Distinguished Service Award:

The Honorable Brian J. Gaines, MPA, CPM

Brian J. Gaines has been employed with South Carolina state government since May 2007. He has spent the majority of his career with the Department of Administration where he has held various positions to include Governmental Affairs Director, Policy and Public Affairs Director, and Deputy State Budget Director. 

On January 1, 2017, he was appointed as the State Budget Director where he managed the state’s $40 billion operating and capital budgets and assisted the Governor with his Executive Budget recommendations to the General Assembly.  On May 12, 2023, he was appointed by Governor Henry McMaster to serve as Comptroller General, the state’s chief accounting officer, making him the state’s first African American Constitutional Officer since Reconstruction.

He is a proud graduate of the University of South Carolina where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Master of Public Administration degrees. He is originally from Barnwell, SC.

Watch Brian's congratulatory video!

Dean’s Award:

Leroy Chapman Jr.

Leroy Chapman Jr. is the editor-in-chief at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Leroy is the first Black journalist to hold the newsroom’s top job in its 155-year history.

Prior to this promotion, Leroy was managing editor, where he directed the newspaper’s daily print and digital news gathering. Reporting teams that cover local, state, and federal government, politics, education, crime and public safety, the economy, sports and breaking news reported to him in that role.

Leroy has held a variety of editing and leadership roles at the AJC since his arrival in 2011. During his tenure, Leroy has been among the newsroom leaders who transformed the AJC into a more efficient, digitally focused breaking news and digital operation. He has put the AJC on the frontlines of some of the biggest breaking news nationally and has built reporting teams to deliver around-the-clock breaking news, timely enterprise on emerging topics and hyperlocal news.

Under his leadership, AJC reporting teams have won local, regional, and national journalism awards for local news, business, education and politics coverage.

As editor-in-chief, Leroy is leading the AJC’s transformation into a modern media company, as it invests in digital storytelling, podcasting and documentary film.

Leroy lives in Lawrenceville with his wife Dawn. They have three adult children and a dog.

Watch Leroy's congratulatory video!

Distinguished Faculty Award:

Frank T. Avignone III, PhD

Dr. Avignone joined the USC Faculty in 1965 with a Ph.D. degree in Nuclear Physics from Georgia Tech, where he had been a veteran student, graduate student and instructor. He was named Department Chair of Physics and Astronomy in 1979, where he served for 19 years during which the Department became known internationally in several research areas. Presently he leads USC’s Particle Astrophysics Group. Among other honors, he was awarded two Russell Research Awards, the Governor’s Award, and the Jesse Beams Medal of the American Physical Society, in which he is a Fellow. Dr. Avignone holds Honorary Doctoral Degrees from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina and the University of Zaragoza, Spain. He has mentored 30 Carolina Ph.D. students, and authored or co-authored more than 350 articles in the scientific journals. Following his Korean War Naval service, he remained an active seagoing reservist, retiring after the Gulf war in 1991.

Watch Frank's congratulatory video!

Distinguished Alumni Award:

Justin Tupper

Justin Tupper serves as a Senior Vice President Of Content and Strategy for NBC Sports NEXT and Fandango. He was CEO and founder of Revolution Golf that was acquired by NBC Sports Group in 2017. Since the acquisition he has helped build Golf Pass and also oversees Rotten Tomatoes. Justin enjoys playing golf and spending time traveling with his wife Torrie Wilson. Justin and Torrie live in Orlando, Florida with their two dogs Pepper and Daisy.

Watch Justin's congratulatory video!

Distinguished Young Alumni Award:

Jennifer Bartell Boykin

Jennifer Bartell Boykin is the Poet Laureate of the City of Columbia. She teaches at Spring Valley High School, where she was named the 2019-2020 Teacher of the Year. She was born and raised in Bluefield, a community of Johnsonville, SC. She received the MFA in Poetry from the University of South Carolina. Her debut book of poetry, Traveling Mercy, will be released in November 2023 under the name Jennifer Bartell. Her second book of poetry Only Believe is forthcoming from The Word Works. Her poetry has been published in Obsidian, Callaloo, pluck!, The Raleigh Review, kinfolks, Jasper Magazine, the museum americana, Scalawag, and Kakalak, among others. She is a 2023 Academy of American Poets Poet Laureate Fellow. An alumna of Agnes Scott College, Jennifer has fellowships from Callaloo and The Watering Hole. She is pursuing a Master of Library and Information Science at USC to become a school librarian.

Watch Jennifer's congratulatory video!

Institutional Support Award:

the Ethel S. Brody Charitable Foundation

The Brody Foundation was established in honor of Ethel S. Brody (1923-2014). Brody was a philanthropist of Columbia, SC, and she, along with her sister, were heavily involved with the Columbia Museum of Art for five decades.  She was even given the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Governor’s Awards for the Arts in 2013 by the South Carolina Arts Commission Board, which is the highest honor for the arts in the state.

The Brody Foundation established an Estel S. Brody Program Endowment Fund that supports promising undergraduate syudents pursuing Art Education at the University of South Carolina.

Watch the Ethel S. Brody Charitable Foundation's congratulatory video!