Coker president challenges students to make the most of being different

Coker College kicked off a new era Thursday with its annual convocation to mark the beginning of its 102nd academic year.

This year, the four-year, private liberal arts college welcomed the largest freshman class in its history.

During the annual opening convocation, Coker’s new president, Dr. Robert L. Wyatt, challenged new and returning students to embrace the difference that Coker College will make in their lives in the coming years.

“I want us to make being different truly matter,” Wyatt said.

“You will most definitely be different after your years at Coker,” said Wyatt, Coker’s 16th president. “You will have been taught by experts.”

He also exhorted faculty members to lead by example.

He urged the students to never underestimate their potential. “Do not ever doubt your ability to make a difference,” Wyatt said. “You were created with unending potential.”

He also urged the students to make a difference in the life of the college and the Hartsville community.

“Think about how you would like to shape our Coker experience,” he said.

He implored freshmen to talk to upperclassmen about their pursuits outside of the classroom.

Wyatt, formerly dean of the Breech School of Business Administration at Drury University in Springfield, Mo., succeeds Dr. B. James Dawson as president of Coker. Dawson retired earlier this year.

Thursday’s convocation was marked by a brief investiture ceremony for Wyatt. A more formal inaugural ceremony is scheduled for next spring.

Wyatt said the college will continue to focus on growing and strengthening Coker as an institution.

Classes for the fall semester at Coker started last week.

During his time at Drury, a midsized university of 5,500 students, 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.

Wyatt also secured approval for Drury’s plan to earn accreditation the next year from the Association to Advance College Schools of Business.

For a short time, he served as Drury’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. Before 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 in Arkansas, where he worked closely with the college administration in faculty governance, fund-raising, 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 (1993), a master’s degree in accounting from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (1989), and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Central Arkansas (1983).

He and his wife, Nancy, have a 9-year-old daughter.

Coker College was recently selected by the Princeton Review as one of the best colleges in the Southeast, the sixth consecutive year the school has earned the honor.