Provost stepping down

Hawkins announces retirement from office in 2018

 

Provost and Chief Academic Officer Ron Hawkins announced Aug. 18 that he will retire from the Provost’s Office in June 2018, after serving in that office since 2006.

Hawkins arrived at Liberty University four decades ago to teach Bible classes and homiletics and has served the university in various capacities since. Before joining the Provost’s Office, Hawkins served as the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Other positions held by Hawkins during four decades of service include department chair of the Christian Leadership and Church Ministries Department, dean of the seminary and associate provost for adult education.

Hawkins also founded Liberty’s Graduate Counseling program, which has become the largest program of its kind in the world.

Hawkins succeeded former Provost Ronald Godwin in January of 2015.

“My main responsibility as provost was to complete Liberty’s 10-year reaffirmation process for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, the regional body responsible for accrediting the university,” Hawkins said. “This accreditation process was successfully concluded with no recommendations in June of 2017.”

During his final year as provost, Hawkins has laid out an ambitious agenda. He will be giving attention to fleshing out the academic components to Liberty’s newly minted Strategic Plan.

He will be working with a team of faculty to finalize a new orientation and in-service process for faculty that will assure Liberty faculty continue to share a deep commitment to Liberty’s mission. Hawkins also plans to bring to conclusion the full accreditation of the Medical School and secure CACREP accreditation for Liberty’s online counseling program.

Hawkins will also work with Co-Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Ben Gutierrez to ensure that procedures and policies are in place to secure LUO’s competitive edge and are comparable in every way to the residential academic offerings.

Lastly, Hawkins said he plans to continue to invest in the successful implementation of Liberty’s Quality Enhancement Plan. The QEP was a core element in the 10-year reaffirmation and provides the foundation for success with the 5th-year interim SACSCOC report in 2021.

Hawkins believes that the QEP emphasis on research will provide students with greater opportunities to pursue and succeed in their chosen vocations. The QEP places a heavy emphasis on the pursuit of research that has application to resolving real-life challenges in the marketplace.

“Instead of just drifting off into the ivory towers, which sometimes happens in academia, I want to see the university connected to the resolution of real-life problems and have faculty and students involved in research aimed in that direction,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins plans to continue his service to Liberty after transitioning out of the Provost’s Office. His precise areas of service are under discussion and will include teaching in the Graduate School of Divinity and Behavioral Sciences.

“Before I was a provost and before I was a dean, I was a teacher,” Hawkins said. “As long as I can do it and do it well, I want to go back into the classroom and share my heart and my mind with students. I think until I die, I’ll be a teacher.”

President Jerry Falwell said he is grateful for leaders like Hawkins who have a long history with Liberty and have brought the university through challenges over the years.

“His life’s work is tied very closely to Liberty,” Falwell said in a news release. “I am very happy that he is staying with us and pursuing his love of teaching. I’m quite certain his classes will be very popular among our students.”

Ed Hindson, dean of the Rawlings School of Divinity, has worked with Hawkins at the university since the late 1970s in various roles. He said he believes Hawkins’s impact on Liberty will continue to grow as he steps into his new role as professor.

“He’s an excellent leader because he was also an excellent follower,” Hindson said. “He will be an excellent co-laborer, asset and advisor to whoever will take his place in the future.”

Hawkins’s academic leadership was demonstrated most recently in his leading the university through the hurdles of the SACSCOC reaffirmation process. Gutierrez considers this achievement Hawkins’s greatest accomplishment as provost.

“He foresaw potential challenges, and he gathered teams from across the university that were knowledgeable in conquering those challenges,” Gutierrez said. “And as a result, he was vital to Liberty University receiving the best reaffirmation response with zero warnings and zero sanctions.”

Hawkins will be remembered for his academic accomplishments and for his character as a compassionate leader. Gutierrez, Hindson and Vernon Whaley, the dean of the School of Music, all pointed to Hawkins’s leadership style as one of his greatest legacies.

“Dr. Hawkins always seemed to have respect for the person in the trenches,” Whaley said. “He has that skill of knowing how to merge the academic with the pastoral. This is the fourth school I’ve served at, and he’s the first provost that was pastoral in the way he treats his deans and faculty.”

Gutierrez described Hawkins as a personable leader who made himself available as a counselor to his team and cared for each person’s spiritual and emotional health.

“(During the day), he would work hard to protect the university and posture Liberty in a strong position in the nation,” Gutierrez said. “And later that night, after an exhausting day, he listens to your family concerns.”

Gutierrez said Hawkins’s leadership in the administration will be greatly missed by the university.

“You never want to see a good leader go,” Gutierrez said. “Yet, at the same time, you’re comforted because he has always followed the Lord in everything he has done. Thus, we have to trust that he’s following the Lord in what he’s doing in this season of his life.”

Hawkins said he feels no sense of regret when he looks back on his time in the Provost’s Office. Instead, the 75-year-old looks forward to returning to his original passion—teaching.

“There’s a counseling theory that talks about the last life stage as integrity versus despair,” Hawkins said. “What I feel is a great sense of integrity. I feel a great sense of privilege, and I feel no despair. I won’t miss this because I’ll move on to other things that will be equally meaningful and fill whatever void is left as I leave this office.”

Falwell has authorized the commencement of a national search for the next provost. The search begins now to ensure that a new provost will be in position no later than the fall of 2018.

COVEY is the asst. news editor.