Senior associate provost retiring after 22 years
Abigail Dickerson, Staff Writer
Linwood Hagin, associate senior provost is retiring after serving at North Greenville University since 1999. He started as a professor and had since been promoted up the chain of command to an administration position.
Before he came to the university in 2005, he taught at Toccoa Falls college in Georgia as well as being an Assistant professor at Youngstown state.
Just four years prior to Hagin’s arrival at NGU the school had only offered a two-year program and consisted of four majors. original majors included, religion church music, mass communication, elementary education and business administration. The university then switched to a four-year institution and now, nearly 20 years later, the university has over 40 areas of study.
Hagin became a professor in 2005 in the mass comm department and then was promoted to the dean of communication in 2014. As of 2015, he was given the position of assistant vice president of academics and was promoted again four years later to the associate provost of undergraduate and administration.
When asked what department he had seen change the most over his academic career he replied, “The mass communication department has experienced many changes. The mass communication suite used to be located in the basement of the Crain science building.” He went on to talk about how the department’s current location in the Tingle student center was being considered for a fitness center.
One day while Hagin was teaching the audio practicum, when a student burst in saying, “we’re under attack.” The date was September 11, 2001. The students turned on the television and went on to watch the news for the duration of the time.
Just three weeks before this, Hagin and his family had been traveling to Yosemite National Park in a motor home across the country. While in the motor home, he had performed a virtual interview with current assistant professor of communication, Shur Gopal.
When asked what the most difficult part of being in administration was, he replied, “Finding the right faculty that held the same biblical beliefs as the school that had a passion for teaching was quite difficult at times.” He also said that there are many things that go on behind the scenes in administration that the students and parents don’t always recognize.
Hagin said, “The advice that I would give to myself when I began teaching is to save more money and to create more opportunities for yourself, don’t get stuck in one position.” He emphasized creating opportunities as well as networking within the job field.
*Featured Image: Courtesy of the NGU yearbook, 1999.
