Winthrop University board names Edward Serna as its new President
Winthrop University has called on one of its own.
Edward Serna, a Winthrop alum who previously served as president at the University of Maine Farmington, will be Winthrop’s 12th president. Winthrop’s board of trustees unanimously voted Serna to the position Friday afternoon.
He will begin his tenure on July 1.
After the board confirmed his nomination, he joined the board meeting via Zoom video call with his wife, Lauren, and his two daughters, Anna Kate (12) and Caroline (7). All were smiling.
“We’re excited to have you back home,” said trustee member Timothy Hopkins.
Serna graduated from the Rock Hill school in 2002. Since then, he’s been busy in the business and higher education spaces:
- He spent a large part of his professional career as a senior business analyst and strategic management consultant in the private sector before entering higher education as an assistant professor at Athens State University.
- He later emerged in university administration, serving as the interim chancellor at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith — a public, four-year university with an enrollment of 6,600 students — before taking the mantle at UMF in 2019.
Serna told the board on Friday that his love for higher education was fostered at Winthrop.
“I want to thank the board and the entire Winthrop community for this opportunity,” Serna said. “It’s not lost on me how truly blessed I am to be able to return to an institution that has had such an impact on my life. My experience at Winthrop is the reason I serve the critical mission of public higher education today. And this is an opportunity to pay forward that life-changing experience.”
Serna soon will take over for George Hynd, who has served as university president in an interim role since January 2020.
More than 150 people applied for the position, board members said Friday. Myers McRae, a Georgia-based higher education consulting firm, helped the board with the search.
Serna was announced as one of three finalists for the role earlier this month. The other finalists were Neal Weaver, who serves as president of Georgia Southwestern State University, and Martin Roth, who serves as president of the University of Charleston (Charleston, WVa.).
Glenn McCall, the chair of Winthrop University’s Board of Trustees, told The Herald in an interview that Serna’s business and academic acumen was what made him such a compelling candidate.
“He’s a dynamic, innovative leader who has both the academic and business side, and I think in higher ed, as a CEO, I think that really helps,” McCall said. “He just had everything that we felt we needed at this time for Winthrop.
“And it’s just great that he is an alum. That’s wonderful.”
Serna was described as an “innovator” several times on Friday. A lot of that has to do with his track record of “leading initatives focused on student success, student retention and data-driven innovation,” per a release from the school.
McCall said Serna’s top priorities once his tenure begins will be to “right-size” the school’s budget, as well as to stabilize and grow student enrollment. Per a report released by the Palmetto Report earlier this month, student enrollment at Winthrop is down by almost 500 students since the 2017-18 school year.
According to its most up-to-date profile on the US News and World Report (fall of 2020), Winthrop’s total undergraduate enrollment is 4,406.
“No. 1, we have to focus and invest on increasing enrollment,” McCall said when asked what Serna might first be focused on achieving at Winthrop. “All of higher ed is pretty much dealing with that, but we’re behind the curve, if you will, because we’re in one of the most exciting areas in the state but also in this region, with Charlotte, with the Panthers coming, with everything going on. So we’ve got to harness that and leverage that.”
McCall added that Serna’s love for Winthrop is infectious and obvious to those who’ve spent time around him.
“He has a passion and a love for this area and for Winthrop,” McCall said. “So that will help. Because like all university’s today, you have to make tough decisions, and he’ll do it from a compassionate standpoint as we move forward because of that.”
This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 3:45 PM with the headline "Winthrop University board names Edward Serna as its new President."
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