Welcome to HickoryRecord.com. Skip directly to: our Keyword Search, Section Navigation, Content.

HickoryRecord.com - Hickory Daily Record

HomeNewsEntertainmentSportsLifestylesOpinionCommunityWeather Online Tools Jobs | Real Estate | Shopping | Classified

LR vice president and dean of students retires

staff reports

Published: June 15, 2009

HICKORY - Anita Johnson Gwin, vice president and dean of students at Lenoir-Rhyne University, has retired following 13 years of service.

Gwin joined the Lenoir-Rhyne staff in 1996 and was the longest-serving dean of students in L-R history.

During her tenure, she was involved in the planning for several residence hall construction projects, including the construction of the Living-Learning Center in 2000, the renovation of Morgan Hall in 1999, and the renovation of Fritz-Conrad Residence Hall in 2008. In 2001, she established the Faculty-in-Residence Program, through which a faculty member lives in a student residence hall.

She established L-R's Alternative Spring Break trips, which began in 2006 and continue to the present. Under her leadership, L-R was named to the President's Community Service Honor Roll for three years in a row (2006-2008).

She also helped establish campus chapters of Phi Beta Sigma and Zeta Phi Beta, the first historically African-American fraternity and sorority at L-R. In addition, she helped establish the Arktos Chapter of Mortar Board National Honor Society in 2008. She served as an advisor to the Panhellenic Council and Student Government Association, and was co-advisor to Mortar Board.

Gwin served as a Southern Association of Colleges and Schools-Commission on Colleges accreditation reviewer in 2007 and 2008. In 2005-2006, she was a Thrivent Fellow, a leadership-development program for administrators at Lutheran colleges and universities. She also attended the Harvard University Institute for Educational Management in 1999. In addition, she was active in professional organizations at the state, regional and national levels.

Gwin volunteered her time and expertise in the Hickory community, serving on the boards of the Girl Scout Council of the Catawba Valley Area, city of Hickory Historic Commission and Women's Resource Center.

She is a member of the Foundation Board for the University of South Dakota, her alma mater. In 1998, she received the Outstanding Service to the Profession Award from the University of South Dakota School of Education.