy Bigham, Chair
Chair (2008-11), Board of Trustees
Vice Chair (2006-02, 2011-12), Board of Trustees
Member (2003-present), Board of Trustees

A Winthrop University graduate, Bigham currently serves as the Vice-Chair for the Winthrop Board of Trustees. She joined the Board as the Governor's designee in 2003 and was later elected to the Board to represent Congressional District 5. She is the Immediate Past Chair of the Board and serves as the Chair for the Committee on Student Life. Currently the Vice-Chair for the S.C. Higher Education Foundation Board of Trustees, Bigham has also been involved with numerous local committees, including the Winthrop Eagle Club's Board of Directors, the Wachovia Bank Advisory Board and the Rock Hill Chamber of Commerce's Board of Directors. She was the owner of Thursdays Too, a local restaurant, for 27 years.

Folkens, Karl
Karl Folkens
Chair (2005-08, 1997-98), Board of Trustees
Vice Chair (2003-05, 1996-97), Board of Trustees
Member (2002-present, 1994-98), Board of Trustees
President (1992-94), Winthrop Alumni Association
Member (1982-94), Winthrop Alumni Executive Board
Member (1992-92), Winthrop Foundation Board of Directors

Owner of Folkens Law Firm, P.A. in Florence, South Carolina, Folkens also serves as the chair for the Committee on Finance for the Winthrop Board of Trustees. A graduate of Winthrop and the University of South Carolina School of Law, Folkens recently became the first alumni recipient of Winthrop's Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award. He was the first male alumnus to serve on the Winthrop Board of Trustees and as its Board Chair, as well as the first male to serve as President of the Winthrop Alumni Association and to receive its Distinguished Service Award. Folkens has been a member of the Winthrop Foundation Board of Directors, as well as a former president of the Winthrop Alumni Association. Folkens is a founding director and past President of the Pee Dee Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Assault, and has served continuously on its Board of Directors for the past 25 years. Additionally, he currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Mental Health Awareness Foundation and is Past President of the South Carolina Bar Foundation.

Thompson, Bob
Bob Thompson
Chair (1994-97), Board of Trustees
Member (2008-present, 1992-2005), Board of Trustees
Member (1986-91), Winthrop University Foundation Board
President (1989-91), Winthrop University Foundation Board

A graduate of Furman University and the Graduate Executive Program at UNC-Chapel Hill, Thompson has previously chaired the Winthrop University Foundation Board, South Carolina Legislative Audit Council, Rock Hill Chamber of Commerce and the Rock Hill Economic Development Corporation. A retired VP for Public Affairs of Springs Industries and former owner of RLT Consulting, a public policy firm, Thompson first joined the Winthrop Board of Trustees in 1992 after serving as president of the Furman Alumni Association from 1986-88. He currently chairs the Board Committee on Institutional Advancement and Development.

Smalley, Janet
Janet Smalley
Member (2004-present), Board of Trustees

A graduate of Winthrop University, as well as Clemson University, Smalley, with a Master of Education degree, has been named Teacher of the Year six times. A native of Belton, S.C., she is a former Walhalla High School Curriculum Coordinator and Instructional Specialist for the Oconee School District.  Smalley has served as a secondary school evaluator for the U.S. Department of Education. She also serves on the board of directors for the United Way of Oconee County and the Walhalla Partners for Progress. Smalley now serves as the Chair of the Committee on Academic Affairs for the Winthrop Board of Trustees.

Smith-Rex, Sue
Sue Smith-Rex
Secretary (2008-09), Board of Trustees
Member (2005-present), Board of Trustees

Serving as a member of the Committee of Academic Affairs for the Winthrop Board of Trustees, Rex is a teacher and professor of over thirty years in public education with an emphasis in special education and at-risk students. In addition to co-authoring twelve books, she has conducted workshops throughout the United States on topics of school bullying, student self-control, the crisis of boys’ education today, attention deficit disorder, and strategies for reaching unmotivated student learners. She is the recipient of many professional awards including the 1998-S.C. Counselors’ Humanitarian Award; 1992-President Bush’s Point of Light Award; and the 1998-Jefferson Pilot recipient of the Jefferson Award for Public Service.

McCall, Glenn
Glenn McCall
Member (2011-present), Board of Trustees

Serving as the designee of South Carolina education superintendent, McCall is a retired senior vice president of Bank of America, where he led the consumer customer behavior analysis group. Throughout his 27 years in the financial services field, McCall specialized in strategic planning, revenue growth, cost reduction, technology, operations management and analysis of customer behavior to create tailored marketing campaigns and online banking services. A former U.S. Air Force veteran, McCall has served on the Boards of South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, the South Carolina Human Affairs Commission, and the York County Chapter of the American Red Cross, and is active in local, regional, and national politics, currently serving as a national committeeman.  McCall holds a bachelor’s degree in management information systems and a master’s in business administration.

Williams, Gary
Gary Williams
Chair (2011-12), Winthrop University Foundation
Member(2009-present), Winthrop University Foundation

Founder of Williams and Fudge, a Rock Hill based national collection company serving over 900 universities, Williams currently serves as chair of the Winthrop University Foundation. He is past president of three Rotary Clubs, received honors as York County Chamber of Commerce Business Person of the Year, and has served as a member of the Rock Hill School Board, is active in Boy Scouts, the Museum of York County, the York County Community Foundation, and was the recipient of the South Carolina Department of Education State Volunteer Award. Williams recently served as President of ACA International, the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals. He also served in national leadership positions including Vice President, Treasurer, and on the Board of Directors of ACA.

Carroll, Vivian
Vivian Carroll
Co-Chair (2010-present) Distinction: the Campaign for Winthrop
President (2009-11), Winthrop Alumni Association
Member ( 2000-present), Winthrop Alumni Executive Board
Member (2008-present) Winthrop University Foundation

Vivian Carroll received a B.S. from Winthrop and a M.B.A. degree from University of North Carolina-Charlotte. She currently serves as the immediate past president of the Winthrop Alumni Association, having formerly served as president, president-elect, first vice president and secretary. She has also served as chair of the Alumni Association Credentials Committee and the Awards Committee. Carroll is retired from Merrill Lynch in Charlotte, where she was an assistant vice president and financial consultant. She has chaired and served on a number of charity and arts boards.  She was recently elected a trustee for the Metropolitan YMCA that oversees the 21 YMCAs and camps in the Charlotte area and was recognized in 2002 with the George Williams service award. She currently serves Winthrop as co-chair of Distinction: the Campaign for Winthrop. She is a past president of the Executive Board to the Alumni Association; a member of the Metrolina Area Alumni Executive Committee; past chair of the Credentials Committee of the Alumni Association; and past chair of the Awards Committee of the Alumni Association.  Carroll Hall on the Winthrop campus is named in honor of Vivian.

Garvin, Kambrell
Kambrell Garvin
Chair (2011—present) Council of Student Leaders
Student Representative to Board of Trustees—non-voting (2011—present)

A rising senior political science major from Columbia, South Carolina, Garvin currently serves as the elected chair of the Council of Student Leaders and student representative to the Board of Trustees. In addition to his many on-campus roles, Garvin also volunteers with Project Rebound and the Boys and Girls Club of Rock Hill; is a member of Alpha Delta Lambda Academic Honor Society and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.; and has worked a peer mentor. Garvin also has acted as the delegate for the National Pan-Hellenic Council and as associate justice for the All Greek Council Judicial Board.

Calloway, Cliff
Cliff Calloway
Chair (2011—present) Faculty Conference
Faculty Representative to Board of Trustees—non-voting (2011—present)

Dr. Calloway joined the Winthrop faculty in 1995 after completing his Ph.D. at Wake Forest University. Currently serving as the chair of the Faculty Conference and the Faculty Representative to the Board of Trustees, Calloway serves as the chemistry department’s analytical instrumentation manager and system administrator for the Molecular Modeling Lab. He introduced computer-based molecular modeling, high field nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and cooperative learning to the introductory chemistry labs. He received the Joe B. Davis Award for Excellence in Chemical Education from Winthrop's students in 2000, 2001, 2004, and 2009.  Calloway is a member of the American Chemical Society, the Society for Applied Spectroscopy, and the South Carolina Academy of Science. He is active in the Carolina-Piedmont local section of the American Chemical Society, having served as section chair in 2002 and 2006. He also is a life member of the Sierra Club.