Claflin’s new president focused on values, family; Warmack says education changed his life

And his life was forever changed by education.

On Monday, Claflin University announced that Warmack will follow Dr. Henry N. Tisdale, who is retiring as Claflin’s president after 25 years of leading the historically black university.

Warmack has served in various positions in higher education for the past two decades. He’s currently president of Harris-Stowe State University in St. Louis, Missouri.

But Warmack will not mention his titles and positions if he’s asked to describe himself. He will simply tell you that, “Dr. Dwaun Warmack is a servant leader who has a heart and passion for people.”

He describes himself as a Christian and family man.

“I shape everything that I do with regards to my core values and my character, my integrity and my family,” Warmack said.

Warmack says he applies his core values to all aspects of his life.

“My core values are about having strong integrity and strong character. I’m unwilling to compromise my integrity. I’m unwilling to compromise my character. Those are the two things that define me the most,” he said.

He says the person you see serving as president is the same person you see at church and at home.

“I am who I am. I’ve become very clear about who I am and whose I am, and so I’ve mastered becoming the best Dwaun Warmack that I can possibly be,” he said.

“I’m unapologetic about that and my faith, and how I operate. Character and integrity are my guiding principles that I do everything in. That’s not just, like I said, work. That’s personally, professionally, socially. What you see in Dwaun Warmack is what you get,” he said.

Warmack will officially become Claflin’s president on Aug. 1.

“Transitioning anywhere is a new experience. But, my wife and daughter, we’re not new to this. My wife has been a true champion and supporter of me throughout my career,” he said.

Warmack was focused on his job at Harris-Stowe when the call came about Claflin.

“We’re winning here at Harris-Stowe. Things are going exceptionally well. We’ve overcome a lot of challenges in the early stages and phases,” he said.

“When I received the call from the search firm here at Claflin, I respectfully declined because that wasn’t where I was in my career, in my life. I’m not serial job searcher. I go where I know God will call me to go,” Warmack said.

“A few weeks later, I get a call from some folks in this profession who are of influence, and they said, ‘Hey, you might want to have a conversation just with that firm,’” he said.

Warmack listened and later had a conversation with Claflin’s search firm.

“We had some very candid conversations about what I was looking for, and they outlined to me what Claflin was looking for. And, within the context of that conversation, it seemed like a really good fit,” he said.

Warmack said he began to do his homework on Claflin. He also learned more about Tisdale, whom he knew from a distance due to their profession.

“I was impressed. I thought he had done an amazing job over 25 years of transforming the institution. As the search firm said to me, they think that I would be a good person to continue that legacy on,” Warmack said.

Warmack brought the idea to his wife, LaKisha. It involved uprooting his family from a city with a population of over 12 million and bringing it to a city with a population under 20,000. 

Warmack said he received a swift answer from his wife.

“She said, ‘No. Are you crazy?’”

Warmack waited a few days and approached his wife again.

He asked her, “Would you do me a favor and fast with me for seven days and allow God to provide us clarity if this is where we want to be able to put our application in and explore this option?”

“So, we did a fast for seven days and we both got clarity that this could be a place that we could go and serve. And I told the firm that before I submit my application, I need to come on my own personal dime with my wife to be able to see, feel, touch Orangeburg, South Carolina,” he said.

Warmack and his wife arrived in Orangeburg looking to survey the campus and city.

“We went and asked for a tour. We actually said we have a kid that, stretched the truth a little bit, we said we had a family member that was thinking about coming to Claflin for school and we would love a tour,” Warmack said. “I never gave her my name, so she had no clue who I was. This was before I applied for the job.”

No students were on campus at the time, so a person in the admissions office gave them a tour.

The experience was revealing.

The tour guide “was a true ambassador for Claflin University,” Warmack said. She spoke about her journey to Claflin and how it changed her life.

“It was exciting for her to speak with that type of passion and commitment to an institution that touched her life, and it resonated with us in our core values, what we think an institution of higher education should do,” Warmack said.

“We were able to see the entire Claflin experience without anyone knowing who we were,” he said.

The couple then left the campus and went to explore the city of Orangeburg.

“We said, ‘Let’s go find a movie theatre,’ and we were really interested to learn that Orangeburg didn’t have a movie theater. So we said ‘Uh, oh. OK, cool we’ve got a night here, let’s just go bowling.’ And we found there was no bowling alley,” he said.

“We had a good time, but it was clear on that ground,” Warmack said.

After their visit, Warmack said he called the firm back and said he was willing to submit his application.

With 2/3 of the Warmack family on board with the move, the last third, Warmack’s daughter Morgan, also had to be on board with the decision.

“It was a challenge for her at first because she said ‘Dad this is the only home I’ve ever lived in and I can remember, and all of my friends are at my school, and I’m only four hours away from my Gigi and Papa, so dad this is tough,’” Warmack said.

“And so she cried very heavily, saying ‘I don’t want to leave everything that I know,’” he said.

Then she learned the family of one of her childhood friends moved to South Carolina.

“The daughter is there, the same age, and they Facetimed and she was ready to pack her bags and move that day. So, she’s excited now about the transition,” he said.

With Warmack’s family in support of the decision, he chose to accept the position at Claflin.

Warmack earned a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s degree in sociology from Delta State University.

He earned his doctorate in educational leadership with a specialization in higher education from Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. He has also completed post-doctoral work in educational leadership at the Harvard University School of Education.

Prior to his years at Harris-Stowe, Warmack served as the senior vice president of administration and student services at Bethune-Cookman University.

Warmack also served as associate dean of students at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, and held positions at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, and Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi.