WINGATE — Dr. Rhett Brown was installed as Wingate University’s 10th president on Thursday.
During his speech, Brown looked back on his history at the school and gave an assessment of Wingate University’s purpose.
“Our guiding purpose at Wingate University is to change lives for the better: those who study here, who teach here, who work here, and who live here,” Brown said. “Our pursuit is a knowledge that informs our faith and leads us to serve others. That is the purpose of higher education at Wingate University.”
Brown took over for Dr. Jerry McGee on June 1, 2015. On Thursday, McGee presented Brown with the presidential medallion during an installation ceremony that is the highlight of Inauguration Week.
Brown is the first graduate of Wingate University to hold the office of president at the school. He graduated in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in English and in 2001 with a master’s of business administration.
Brown has held numerous positions at Wingate since his 1989 graduation, starting his career by launching the student service organization UCAN. He was most recently vice president for student life and enrollment services.
“I think all of you know I care about this place deeply, and have since I first arrived as a transfer student in August 1986 — just shy of 30 years ago,” Brown said during his installation speech. “Leading my alma mater is the privilege of a lifetime and an honor that I could not have conceived of in the furthest reaches of my young, 21-year-old imagination all those years back.”
A host of well-wishers took the podium one by one, including state Rep. Craig Horn, R-Union, who spoke highly of Brown and read letters from North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate President Pro-tem Phil Berger.
“Winston Churchill said that the empires of the future are the empires of the mind,” Horn said. “As you climb onto the shoulders of the giants of Wingate’s glorious past, we know that the empires of Wingate’s future are indeed in good hands.”
Dr. Sylvia Little-Sweat, professor of English and Wingate’s longest-serving faculty member, memorialized the occasion in poem, at the end of which she acknowledged Brown as an alumnus, colleague and friend.
“May he journey with purpose and with time’s mercy,” she said. “May his steps be sure. May his dreams as well endure.”
After the ceremony, employees, students and members of the community gathered for an afternoon of service projects to benefit local children, the homeless, the poor and others.