The Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean of the University of North Dakota’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences, has been named the interim UND president.
The board voted 9-0 to appoint Joshua Wynne.
Wynne has been the med school's dean for 10 years. He will become interim president when current president Mark Kennedy leaves for his new position in Colorado June 15th.
Wynne plans to build on the current goals already set in place at the university. Praising the strategic plan implemented by Kennedy, Wynne encompassed his goals by saying he plans to keep “moving forward and striving for excellence.”
"The plan is widely highly regarded," Wynne said in an interview. "Fully implementing that will be a priority."
"Josh has been there from the beginning, helping to create that strategic plan," Kennedy said. "He's going to provide that continuity."
Wynne said another priority is to continue to improve graduation and retention rates. Also, he said beautifying the campus and dealing with deferred maintenance are on the list.
When asked how he plans to balance the two positions at once, Wynne said he’ll be asking his senior leadership — who he says he relies on tremendously — to step up and assist in the workload. Additionally, Wynne, a practicing cardiologist, said he will cut-down on his clinical activities to allow for more time.
Rumors were circulating that Wynne’s consideration was partially based on the assumption that he was nearing retirement for his current position. The idea being that Wynne could step down from his duties as dean of the medical school, serve as interim president as needed and then retire. When asked if this was true, Wynne made it clear that was not the case.
"It is not," Wynne said. "Retirement is not a word I use in my vocabulary."
Wynne said when the interim appointment is finished, he will return full-time to his role as VP and dean of the medical school.
Kennedy said Wynne is running a "great college."
"Our medical school is a fabulous part of the University," Kennedy said. "He's shown great leadership there that is well-respected across the state and nation."
