By Robert Dilday
David Olive will resign July 31 as president of Baptist-affiliated Bluefield College in Virginia to become executive vice president of Charleston Southern University, a Baptist institution in South Carolina.
Olive, who has led the college in Bluefield, Va., for eight years, told the school’s trustees and staff that he made the decision with “mixed emotions” but added: “The opportunity to serve as executive vice president at an excellent faith-based university at this time in my career will be exciting and challenging. This new opportunity provides me the ability to offer my leadership and experience as Charleston Southern pursues an aggressive and compelling strategic focus for excellence and growth in its academic programs.”
Olive arrived at Bluefield in 2007 from Pfeiffer University in Charlotte, N.C., where he had served as executive vice president and chief operating officer. A one-time attorney and pastor, he began his presidency at Bluefield by crafting a bold new vision, mission and strategic plan, according to a press release from the college.
During his tenure, the college launched new academic programs, including opportunities in instrumental music, forensic science, graphic communication, special education, and nursing, the school’s first-ever health science program. It also began offering master’s degrees in 2013 and transitioned its non-traditional degree-completion programs to an online environment.
In 2012, after a four-year-long feasibility study, Bluefield revived its intercollegiate football program after a more than a 70-year hiatus. Five other new sports programs — including men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s track and field, and men’s volleyball — also were created.
New construction and extensive campus renovations also highlighted Olive’s tenure.
“Dr. Olive’s visionary leadership brought Bluefield College into the 21st century and has positioned us for even more greatness in the future,” said trustee chair David Bailey.
Bluefield, founded in 1922 and affiliated with the Baptist General Association of Virginia, enrolls about 850 students. The school’s trustees were to meet this week to select an interim president.
“My family and I have greatly enjoyed living in Bluefield, and I have been richly blessed with the opportunity to serve alongside the faculty and staff of Bluefield College,” said Olive. “They are truly amazing people, and there is no question of their love for this place and the commitment they have to the mission of this fine college. Together, we have accomplished much over the past eight years, and there still is much more potential that awaits the college.”
Looking to the future, Olive described Charleston Southern as “an ever-expanding university within a rapidly growing economic region of South Carolina. I look forward to assisting Dr. Jairy Hunter and the CSU campus community in resource development to accomplish the university’s strategic initiatives, including a new health sciences building and a 3,500-seat athletic arena.”
Charleston Southern was founded in 1964 and is affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention. Current enrollment is just over 3,400.