Coker College names Wyatt new president

Dr. Robert L. Wyatt, dean of the Breech School of Business Administration at Drury University in Springfield, Mo., has been named Coker College’s 16th president by the board of trustees.

“Dr. Wyatt is exceptionally qualified to be the next president of Coker College,” Charles Sullivan, chairman of the college’s board of trustees and Sonoco executive vice president, said in a press release issued Monday afternoon by the college. “His background and career achievements make him the ideal choice to lead Coker to even greater success as the college begins its second century of excellence in higher education.”

Wyatt succeeds Dr B. James Dawson, who is retiring in June after serving as the college’s president for the last seven years. Dawson became the 15th president of Coker College in July 2002.

The college began its search for a new president with the help of Coleman Lew & Associates of Charlotte, N.C., in 2008.

Karen Lear, head of the college’s President’s Transition Committee and a 1998 Coker College graduate, led the college’s effort to find Dawson’s successor.

In the press release, Lear called Wyatt “a leader of the highest caliber.

“This search process was very competitive and everyone involved feels strongly that he will be an asset to the institution,” she said.

James Jolly, director of marketing and communications at Coker, said Wyatt was among eight semifinalists chosen for the position.

Wyatt will begin as president July 1, Jolly said.

Wyatt began teaching at Drury in 1996, during which time he was named a Sam Walton Fellow and co-founded the university’s Students In Free Enterprise program.

He also served as associate dean for the university’s College of Graduate and Continuing Studies before beginning to direct the daily operations of the business school in 2001.

While 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 international study and internships. He also secured approval for Drury’s plan to earn accreditation next year from the Association to Advance College Schools of Business, according to the release.

Before his career at Drury University, Wyatt was the dean of the McAfee School of Business Administration at Union University in Jackson, Tenn.

In 2007, Wyatt was selected as one of 37 American Council on Education Fellows to participate in a yearlong distinguished higher education leadership development program.

Wyatt received several professional honors including the Leavey Award for Excellence in Free Enterprise Education and the Jack Kahl Entrepreneurial Leadership Award, which is named for the chief executive officer of Manco Inc. and author of the book “Leading from the Heart.”

Wyatt earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Central Arkansas in 1983, a master’s degree in accounting from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 1989 and a doctorate in accounting from the University of Memphis in 1993.

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

On the Web

Coker College, http://www.coker.edu