Great things are happening at the University of South Carolina, creating momentum throughout the institution. Here's why we're a leader in academe:

Great recruits

South Carolina has been building its faculty ranks with two focused plans—the Faculty Excellence Initiative and the recently completed Centenary Plan—that will add 250 outstanding new faculty members in a range of academic disciplines. These faculty recruitment programs represent a more than $50 million commitment.

In addition, the University is systematically recruiting new faculty to replace more than 300 professors who are retiring from service. That influx of new talent and new ideas, coupled with the solid teaching and research performance of South Carolina's veteran faculty, portends a dynamic future for this flagship University.

Great students

The University's student body has never been more academically accomplished, attracting the best and brightest from around the state and the nation. In fall 2007, South Carolina welcomed its most accomplished freshman class ever with an average SAT score of 1183, an increase of 80 points in seven years.

Average SAT scores were 1403 for the approximately 350 South Carolina Honors College freshmen, 1478 for McNair Scholar freshmen—the top out-of-state students—and 1299 for Capstone Scholars freshmen.

A number of programs at South Carolina are improving access for students. The new Gamecock Guarantee scholarship will provide financial and academic support for qualified state residents who would otherwise not be able to afford to attend the University. A series of partnerships with the state's technical colleges—the Bridge Program—will provide access to University academic-support programs to students who aspire to transfer to the Columbia campus.

The recently announced Engineering and Computing Expanded Life Scholarship program will supplement existing state-funded LIFE scholarships, meaning at least 100 in-state freshmen will attend the University tuition-free starting in fall 2008. The initial $500,000 in support comes from gifts from individual donors, businesses, industries, and the College of Engineering and Computing.

Once students arrive at Carolina, they'll find additional programs to ensure they will achieve their academic potential. Students are thriving with on-site Academic Centers of Excellence in residence halls and a new Student Success Center at Thomas Cooper Library that promotes retention and offers mentoring and tutoring. The peer-led Supplemental Instruction provides study help with difficult core courses from student leaders who have already mastered the classes.

Great discovery

Located in the heart of Columbia beside South Carolina's 200-year-old campus is Innovista, the University's new 500-acre, $250 million research innovation district. Innovista is creating a mixture of world-class research facilities, restaurants, residences, retail space, and recreational opportunities, fostering an environment that inspires the mind as well as the soul.

University researchers should begin moving into two state-of-the-art facilities, Horizon I and Discovery I, by the end of 2008. Three private businesses are already committed to relocating to Innovista:

• High-tech search software developer Collexis
• Italian engineering and precision measurement provider Loccioni Group
• Fuel cell producer Gecko Energy Technologies

Funding for research at South Carolina has risen 80 percent in the past five years, to $185.2 million in fiscal year 2006-07. The University also ranked 19th among 155 comprehensive universities nationally and 14th among public universities for the number of start-up companies created in 2006. The Association of University Technology Managers' survey found South Carolina created six start-up companies, tied with South Florida, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, and Cornell.

South Carolina's Arnold School of Public Health has rolled up its sleeves to reduce the impact of health problems such as cardiovascular disease and stroke, childhood obesity and diabetes, health disparities, unintended injuries, and sexually transmitted diseases. The Arnold School also has the nation's top-ranked program in kinesiology and exercise science.

Within a few weeks of Hurricane Katrina's cataclysmic devastation in 2005, the University of South Carolina created the Coastal Resiliency Information Systems Initiative for the Southeast (CRISIS) and provided for 18 teams of researchers, including social scientists and engineers. Their research has yielded important discoveries about natural disasters and spawned a new round of externally funded research aimed at improving the nation's response to future disasters.

Great energy

At the vanguard of hydrogen fuel cell and other Future Fuels™ research, University of South Carolina faculty—working with industry and government researchers—are developing alternative energy sources for cars, homes, and even Segways and scoreboards.

The University is home to the nation's only National Science Foundation-funded Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Fuel Cells, and has attracted top talent like fuel cell experts Ken Reifsnider and Brian Benicewicz. Reifsnider will direct the new Solid Oxide Fuel Cell program and Benicewicz, who's also renowned for his work in plastics at the nano-scale, will lead the Center of Economic Excellence for Polymer Nanocomposite Research as endowed chair.

Great support

Success breeds success, and South Carolina's many achievements have helped lead to unprecedented private gifts to the University. Giving for fiscal year 2006-07 was up 28 percent to $66.9 million. Five months through fiscal year 2007-08, support had risen even more dramatically: $35.8 million from 20,000 donors, a 123 percent increase over the same period for FY 06-07.

Great recruits, great students, great discovery, great energy, and great support—that's why the University of South Carolina is moving forward … with momentum.