Silvia Patricia Rios Husain’s time in higher education has in many ways been a series of challenges and opportunities. Now as the Associate Vice President for Student Success at USC, Rios Husain helps guide students through those same types of changes and uncertainty through her unit’s multi-faceted approach to student support.

Rios Husain started her college career at a two-year institution in Florida before transferring to University of Florida with plans to be a mental health counselor. She began her career as a counselor at a two-year institution and after a couple of years in that role, she made the switch to student affairs work and hasn’t looked back.

She earned a Ph.D. in educational administration and took her career back to where it began: a two-year school. Rios Husain became the director of enrollment and evening administrator at Broward College in Florida, often working hours when no other school leadership was around.

“The kids called me ‘the dean of darkness.’ In a good way. Because whenever it got dark, I was there to help them with whatever issues might come up for them,” she said.

While at Broward, Rios Husain took on increasing levels of leadership and worked her way up to Dean of Partnership Centers, overseeing three facilities around Broward County, and eventually Interim Vice President of Student Affairs. She then moved to Gaston, N.C., and became Vice President of Student Affairs at Gaston College, a role which stayed in for over a decade.

But as Rios Husain approached twenty years in student affairs, she started to look for another change. During her time at Gaston, her husband was working in Columbia and commuting between the Carolinas, which was taxing for the family. Needing to be back in the same city, she said she “won the lottery” finding a role at USC.

“I think the magic dust of this university is that there is a culture of care. This University of South Carolina, even though it's a large flagship school, truly values the students and truly cares about the students,” Rios Husain said.

With her arrival in January of 2020, Rios Husain was pioneering a new role that brought together the Career Center, National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, Student Success Center and University 101 Programs. The Carolina Experience joined the unit in 2024.

But she was quickly pitched another curveball when much of the university went online during the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020. Rios Husain says it was a priority to try to keep University 101 classes in-person for new students who were trying to acclimate to USC and the college experience.

“It took the team an incredible amount of time and effort to make that happen. Everything from separating the seats to making sure people have masks,” she said. “A lot went into rethinking how do we build community when you can't see people's faces and you can't get very close. But people showed up.”

Rios Husain says a meaningful aspect of her time at USC has been celebrating what the unit does well while also finding ways to push the envelope and set students up for success in an evolving career landscape.

USC has been ranked the No. 1 among public institutions for first-year student experience seven years in a row, according to U.S. News and World Report’s annual undergraduate rankings. But Rios Husain remembers that during University 101’s 50^th anniversary celebration in 2022, President Michael Amiridis asked what was next for USC’s student experience. Research on campus found that the transition from the first to the second year was a key pressure point, and students wanted additional support for their second, third and fourth-year experience and beyond.

The Carolina Experience was created to help fill that space, facilitating cross-campus collaboration and peer leadership to help Gamecock students every step of the way. Rios Husain says they are currently piloting classes in collaboration with U101 programs to provide students with career readiness and holistic wellness assistance.

She encourages students to take advantage of these resources and everything offered for college to career readiness early and often throughout their time at USC.

“We are here for you. Take advantage of the services early, especially the Student Success Center and the Career Center,” Rios Husain said. “Your career development starts your first year at South Carolina, and it’s going to evolve. We have services here to support you every step of the way."