Averett University President Tiffany Franks will retire Jan 5.
The university announced Wednesday that David Joyce has been named the next president, to be installed Jan. 6. He was most recently president of Brevard College in North Carolina. He has also served as president of Ripon College in Wisconsin and Union College in Kentucky. Joyce is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church.
Board of Trustees President Dan Carlton thanked Franks for her service in a press release. “She has been an ambassador of Averett in the community, a champion for our students and a tireless leader of the outstanding faculty and staff assembled at Averett,” he said.
[Disclosure: Franks is a member of Cardinal News’ community advisory board, but members have no say in news decisions; see our policy.]
Franks joined the university in 2008 and is the first woman to serve as president of the private Baptist university in Danville. Prior to coming to Averett, Franks was executive vice president at Greensboro College in North Carolina.
Under Franks’ guidance, the university has increased its enrollment in an era when many small colleges are facing dwindling populations. The school had nearly 1,450 undergraduate and graduate students in fall 2024, compared to fewer than 850 10 years prior.
While much of the recent enrollment growth has come from graduate programs, including online options, Franks has also overseen expansions of the health sciences and aviation programs. During her tenure, the university has completed extensive renovations of the main campus on West Main Street and opened a campus in downtown Danville.
In 2021, Averett University took over the fixed-base operation at the Danville Airport, serving private aircraft fueling and maintenance needs.
The school came under scrutiny this spring when Franks revealed that Averett’s finances had been mismanaged. Many full-time faculty and staff members were required to take nine furlough days over the summer to curb costs, and the university has cut off its match to employee retirement fund contributions. The university has said its financial discrepancies hadn’t had an impact on academic programs, but it announced in November that it would phase out several programs of study.
In remarks to faculty and staff obtained by Cardinal News on Wednesday, Franks said she told the board of trustees “earlier this fall” of her decision to retire.
