Rock Hill, South Carolina – The Winthrop University Board of Trustees voted on the selection of George W. Hynd as interim president of Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina. The board voted on his appointment during a January 31 called meeting.
Hynd has had a distinguished administrative career in higher education serving at several national and regional institutions and as a distinguished research professor. Most recently, Hynd was the interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and interim provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Hynd served as president of Michigan’s Oakland University, a public research university with an enrollment of 20,000 students, from 2014-17. Prior to his presidency, from 2010-14, he was provost and executive vice president of academic affairs at the College of Charleston.
Hynd’s selection follows the resignation of Daniel F. Mahony who served the university since July 2015 and wraps up an accelerated search for an interim who met criteria identified by current trustees, senior leadership, faculty, staff and students as important for a new leader to possess, according to Board of Trustees Chair Glenn McCall.
“We knew we wanted an academic leader with previous experience as a public university president to serve in an interim position, and trustee discussions with members of the Winthrop community confirmed additional desired characteristics as well, including a strong academic background; experience in problem solving; South Carolina public college experience; knowledge of accreditation—ideally SACSCOC; experience dealing with athletics at a non-football school (Division I); knowledge of master planning, strategic planning, and how to combine academic and facility needs; knowledge of budget development and planning; and fundraising experience.
“After reviewing applications and talking to a diverse group of candidates, I’m pleased to say that George Hynd fulfilled most all of the criteria voiced by our campus community and that he strongly desires an interim role to assist Winthrop as we plan for our future.”
Hynd will serve from March 1, 2020, to June 30, 2022.
As president of Oakland University, Hynd led a transformative campus-wide master planning process which then informed the strategic planning process. During his tenure, a new $78 million, 750-bed student residence was approved and constructed as well as a $46 million renovation of the Oakland Student Center. Notably, Hynd established a significant partnership with the City of Pontiac, a partnership that flourished and continues today. Additionally, the School of Medicine at Oakland University graduated its first medical class and a new five-year contract was signed with the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) during his term as president.
During his tenure at the College of Charleston, Hynd was instrumental in facilitating the deans’ development of their college-level strategic fund-raising priorities linked to the university’s comprehensive campaign. He also led the effort to develop a number of new academic programs, including creating a major in African-American Studies.
Professionally, Hynd is a clinical child neuropsychologist who has maintained a career-long interest in the genetic and neurobiological factors that influence fetal brain development in ways that put children at risk for later emergence of learning, behavioral and psychiatric problems. After teaching elementary school in Los Angeles, working as a school psychologist in Guam and receiving his doctorate, Hynd completed post-doctoral training in clinical neuropsychology at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center. He was then awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in child neuropsychology to the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland, where he later received an honorary doctorate for his research on neurodevelopmental variation in the brains of children with developmental dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Over his academic career, Hynd has authored, coauthored and edited 11 books; authored 57 book chapters; and published more than 160 refereed journal articles, most of which focus on important theoretical or clinical issues in the areas of clinical child neuropsychology. To support his research, Hynd received more than $1.25 million in external funding, mostly from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). As a distinguished research professor at the University of Georgia, Hynd directed the Center for Clinical and Developmental Neuropsychology and supervised and graduated 69 Ph.D. students.
Hynd’s research has garnered numerous national and international awards and recognitions. He is a Fellow in the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the American Psychological Association (APA), and the National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN). He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology from Pepperdine University, a master’s of educational administration from the University of Guam and his doctorate in psychology from the University of Northern Colorado.
Hynd is married to Alison Hynd, who also is a child neuropsychologist, and they have two daughters. Erin is in medical school at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina, while Elise is a recent graduate from the University of Georgia and lives in Athens, Georgia. Hynd also has two children from a previous marriage: April, who lives in Hawaii; and Brian, who lives in Oregon.
In other January 31 board action, trustees voted to sell the property on Cherry Road known as the Coke Building in as-is condition for $1.45 million to Lancaster Land, LLC.
For more information, contact Judy Longshaw, news and media services manager, at 803/323-2404 or e-mail her at longshawj@winthrop.edu.
