A concurrent RESOLUTION

 

TO RECOGNIZE AND HONOR DR. EDWARD A. SERNA FOR HIS OUTSTANDING CAREER IN ACADEMIA, AND TO WELCOME HIM TO WINTHROP UNIVERSITY, AND TO CONGRATULATE HIM UPON HIS INAUGURATION AS ITS TWELFTH PRESIDENT.

 

Whereas, the members of the South Carolina General Assembly are pleased to learn that Dr. Edward A. Serna will be inaugurated as the twelfth president of Winthrop University on April 14, 2023; and

 

Whereas, Dr. Serna earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Winthrop University in 2002, a master's degree in industrial management from Clemson University, a master's degree in management information systems from Auburn University, and a doctorate in higher education from the University of Alabama; and

 

Whereas, Dr. Serna worked as a senior business analyst and strategic management consultant in the private sector before he entered higher education as an assistant professor of management at Athens State University's College of Business; and

 

Whereas, he served as the chief of staff and associate vice chancellor for external funding and chief of staff and vice chancellor for strategic initiatives at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith (UAFS) before he became interim chancellor at UAFS, a public, four-year university with an enrollment of six thousand six hundred students and an annual budget of eighty million dollars.  His work there included leading initiatives focused on student success, student retention, and data-driven innovation; and

 

Whereas, Dr. Serna began serving as the fifteenth president of the University of Maine at Farmington (UMF) in 2019, where he was a strategic consensus builder who successfully led the institution into its most significant academic transformation in nearly two decades; and

 

Whereas, the Winthrop Board of Trustees voted unanimously on February 18, 2022, to name Dr. Serna president of Winthrop University.  He began serving as the twelfth president of Winthrop on July 1, 2022, and he brought with him strategies that include robust institutional planning, data-driven decision making, and a wide range of partnerships to help build on the success of Winthrop University, its students, and alumni; and

 

Whereas, because Dr. Serna feels that his experience as a student at Winthrop drove him to change careers to serve in public higher education, he values the opportunity to return to the campus community that made such a profound difference in his life; and

 

Whereas, he and his beloved wife Lauren, have two fine daughters, Anna Kate and Caroline, and the family resides in the President's House on the campus of Winthrop University; and

 

Whereas, the members of the South Carolina General Assembly are delighted to have Dr. Edward Serna at the helm of Winthrop University, and the members look forward to following his continued accomplishments in the days ahead.  Now, therefore,

 

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:

 

That the members of the South Carolina General Assembly, by this resolution, recognize and honor Edward A. Serna for his outstanding career in academia, welcome him to Winthrop University, and congratulate him upon his inauguration as its twelfth president.

 

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to Edward A. Serna.

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