The SEC Academic Collaboration Awards activities include intra-conference competitions, graduate student recruiting fairs, and undergraduate initiatives etc. SEC Provosts are responsible for reviewing award proposals and selecting a winner each year. The award is given annually to one SEC institution to support joint activities involving all other SEC universities.

The University of South Carolina was named the recipient of the second annual SEC Academic Collaboration Award. The theme of the February 2016 event was SEC Universities: Uniting Voices for Social Change. Student and faculty representatives from all 14 SEC institutions met in Columbia, S.C., to discuss civic engagement, social justice, diversity and inclusion. Participants also examined best practices, learned leadership skills and shared strategies to promote social change on their campuses.

530 students from 26 schools, including 210 from USC Columbia, and the delegates from the SEC schools, attended the Student Leadership and Diversity Conference on campus. The event included educational sessions focusing on everything from organizational budgeting to diversity dialogues, stress and time management to social justice activism. The conference offered a chance for students to engage in their own professional and personal development, but also to network with each other.