Served as Inver Hills president July 1, 2010 – June 30, 2018
On July 1, 2018, Tim Wynes, JD, will begin his new role as president of Black Hawk College, a community college with two campuses in Moline and Galva, Illinois. Wynes has served as president of Inver Hills Community College since July 1, 2010, and Dakota County Technical College since July 1, 2013.
“Over the last eight years, we have witnessed a fair amount of change at Inver Hills,” President Wynes said. “We renovated the Library and Learning Center to faculty and staff specifications using college funds. We also renovated the third floor of the Library building from a dark hull to a bright office space.”
Other campus improvements during this period include:
Re-purposed closed and unused child care center as IT Customer Service Center
Transformed Activities building into Student Activities Center
Removed concrete gym floor; installed new flooring
Built Pilates/yoga/martial arts room
Renovated small, dimly lit weight room by adding more light and space
Transformed under-used Heritage Hall office space into Veterans Lounge
Relocated campus veterans from dark, windowless room into open, relaxing space filled with natural light
Freed up supply offices for student clubs
Received nearly $700,000 in design funds from Minnesota State Legislature for $14 million 2020 renovation of Business building
Created Inver Hills-Metro State Interdisciplinary Community Garden, creating lab and classroom space
Raised roughly $7 million, including:
Only funded Title III grant for a Minnesota college and university in 2016
Grant specifically targets enrollment need: Adult Recruitment and Retention
Reconnect Grant to recruit students with some college back to college
Successful capital campaign that included $250,000 for 2+2 scholarships from Inver Hills to UW River Falls
$545,000 raised by Doug Differt, Gary Thompson and friends to fund pre-engineering scholarships at Inver, Civil Engineering Technology scholarships at DCTC, and six annual paid internships
Multi-million dollar, five-year grant with ISD 196 for underrepresented students with interest in science
Affords students opportunities to pursue STEM careers and receive Inver and DCTC scholarships
Learn more about the Library building renovation by reading:
“Learning Center Open House” on Inver Hills News
Additional highlights:
Faculty team successfully led college through HLC Assessment Academy
Inver Hills achieved strong reaffirmation of HLC Accreditation and highest possible praise from Comprehensive Quality Review Peer Review Team in spring 2017
Program Prioritization delivered real data on courses
MANE nursing curriculum adopted
Nursing program achieves consistently high pass rates on RN-NCLEX exams
Phi Theta Kappa chapter achieved national recognition
Learn more about Black Hawk College by reading a May 15, 2018, editorial in The Dispatch • Argus:
What is the most significant role of a community college president?
Advance the mission of a transfer-oriented college by assuring that students have access to the courses they need to meet the requirements of most four-year colleges and universities. Ninety percent of Inver Hills credits transfer.
What was the most challenging aspect of your time at Inver Hills?
The culture of the college from the perspective of a small group of people who thought being candid was same as being honest. It’s not.
What was the most rewarding aspect of your time at Inver Hills?
Renovating the Library building top to bottom, transforming the Activities building into a modern Student Activities Center and re-purposing the former child care building into the IT Customer Service Center.
I am most proud of helping advance the college as an assessment-oriented, financially stable institution focused on quality improvement.
— Tim Wynes, JD, Inver Hills President, July 2010 – June 2018
What do you consider your most memorable experience at Inver Hills? The night Katie Nelson, anthropology faculty, showed her film, What’s Your Story? The film is a documentary that relates the compelling immigration stories as told by Inver Hills students from around the world.
What is Inver’s greatest strength?
The dedication of the faculty and staff.
How can Inver Hills best prepare to meet the needs of future students?
By continuing to hire imaginative, innovative and student-focused faculty.
What do you view as your most enduring accomplishment at Inver Hills?
I am most proud of helping advance the college as an assessment-oriented, financially stable institution focused on quality improvement.
President Wynes holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, a juris doctorate from Saint Louis University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri, and has completed coursework in the doctorate program in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Iowa State University.
College presidents receive this prestigious national award based on their exemplary support and promotion of the Phi Theta Kappa mission: Recognizing the academic achievements of two-year college students while providing opportunities for all students to grow as scholars and leaders.
The Board of Trustees of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities has named Michael Berndt to serve as interim president of Inver Hills Community College and Dakota County Technical College (DCTC). The appointment becomes effective July 1, 2018, and is for a one-year term. The search for a permanent president will begin this fall.
Michael Berndt has served Minnesota State for 18 years in several capacities, including as a faculty member, dean and executive leader. He has served in his current role as vice president of academic affairs at Century College since 2014.
To learn more about the Inver Hills presidential transition, contact:
Angela Burns
Marketing Director
Inver Hills Community College
Dakota County Technical College
651-423-8233
