Rutledge College, ca. fall 1980
It’s a sunny autumn afternoon on the Horseshoe, and Jamie Hammill finally has a break in her day. The elementary education major from Charleston, South Carolina, takes a moment to relax in her newly renovated dorm room in Rutledge College — a real perk for Honors students of the ‘80s — and opens the window to enjoy the fall breeze.
It’s a rare moment. Amidst taking classes, organizing events for her sorority and working two jobs, the South Carolina Honors College student doesn’t often have time to dawdle by her dorm room window to watch students and faculty walk between classes.
But when she does, she usually sees a familiar face: Hal French, chair of the religious studies department, who is Hammill’s academic advisor. And she waves hello, wondering if she’ll hear his signature phrase: “Don’t just be good, you be great!”
Harper College, August 2025
“Who could have predicted that Dr. French would become a lifelong friend? Who knew that more than 40 years later, we honor his memory by naming our gift after Dr. Hal French?” says Hammill. She speaks from behind a podium in Harper College, explaining the inspiration behind a new course enrichment fund.
Over 40 years have passed since her days in Rutledge College, but Hammill has never forgotten the impact that the Honors College and Hal French had on her education. Her Honors courses, and professor French’s mentorship, prepared her for a 36-year career with LexisNexis Risk Solutions, a data and analytics company that was on the cutting edge of computer-assisted legal research. Hammill currently serves as a company vice president in the LexisNexis Risk Government group.
“He inspired and guided generations of students throughout his long and impactful tenure, and his absence is deeply felt by many. ... We are honored that our course enrichment gift carries forward his remarkable legacy.”
Through a generous gift to the Honors College, Hammill and her husband, Lanny Secrest, have established the Dr. Hal French Course Enrichment Fund.
“Jamie and I both believe in the power of education to change lives,” says Secrest. In his remarks, he shares that he served in the Vietnam War after high school and did not have the opportunity to pursue a college degree — but he’s grown attached to Hammill’s alma mater and the SCHC. “That is why we are honored to give back to the place that now means so much to both of us.”
This new endowment will help to ensure that Honors faculty have the resources to provide experiential learning opportunities, guest lecturers and other signature experiences in their courses.
“Honors isn’t about having it all figured out from the beginning,” says Courtney Tkacs, a senior public health major and the University of South Carolina’s student body president. “It’s not about chasing perfection. It’s about embracing the process of discovery. It’s about being surrounded by peers who inspire you, professors who believe in you and mentors who walk beside you as you explore who you are, academically, professionally and personally.”
Professor French was that mentor for Hammill. And now, she and Secrest want to empower faculty to be innovative mentors for future generations of Honors students.
‘Out-of-the-box-type academic opportunities’
The idea of a course enrichment fund resonated with Hammill due to experiences in her own Honors classes. In addition to her elementary education classes, Hamill took a range of subjects. One of the most memorable experiences was a geology course that included a weekend trip to Edisto Beach. Hammill traveled with a small class of about 15 students to the South Carolina coast, conducting geology experiments by day and enjoying campfire cookouts by night.
“It was just such camaraderie,” she says.
Like Honors students before and after her, Hammill appreciated that the SCHC offered the atmosphere of a small, liberal arts college within the resources of a large research university. She fondly recalls William Mould, inaugural dean of the Honors College, quoting stanzas of poetry in casual conversations with students; academic opportunities like taking a class with a visiting professor about the psychology of smoke jumpers fighting wildfires; and chatting with classmates on the Horseshoe between classes.
For Hammill, the Horseshoe is “very meaningful, because it's where the institution got its start. And now it's where the No. 1 honors college in the country centers around. I think that's a lot to be proud of.”
And, of course, there was French’s encouragement and guidance.
“I did my senior thesis on Mepkin Abbey, which is, of course, a monastery in Berkeley County, which is near Charleston, where I grew up. And it was fascinating,” she says. French served as Hammill’s thesis advisor, encouraging her to explore yet another topic outside of her major. She and French could “talk for hours.”
It isn’t surprising, then, that Hammill would choose to create an Honors course enrichment fund. “A lot of people, I don’t think, think about the value of those actual hands-on, enriching experiences, especially for young people, and for everybody, but especially for young people,” she says. When she shared the idea with Secrest, the couple agreed that it was the perfect opportunity to support the Honors College and honor Hammill’s mentor.
‘It’s sharing information with others in a meaningful way’
Though she graduated with a degree in elementary education, Hammill credits her interdisciplinary Honors education, as well as her on-campus involvement, with preparing her to navigate the burgeoning field of technology in the 1980s.
“I think having all those different experiences and juggling them — not just the scholastic academic part of it, but also the social part of it and the work part of it — I think it makes you, number one, appreciate your time,” she reflects. “But I also think that it teaches you at a very, very early age how to juggle different things and drop as few balls as possible in the juggling match.”
She started as a staff instructor at LexisNexis, traveling the country to train law firms, clerks and judges about how to use computer-aided legal research. Her people skills did not go unnoticed; before long, a manager suggested that she pursue sales. It was an ideal fit for Hammill, who flourishes in people-focused, conversation-driven environments. In her mind, communication and education, whether in the classroom or in a boardroom, are about sharing information in ways that can be understood and appreciated.
That is her greatest hope for the Dr. Hal French Course Enrichment Fund: that it can be used to enable learning in the classroom and beyond, to shape students’ skills so that they, too, can juggle responsibilities and challenges.
But, what if Hammill could teach her own “cool Honors course”? What would she teach?
“I think a lot of times our worst enemy is the confines we put on ourselves,” she says. To rectify this, she would teach a course encouraging Honors students not to be “hemmed in their own box.”
After nearly 36 years at LexisNexis and an interdisciplinary college education, she understands the importance of exploration, conversation and intellectual curiosity. Hammill hopes that Honors students will persist through fear of failure and dare to expand their learning beyond familiar topics.
“Because, you know what? You fail at one thing, back up and try something else.”
Or, to put it another way: Don’t just be good. You be great.