TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Stillman Faculty’s first feminine president, Cynthia Warrick, has introduced plans to retire after main the Tuscaloosa, Alabama-based traditionally Black faculty for 5 years.
Stillman’s Board of Trustees has launched a nationwide seek for Warrick’s alternative. The faculty plans to seek out her successor by the June 30, 2023, finish of Warrick’s contract.
Warrick, 68, stated she is selecting to retire as a result of she needs to loosen up and spend extra time with household, particularly her grandchildren. She plans to return to her hometown of San Antonio.
Warrick was named Stillman’s seventh president in April 2017. She was initially appointed as an interim president however stated the position started to really feel like a mission she was referred to as to satisfy, The Tuscaloosa Information reported.
“I … didn’t count on to be right here this lengthy,” Warrick stated throughout a information convention to announce her plans. “However you recognize, the job referred to as me, God referred to as me and we have been in a position to accomplish miracles. Consider me, we have been in a position to accomplish quite a bit in a brief time period … I’m able to move the torch on to the subsequent individual to take up the race.”
When she arrived, Stillman was at a essential level financially and academically, Warrick stated.
“I used to be tasked with an actual problem, and my husband’s a finance man and he stated, ‘You’ll be residence in three months.’ It was simply that dangerous,” Warrick stated. “However I figured God didn’t ship me right here to shut the faculty down. And we have been going to do what we needed to do, to guarantee that the faculty was going to be sturdy once more and flourish. And now, after 5 and a half years, we’re there.”
In keeping with a information launch, Warrick is leaving Stillman debt-free after $40 million in debt has been both paid off or forgiven.
“The faculty has gone by way of some very rocky instances and he or she has been the anchor that has saved us on monitor. She has raised the model of the establishment and enhanced the faculty’s fame,” stated Donald Comer, chair of the college’s board.
The college was based in 1876 and is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church USA. Warrick, who beforehand served as interim president at South Carolina State College and Grambling State College, stated she is going to proceed to play a job at Stillman after her departure.
“I'll cherish the outpouring of help from the area people, the state and the alumni that has contributed to the success that we've achieved throughout my tenure,” Warrick stated. “Stillman is now a spot the place a brand new president can construct on the educating, analysis and the group service that we established up to now 5 years.”