For Immediate Release
June 11, 2020
Effective immediately, Dr. Ellen Bernhardt has been appointed Interim Campus President for St. Andrews University, a branch of Webber International University. Bernhardt, who holds a Doctor of Business Administration, a Master of Business Administration, and a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication has served in a variety of senior leadership roles in higher education for over thirty years.
Dr. Bernhardt has been at St. Andrews for two years. Her first assignment was to develop and implement special projects to support the growth of the campus. Under her guidance, St. Andrews has introduced or re-designed 11 undergraduate majors and 1 new graduate major; as well as increased enrollment in the online population. She has also worked to gain approval to expand St. Andrews to three new Adult Learning campuses in Charlotte, Charleston, and Columbia. Dr. Bernhardt was appointed Senior Vice President of Operations and Chief Operating Officer and assumed total leadership responsibility for the campus in November of 2019 when long-serving Campus President Paul Baldasare announced his retirement. Like Baldasare, Bernhardt reports directly to the University’s President & CEO, Dr. Keith Wade (who is himself a graduate of St. Andrews Presbyterian College).
“It’s an exciting time for St. Andrews,” said Wade. “We have five new undergraduate degrees and one new graduate degree to add to the six others introduced in 2019; with most of them new to the region and one (Occupational Therapy Assisting–OTA) among the first six of its kind in the nation. We have invested in a new clinical and simulation lab for the Bachelor of Nursing Program and will soon add two other state of the art labs for OTA program. The new labs for the Sport Performance, Health, and Fitness major and the Esports competition team and academic concentration are two more key investments for our students. We have three new Adult Learning campuses pending final approvals and opening up in the near future. In the past two years, we have introduced five new athletic programs including Esports, Men’s Lacrosse, Cheer and Dance, Women’s Beach Volleyball, and Women’s Wrestling. We’re replacing our 60-year-old campus wide air conditioner with a new one – while it’s a million dollar upgrade can you imagine the environmental impact of that? We’re coordinating tens of millions of dollars of repairs to Hurricane Florence damages with the totally remodeled Vardell academic building opening for classes in the fall. While there’s a lot going on, we’re in good hands.”
Established in 1927 by Roger Babson as the first college chartered under Florida’s then new charitable and educational laws, and America’s second school of business for women, our campuses in Babson Park, FL (residential, established 1927); Charleston, SC (anticipated opening fall 2020); Charlotte, NC (anticipated opening fall 2020); Columbia, SC (anticipated opening fall 2020); Laurinburg, NC (residential, established 1896); Miami Lakes, FL (anticipated opening fall 2020); Southern Pines, NC; and West Palm Beach, FL (anticipated opening fall 2020) now educate men and women from over 50 different nations. Degrees are offered at the associates, bachelors, and masters level through traditional day, accelerated night and weekend, and entirely on-line formats. Joining Webber as a branch campus in 2011, St. Andrews University is an historically Presbyterian, comprehensive liberal arts school tracing its roots back to 1896. The University features highly qualified faculty, highly engaged staff, small class size, and a wide array of intercollegiate sports and other extracurricular activities. The University has been recognized as a US News and World Reports Best Regional Colleges: South, a Princeton Review Best Southeastern College, and has earned Petersons’ top marks for academics, value and community. The University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, and numerous programs have earned additional programmatic accreditations.
