The Board of Trustees of Wofford College has begun the search for the College’s 11th president and invites nominations and applications for this uncommon opportunity for leadership. Wofford’s next president will accept responsibility for an exceptional liberal arts college with a solid self-understanding and a clear confidence of purpose. During the last decade, Wofford has strengthened its academic program, its faculty and student profiles, its facilities, and its public reputation.
Established in 1854 and related to the United Methodist Church, Wofford is a four-year, independent, residential college, located on the corridor between Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, GA, in a dynamic metropolitan area known as South Carolina’s Upstate. Wofford’s enrollment has grown to 1,600 students with a student-to-faculty ratio of 11:1. Among the 439 current first-year students, 17 percent are students of color, 52 percent are from outside of South Carolina, and the gender ratio is close to 50:50. The stunning 175-acre campus is a national arboretum and several recently constructed or remodeled facilities have added to the College’s beauty and functionality. Wofford’s mission, “to provide superior liberal arts education that prepares its students for extraordinary and positive contributions to society,” is reflected in its long-standing chapter of Phi Beta Kappa (1941). In the past two years, Wofford has had three Rhodes Scholar finalists, and Rachel Woodlee, a Chinese and business economics double major, was awarded the scholarship for 2013-2014. The College is especially well known for its strength in the sciences with a remarkable 25 percent of graduates majoring in a STEM discipline. Wofford student-athletes compete successfully in the NCAA Division I level as members of the Southern Conference.
At its core, Wofford will continue to be a national, highly selective, residential, undergraduate college fully committed to the liberal arts and sciences. While retaining this focus and sustaining its educational strength, the agenda for Wofford’s next president will go well beyond maintaining the status quo. The coming years are pivotal at Wofford, as it secures its place during this period of rapid change in higher education. The president will be expected to enhance Wofford’s quality, develop a strategic vision for its future, maintain its collegial ethos, sharpen its institutional brand, stimulate its philanthropic culture, strengthen its financial equilibrium, and extend its reputation. Moreover, she/he should reflect many of the qualities that the College seeks to instill in its students. Intellectual curiosity, creativity, social responsibility, and personal engagement all help to define the expectations of the Wofford presidency.
Prospective candidates are encouraged to review Wofford’s Presidential Profile which contains additional information on the nature of this opportunity and the application process at: www.wofford.edu [3] or www.agbsearch.com [4]
Although applications will be accepted until the time that a new president is selected, candidates should plan to submit materials by 5 PM on Friday, March 1, for the most favorable consideration. All inquiries should be directed to:
Thomas B. Courtice, Ph.D.
AGB Search
1133 20th Street NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20036
tbc@agbsearch.com [5]
Wofford College is an Equal Opportunity Employer.