Dear Colleagues:
I hope you have been enjoying the cooler temperatures over the last week or so. A
few updates for you this month:
Winthrop Budget Request
Wednesday I traveled to Columbia to present our budget request to the Governor’s Office, the first step in this annual process. In January I will appear before the House Ways and Means Higher Education Sub-committee and then the Senate Finance Higher Education Sub-committee in February to further discuss our institutional plans and needs.
Miracle Park Long-term Lease
I also was in Columbia on Tuesday to gain final approval from the state for our long-term lease with the City of Rock Hill for the Miracle Park property. You may know from news reports that we are leasing the land next to the City’s Winthrop Park for $1 a year for the next 25 years. The City will be responsible for maintenance and programming of Miracle Park, and the York County Board of Disabilities Foundation will fundraise to create it. Some of our faculty and students will likely have opportunities to be involved with the park over time, but our institutional responsibility is simply to continue the lease of the property.
Board of Trustees Meeting
The Winthrop Board of Trustees will hold a two-day regular meeting Oct. 24-25. Subcommittees
will meet on Thursday afternoon, and the regular full board meeting will be held Friday
afternoon. The board’s meeting agenda will be emailed to faculty and staff in advance
of the meeting as usual.
State of the University Address Reminder
I’ve been busy working on the State of the University address. I hope you will plan
to join me at 11:15 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 29, in Richardson Ballroom, DiGiorgio Campus
Center. Faculty, staff and students are welcome to attend to hear more about our progress
on the Winthrop Plan. Note that offices will be closed from 11 a.m.-noon to allow
everyone to attend.
Homecoming
I hope to see many of you at the various Homecoming events that will be held Nov.
11-16, whether that’s the family friendly Homecoming on the Green on Friday evening
or Saturday’s tailgating and men’s basketball game. This is always a fun time to reconnect
with our alumni and show off our beautiful campus. Read more about the week’s activities and the changes being implemented for this year’s tailgate.
Thanks for your hard work thus far in the semester.
Sincerely,
Dan
