Dear Friends,
I hope your summer is off to a wonderful start. Here on campus, Orientation sessions, various camps and programs, and daily admissions tours are keeping us busy. It has been great to see and feel the positive energy that these events inject into our days!
While I typically do not send out a monthly happenings enewsletter in the summer, I did want to take a few minutes to update you on items of interest.
Enrollment
I have some very good news to pass along regarding our fall enrollment outlook and this summer’s Orientation sessions. To date, 1,031 freshmen (up 17% year-over-year) and 280 transfer students (up 23% year-over-year) have put down deposits to attend this fall, an encouraging indicator for fall enrollment. I am also proud to share that the academic quality of our deposited freshmen is in range with previous classes, with an average SAT of 1,112, an average ACT score of 23 and an average GPA of 3.97. In addition, our Orientation sessions last month were very successful, with registrations up 4% year-over-year, and there are a few more transfer and freshman sessions to come. I think you’ll agree that all of this is fantastic news and is the result of a campus-wide recruitment effort spearheaded by our hard-working admissions, financial aid, and New Student and Family Programs staff. I can’t wait to join them in welcoming our newest Eagles to campus in just a few short weeks.
Summer Projects
This is the time of year when our facilities staff members undertake an ambitious projects list that includes various building renovations, summer refreshes to residence halls, roof replacements, and project planning for initiatives in the queue. You can read all about these summer projects in our newest edition of our facilities update, Investing in Winthrop.
Facilities Management Personnel
I’ve shared with some of you the difficulties that Winthrop has faced regarding vacant facilities management positions, and the campus landscaping has shown signs of those personnel struggles. Unfortunately, we have continued to experience significant turnover in the facilities management area and have more than 40 vacant positions at any given time. This, of course, places a huge burden on our current facilities management staff (who do a great job!), and it just isn’t sustainable. Add in our wet spring and summer and we just can’t keep up with all of the grass cutting, weeding, hedge trimming, etc. Last month we contracted with three landscaping/mowing companies to help us out, and I hope the campus will soon be in much better shape than what it has been in the last year.
In addition to the impact on the campus’ appearance, the vacancies also have led to significant gaps in service for work orders. I notified our campus community this past spring that we are looking to outsource most facilities management functions with a single vendor. We have worked with the state on an RFP that hopefully will be awarded in August. If we are able to secure a vendor to provide these services at an acceptable price, the successful vendor will be required to interview our staff for positions within the organization, and our hope is that all of them will want to continue working as part of the Winthrop team under new, outside management.
Please know that these are not easy decisions to make, but change must occur in order to provide the necessary services and campus-wide appearance that our students, faculty and staff expect and deserve.
Convocation
Finally, we are thrilled to host our annual Convocation ceremony in our newly renovated Byrnes Auditorium on Monday, Aug. 25, and I personally invite you to join us as we officially welcome our newest Eagles into the Winthrop community of learners. Immediately following the Convocation ceremony, Lauren and I will lead students out of Byrnes and toward the campus front lawn in the traditional Blue Line procession. The group walk dates to the tenure of founding President David Bancroft Johnson, and it’s a tradition that I absolutely love being a part of as both a Winthrop alumnus and as president. A picnic lunch will then take place on the lawn in front of Margaret Nance Hall.
As always, thank you for your continued support of Winthrop. We are ready for a fantastic academic year, and I’ll be back to sending out my regular monthly happenings enewsletter next month.
Winthrop Ever Stand,
Edward
Edward Serna ’02
President
