Let’s finish strong!
You know we’re in the home stretch of the semester when you look at the events calendar and see a huge offering of diverse and incredible opportunities! Our music students and faculty are in the midst of holding a multitude of recitals and performances, our undergraduate researchers are gearing up for another sure-to-be impressive SOURCE showcase starting tomorrow, and the campus is invited to the 50th anniversary of coeducation tonight! Our campus is alive with activities that showcase our amazing students, talented faculty and staff, rich history and bright future. With less than two weeks left in the semester, I wanted to take just a few minutes to provide you with some important updates:
Day of Giving
Bleed Garnet, Give Gold, our annual 24-hour giving event, will kick off at noon on April 16 and run through
noon on April 17. To show our support, I’m declaring Tuesday, April 16, as Garnet and Gold Tuesday! Please wear Winthrop gear or garnet and gold on this day. This is also an opportunity
to show our Winthrop pride – to Bleed Garnet by celebrating everything we love about
Winthrop and to Give Gold by supporting current and future students. Every gift makes
a difference no matter the size, and there are some fun and unique challenge opportunities
that unlock additional gifts. Our goal is 1,000 donors! Explore this year's projects and causes to support.
Faculty/Staff/Retirees Ceremony
Please join me on Tuesday, April 23, at 9:30 a.m. in Richardson Ballroom to officially recognize the achievements of our retirees, service award recipients, and winners of the special awards we present at this always popular event. What a way to begin to close out the spring semester. And, spoiler alert, muffins will be served (if you know, you know). Let’s celebrate our colleagues and have some fun!
Upcoming Board Meeting
The next meeting of the Winthrop Board of Trustees will be April 24-25. At the meeting trustees will hear more information about the
fundamentals of the strategic plan and our way forward. Be on the lookout for the
meeting agenda which will be e-mailed to the campus community closer to those dates.
Day of Understanding Event
Our fifth annual Day of Understanding will take on a creative format this year as the cyanotype portraits of some of our
colleagues will be displayed and discussed at the May 1 event at 11 a.m. in Richardson
Ballroom. Myself and four others – Sebastian van Delden, Veronica Ahadzie, April Mustian
and Anna Rau – sat for portraits taken by Fine Arts’ Myles Calvert. We each held an
object of importance to our upbringing and/or cultural heritage. I’m looking forward
to seeing these portraits and hearing the stories behind them, as well as sharing
mine. I hope you’ll join me for this special event, and I’d like to say a special
thank you to the Diversity Council and Pricewaterhouse Coopers for making this event
happen.
May Commencements
I look forward to celebrating the hard work and accomplishments of our newest graduates
on Thursday, May 2, at 7 p.m. for Graduate Commencement and on Saturday, May 4, at
10 a.m. and 3 p.m. for Undergraduate Commencement. All events will be held at the
Winthrop Coliseum. The 10 a.m. ceremony will celebrate visual and performing arts
plus arts and sciences graduates. The 3 p.m. ceremony will recognize business and
education graduates. I am pleased to share that Cynthia Plair Roddey ’67, the first
African-American woman to enroll at the university and the first African-America graduate
student at Winthrop, will receive an honorary doctorate and will be our Undergraduate
Commencement speaker. I look forward to awarding her with this degree for all she
has contributed to Winthrop’s history and the field of education. This is particularly
poignant as the university recognizes the 60th anniversary of integration this year. Read more about Dr. Roddey here.
As always, thank you for all that you do for Winthrop. I look forward to seeing you at some of these events!
Edward Serna
President
