FALL 2021


CAMPUS NEWS


Winthrop Retains Highest U.S. News Ranking; Lauded by Washington Monthly for Voter Engagement


Winthrop continues to round up the accolades. The university was recognized for its strong commitment to student veterans, undergraduate teaching, the social mobility of its graduates and its value, according to the U.S. News & World Report’s 2022 edition of “Best Colleges.”


Accomplishments included: • Retained its sixth-place ranking among public universities in the South. Winthrop held on to the spot, which is the univer- sity’s highest ranking ever, for the second year in a row.


• Rose from 7th to 5th place among best colleges for veterans.


• Moved to 15th place for best undergraduate teaching as judged by peers.


• Rose from 23rd to 16th place for social mobility, a fairly new category that measures how well schools graduated students who received federal Pell Grants.


• Rated 43rd as a Best Value among regional universities in the South.


In addition, Winthrop, with its increased emphasis on civic engagement, was praised for a fourth year in a row by Washington Monthly for its success in getting students to vote and was included on the publication’s 2021 Best Colleges for Student Voting Honor Roll.


$5.38 Million Secured in Two Recent Grants


This fall, Winthrop secured two large grants related to multilingual learners and arts education.


The Richard W. Riley College of Education received close to $2.8 million through a U.S. Department of Education grant entitled SC PALMETTO (SC Partners Advocating for Learners who are Multi-Lingual through Education That Targets Opportunity) to provide professional development to four school districts to help those districts meet the needs of their diverse population of English-learning students and families. The grant will also provide family education programs that promote college and career success; and family access to, and preparation in, promoting early literacy.


The Arts in Basic Curriculum (ABC) Project, which is housed at Winthrop, secured a $2.58 million Assistance in Arts Education grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The ABC Project will use the grant to conduct an intensive five-year case study with the Allendale County School District to discover solutions in how to improve rural communities’ arts education offerings. The initiative, entitled the Community Access to the Arts in Rural Education (CARE) Project, will provide direct arts education programs and professional development for arts educators, teachers and principals in practices that support arts-rich learning.


Joseph Miller Leading Enrollment Initiatives


Rock Hill’s Miracle Park Opens


playground, sensory wall, Miracle Field and other activities.


Winthrop, along with the city, provided the land to build the park through a low-cost, long-term lease.


Miracle Park, located on Eden Terrace across from the Winthrop Coliseum, opened in September, and was a project undertaken by Winthrop, the city of Rock Hill and the York County Disabilities Foundation.


The 15-acre park is designed for people of all ages and abilities to play and work, and it features an inclusive


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Along with providing the joy of recreation to residents, the park will allow for Winthrop students in several academic disciplines to participate in internship and service opportunities. In addition to the Richard W. Riley College of Education’s degree programs and Department of Physical Education, Sport and Human Performance offerings, another program to be impacted is Winthrop Think College, which offers postsecondary education opportunities for students with intellectual disabilities.


Also, Winthrop’s Macfeat Laboratory School, which serves preschool and kindergarten students, has gained a fully inclusive park within a few blocks of its location on the Winthrop campus.


Joseph Miller joined Winthrop as the vice president for enrollment management and marketing.


Miller, who came to Winthrop from Georgia’s LaGrange College, brought with him more than 18 years of knowledge in strategic


enrollment management, admissions, recruitment and marketing, and financial aid awarding and leveraging strategies in regional higher education.


At LaGrange, he led enrollment and marketing plans that grew undergraduate enrollment by over 15 percent and graduate programs by more than 80 percent.


Miller now leads Winthrop’s offices of admissions and financial aid, as well as works closely with the academic colleges, communications and marketing, the Graduate School and University College’s retention efforts, among other areas of the university.


Beth Costner to Serve as Interim COE Dean


Associate Dean Beth Greene Costner has been named interim dean for the Richard W. Riley College of Education, beginning Jan. 3.


Current Dean Jennie Rakestraw will retire in December.


Costner earned tenure and was promoted to professor in the Department of Mathematics where she also served as chair from 2008-13. In addition to her current role as associate dean in education, Costner served as assistant and associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences from 2010-15.


While at Winthrop, Costner has secured more than $3 million in grants. In addition, Costner has led a number of initiatives related to teacher development, student services, assessment and accreditation.


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