S.C. State interim president cites success in improving university for new leader
By LEE TANT, T&D Staff WriterSunday, July 13, 2008 “It’s an experience you can’t get from textbooks,” South Carolina State University Interim President Dr. Leonard McIntyre says.
There was no manual for the situation McIntyre was thrust into last December. The university’s board charged him with taking over the institution and jumping some enormous hurdles.
In addition to bringing together a campus divided over the sudden ouster of a president, McIntyre had to fill key administrative positions, establish a course of action for handling the university’s increased enrollment, find ways to better prepare students to compete in the global economy and ready the university for its 10th president.
Some might have said: “Mission impossible.” But as McIntyre prepares to hand the reins over to the university’s new president Dr. George Cooper this week, he can say, “Mission accomplished.”
“We want to be able to hand over the best South Carolina State University possible to the next president, I feel we’ve done just that,” McIntyre said.
Under his administration, McIntyre even found time to beef up campus security, begin discussion on starting an honors college, hand over university-produced textbooks to Zanzibar’s government, welcome the memorabilia of the late James Brown to campus and establish a smoke-free policy.
“It’s a tremendous undertaking,” McIntyre said.
When he took over in December, McIntyre said, “We must keep a laser-like focus on keeping the main thing the main thing.”
Reflecting on the past few months, McIntyre believes the focus has been maintained throughout.
“Everything we did during this interim period centered around our students and what’s good for the students. It stands to reason it is also good for the university,” he said.
McIntyre said his inclusive leadership style lent itself to the myriad of achievements during his administration. He gives much credit to his cabinet, faculty and staff. “The team that I’ve worked with have rolled up their sleeves.”
He also thanked the board for its support in giving him assistance and the flexibility to perform the job.
One highlight of McIntyre’s time as president was the arrival of Zanzibar President Amani Abeid Karume to campus. Karume gave the commencement address at the spring ceremony. McIntyre relishes the fact that not many universities can say a head of state served as commencement speaker.
Karume has also committed a professor to teach Swahili and exchange students to S.C. State, McIntyre said.
The relationship between S.C. State and Zanzibar started when a grant was awarded to the university by President Bush’s African Education Initiative to write textbooks for Zanzibar’s schools. In January, McIntyre and other S.C. State officials traveled to Zanzibar to present its government with the first textbooks they produced for the project.
While Karume’s visit was definitely a highlight of McIntyre’s presidency, he found it too difficult to place any single event or achievement above the other.
He does cite working with students as a particular pleasure. “Working with those whose lives you have a great deal to do with is in and of itself just a tremendous experience,” he said.
As to administrative undertakings, McIntyre cited managing the expected influx of new students by establishing the Managing Student Growth Committee to study the issue. The committee came up with ways to ensure the university has enough housing, faculty and classrooms to accommodate students.
The McIntyre tenure Here’s a look at some of the accomplishments during Dr. Leonard McIntyre’s tenure as interim president at South Carolina State University: * Established a committee to manage increased enrollment * Strengthened campus security * Started the process of internationalizing the campus to better prepare students for today’s global economy * Successfully delivered textbooks, produced by the university, to Zanzibar’s government for use in their school system * Welcomed Zanzibar President Amani Abeid Karume to campus, where he was the commencement speaker * The university was awarded custody of the late James Brown’s memorabilia for display at its museum * Proposed the establishment of an honors college * Enacted a smoke-free campus policy * Introduced a bridge program to recruit more teaching candidates out of high school |
“I think we are where we need to be,” he said.
Another priority was to beef up campus security in light of the recent tragedies at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois. The university has established increased coordination with local law enforcement and will install two large sirens on opposite ends of the campus to alert people of an incident.
The institution has also installed a new surveillance system.
McIntyre also vigorously sought to internationalize the campus to prepare its students to compete globally.
To that end, the administration implemented international programs, projects and activities.
The university will also seek to recruit more international faculty and students.
“We can say proudly and confidently we have addressed these priorities with a great deal of success,” McIntyre said.
Perhaps McIntyre’s most daunting challenge came in bringing the university back in sync after the board voted not renew former S.C. State President Dr. Andrew Hugine’s contract last year. He reached out to all of the university’s constituencies to help move the university forward.
He said giving all stakeholders the ability to put forth input and contribute was as an integral part of the healing process.
“We can be proud that our various stakeholders have come together and we’ve gone through this healing process and are moving down this road toward greater achievement,” he said.
McIntyre characterized the experience of being interim president as awesome and one that he could not have anticipated. He said the responsibility of the position can be scary but extremely rewarding.
He said he believes the future holds a great deal of promise for him. The New Orleans native plans to continue serving the university in some capacity.
“What I’ve gained through this experience nobody can take from me. I’ve gained skills, knowledge and talents that will serve me very, very positively for whatever I choose to do in the future,” he said.
T&D Staff Writer Lee Tant can be reached at ltant@timesanddemocrat.com and 803-534-1060.
