Interim BSC president welcomed by community at open house event
Published 5:26 pm Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Dr. Stuart Rayfield and her husband David talk to Luther Conyers during a meet and greet session at the Kirbo Center.
Bainbridge State College interim president Dr. Stuart Rayfield was officially introduced Monday evening during a meet and greet session at the Kirbo Center.
“I have loved working in the University System of Georgia so when they called and said are you interested in serving as interim president at Bainbridge State College, I was absolutely,” Rayfield said. “I think our system is a really good system and I wanted to see a completely different perspective.”
Rayfield, who previously worked as a the co-leader of Tenure Accreditation at Columbus State University officially took over as interim president at BSC on June 1.
During her 20-year career working in higher education, Rayfield has spent time working at the University of Alabama, Middle Tennessee State University, Vanderbilt University, Auburn University and Columbus State.
“I got involved in higher education because I had a really good undergraduate experience,” Rayfield said. “I ultimately called the person who had such a good influence on me and said ‘Hey, I want your job. How do I get it’ and so that’s kind of how I got into higher education.”
She is expected to serve in the role of interim president for 12 to 18 months.
“I’m not sure what’s going to happen during those 12 to 18 months, but that was the timeframe,” Rayfield said. “I don’t have any goals or expectations yet. We’re still waiting to hear from the system office the direction that Bainbridge State College will take in the future and the Chancellor has been very open with this community that the way things currently are will need to change, but he has not put anything on paper.”
Although the future of the school is in flux, Rayfield said that her immediate goal is to build relationships so that when changes do come they are prepared to face them.
“Even if we maintain Bainbridge State College exactly the way it is right now, I think the most important things that the leader at this college can do is build relationships with students, with faculty and with staff so that we all feel like we are apart of the same,” she said.
