November 8, 2011

HARTSVILLE, S.C. – Nov. 7, 2011 – Coker College President Robert Wyatt has been elected to serve a four-year term on the NCAA Division II Presidents Council.
 
Representing NCAA’s Region 2, Wyatt replaces Nancy Moody of Tusculum.  His term begins in April 2012.
 
“Robert will be enormously helpful to the Council, now, as it moves forward in the implementation of Division II’s long-range goals as framed by its strategic plan and strategic positioning platform,” said University of Indianapolis President Beverly Pitts, who nominated Wyatt for the position.
 
Wyatt became the 16th president of Coker College in 2009.  Among early accomplishments at Coker, he has led the college through a strategic planning process that lays the groundwork for unprecedented institutional growth in its program and facilities. Under Wyatt’s leadership, Coker has expanded the size of its faculty, significantly enhanced the depth and breadth of student services offerings and seen its athletic teams become more competitive in Conference Carolinas.
 
Wyatt is a member of the Board of South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities and on the Board’s Executive Committee and on the organization’s Public Policy Committee. He also serves as secretary of the South Carolina Higher Education Tuition Grant Commission and on the American Council for Education’s Commission on Effective Leadership.  In Hartsville Wyatt serves on the Board of Directors at the Greater Hartsville Chamber of Commerce and Emmanuel Christian School.
 
Formerly, he was Dean of the Breech School of Business Administration at Drury University.  Wyatt began directing the daily operations of the Business School at Drury, a midsized university of 5,500 students, including 1,600 undergraduates, in 2001.
Among his accomplishments at Drury, Wyatt launched the Edward Jones Center for Entrepreneurship, reaffirmed accreditation by the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs, and successfully revised the curriculum with a focus on required international study and internships.

For a brief time, Wyatt served as Drury University’s Associate Dean for the College of Graduate and Continuing Studies. He began teaching at Drury in 1996, during which time he was named a Sam Walton Fellow and co-founded the university’s acclaimed Students in Free Enterprise program. Prior to that, he was Dean of the McAfee School of Business Administration at Union University in Jackson, Tenn.

In 2007, Wyatt was selected as one of the 37 American Council on Education Fellows to participate in a yearlong distinguished higher education leadership development program. He was placed at Hendrix College where he worked closely with the college administration in faculty governance, fundraising, enrollment and institutional advancement.

Wyatt’s other professional honors include the Leavey Award for Excellence in Free Enterprise Education, induction into the Students In Free Enterprise Hall of Fame, and inclusion in “Who’s Who Among American College Teachers.” He is also a recipient of the Jack Kahl Entrepreneurial Leadership Award, named for the visionary CEO and author of the book “Leading from the Heart.”

Wyatt holds a Ph.D. in accounting from the University of Memphis, a master’s degree in accounting from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Central Arkansas.
 
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Coker College readies undergraduates for personal and professional success through a distinctive four-year program that emphasizes a practical application of the liberal arts as well as hands-on and discussion-based learning within and beyond the classroom. Coker is ranked among the “Best Colleges” in the South by U.S. News & World Report as well as The Princeton Review. Located in Hartsville, S.C., Coker is within two hours of the cultural, financial and recreational resources of Charlotte, Columbia, Charleston and Myrtle Beach.