Dr. Paul Wood

CENTRAL, S.C. – Student, professor, consultant, mentor.

Southern Wesleyan University’s Dr. Paul Wood has had many titles over the years. His latest title is that of graduation speaker for the university’s two graduation ceremonies on Dec. 10 at the main campus in Central.

The university will have two separate graduation ceremonies Dec. 10 at Walden Tysinger Gymnasium. The 10:30 a.m. ceremony is for graduating students from the university’s Central and Greenville locations earning associate’s, and bachelor’s degrees, and for students from all locations earning Master of Science, Master of Ministry or Master of Business Administration degrees. The 3 p.m. ceremony is for students from the university’s Charleston, Columbia and North Augusta locations earning associate’s and bachelor’s degrees, as well as for students from all locations earning Master of Education degrees.

The university will confer about 485 degrees, according to McCaskill. The average age of the graduates is 38, he said.

For details, call Southern Wesleyan University’s Academic Records Department at (864) 644-5530. Tickets, issued through the university, are required for those attending graduation. Overflow seating is available, which will allow guests without tickets to view the ceremony via a closed circuit broadcast.

Wood attended Wesleyan Methodist Academy in Central (at the site of today’s Southern Wesleyan University) and graduated from high school there in 1947. After two tours of duty in the army, he returned to the campus of Wesleyan Methodist College (now Southern Wesleyan University) and graduated as valedictorian in 1956. He graduated from Guilford College in 1958 and received his master’s and doctorate in psychology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 1962.

Wood joined the faculty at Central Wesleyan College (now Southern Wesleyan University) in 1962. He later completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Florida State University, where he won a U.S. Public Health Service grant to continue research into sleep and dreams at Central Wesleyan College.

During Wood’s career at Central Wesleyan, he served as the first dean of students. Later, he served as academic dean and led the successful effort for the college’s first regional accreditation as a four-year liberal arts institution. During his tenure at the university, Wood began a consulting relationship with the public schools of Pickens County, continuing in this role for more than 34 years. He retired from Southern Wesleyan University in 1994 and from the public school position in 1997. He continues to work with public school students on a voluntary basis.

Wood was also involved in securing licensing legislation for psychologists in South Carolina in 1968. He served as president of the S.C. Mental Health Association and chaired the 13th judicial circuit Foster Care Review Board for several years.

Beginning in 1964, Wood served the Department of World Mission of the Wesleyan Church as a psychological consultant for more than 30 years. In this role, he visited several of the church’s mission fields, spending three months in Southern Africa lecturing at colleges. He has lectured widely in the church and in the U.S. and has written numerous articles for publication in religious literature.

Currently, Wood is a professor emeritus and maintains a clinical consultation relationship with Southern Wesleyan University. He also organizes an annual study tour of England for Southern Wesleyan students.

Wood and his wife, Christine, have three children, Shauna Jones, Katie Wood-Ray and Andrew Wood. They also have two grandchildren, Eric and Hannah Jones.