ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA – Winthrop University has hired Kevin Sheppard Sr. as its Title IX coordinator and ADA Compliance officer. Sheppard will join the Winthrop community on Nov. 1.
Over the summer, university leaders developed the new position dedicated to Title IX and ADA Compliance. The university’s counsel headed a search committee that included the Council of Student Leaders’ president and other representatives from the Winthrop community.
“We are happy to welcome Kevin into the Winthrop family,” said Interim President George Hynd. “We actively listened to campus feedback and determined that a position solely dedicated to the very important areas of Title IX and ADA Compliance was critically important for Winthrop. Kevin will begin work on a number of commitments that we have made institutionally to address Title IX concerns and the processes by which those concerns have been heard and vetted in the past.”
Sheppard will serve as the primary authority for monitoring and coordinating Winthrop’s compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and other related state and federal laws and regulations. He will provide strategic leadership for the university’s efforts to ensure sex and gender-based equity and Title IX compliance in its programs and activities; coordinate awareness, education, and training efforts; and direct the university’s response to Title IX sexual misconduct.
As the ADA Compliance officer, he will serve as the designated university official to implement compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as amended and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. He will formulate changes to policies and procedures based on best practices and applicable law and identify trends and potential areas of compliance vulnerabilities regarding ADA/504 compliance.
Sheppard comes to Winthrop after 16 years of service at the University of South Carolina, where he’s spent the past eight and a half years in the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs as a Title IX investigator and lead trainer. He also worked as a trainer for the University of South Carolina’s Office of Organizational and Professional Development, for which he oversaw the development and delivery of training and professional/personal development programs and courses. In addition, he compiled over seven and a half years of experience working in the University of South Carolina’s Office of General Counsel as a university paralegal and contracts manager.
Sheppard is currently working toward a Master of Public Administration degree at the University of South Carolina, where he received a bachelor’s degree in religious studies. He holds an associate’s degree in paralegal studies from Midlands Technical College. He also served in the United States Air Force.
For more information, please contact the Office of University Communications and Marketing at 803/323-2236.
