2020 Archive

Tim Smith outside Papa Jazz

UofSC alums help keep 5 Points alive

December 14, 2020, Craig Brandhorst

If you think Five Points is only a college bar district, think again. The village down the hill has drawn South Carolina students for more than a century, and not simply to celebrate. And for many who settle in the Capital City after graduation, Five Points remains an integral part of their lives, including Tim Smith, who turned his passion for music into a 40-year career buying and selling it.

Don McCallister inside Loose Lucy's

UofSC alums help keep 5 Points alive

December 10, 2020, Craig Brandhorst

If you think Five Points is only a college bar district, think again. The village down the hill has drawn South Carolina students for more than a century, and not simply to celebrate. And for many who settle in the Capital City after graduation, Five Points remains an integral part of their lives, including Don McCallister, whose business Loose Lucy's supports his creative outlets.

Opie patterson inside Goat's

UofSC alums help keep 5 Points alive

December 08, 2020, Craig Brandhorst

If you think Five Points is only a college bar district, think again. The village down the hill has drawn South Carolina students for more than a century, and not simply to celebrate. And for many who settle in the Capital City after college, Five Points remains an integral part of their lives, including Opie Patterson, who reopened one of the district's most iconic nightspots five years ago.

rendering of a basketball court with the words Gamecock women's basketball on and off the court

Win or lose on the court, UofSC women's basketball student-athletes have great success in life

December 04, 2020, Page Ivey

About a dozen UofSC women's basketball players have gone on to success in the WNBA, but even more former Gamecocks have gone on to become successful teachers, doctors, social workers and corporate vice presidents following their playing days. Those who have “gone pro” off the court credit the lessons they learned while student-athletes at UofSC with much of their success.

amy beth franks sits in the gourmet shop

UofSC alums help keep 5 Points alive

December 03, 2020, Craig Brandhorst

If you think Five Points is only a college bar district, think again. The village down the hill has drawn South Carolina students for more than a century, and not simply to celebrate. And for many who settle in the Capital City after graduation, Five Points remains an integral part of their lives, including Amy Beth Franks, who worked for the Five Points Association and now owns one of the district's oldest businesses.

five points fountain

UofSC alums help keep 5 Points alive

December 01, 2020, Craig Brandhorst

If you think Five Points is only a college bar district, think again. The village down the hill has drawn South Carolina students for more than a century, and not simply to celebrate. And for many who settle in the Capital City after graduation, Five Points remains an integral part of their lives, including Richard Burts, who has helped re-imagine many of the district's spaces.

Catherine Howland

Music grad ready to inspire the next generation of vocalists

November 25, 2020, Megan Sexton

Catherine Howland will earn her Bachelor of Music degree with an emphasis in music education summa cum laude in December. The School of Music and Honors College grad will start her career as a choir teacher at a middle school in South Carolina starting in January.

Yaw Addei-Boadu

UofSC's McNair Institute cultivating student innovators

November 12, 2020, Laura Kammerer

Yaw Addei-Boadu sees chances to innovate, well, everywhere — from event rentals to biogas stoves to fashionable emergency alert devices. Now he's one of a growing number of University of South Carolina students and alumni entrepreneurs who are shaking up the startup scene.

Candace Terry

Veterans bring strong work ethic, new perspectives to UofSC community

October 28, 2020, Megan Sexton

Military-affiliated students play an important role at the University of South Carolina. Veterans and active duty Gamecocks excel in the classroom and beyond, including alumni like Candace Terry who earned her Master of Social Work degree in May and now is the director of governmental affairs for the S.C. Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

UofSC NROTC battalion in white uniforms

Gamecock Battalion tops among Navy ROTC programs

October 27, 2020, Page Ivey

The University of South Carolina has the best Navy ROTC program in the country. That recognition comes as no surprise to the midshipmen and alumni of the program that began at Carolina in 1940. And it comes as the result of hard work by a team of staffers and the university’s support for it and other military-affiliated programs on campus.

Kjana o

'Go big or go home'

October 08, 2020, Page Ivey

Kjahna O knew from the time she was a young girl, growing up in Southern California, that she wanted to be involved in football. After earning her master’s degree in the sport and entertainment management program at the University of South Carolina, O earned a spot with the Atlanta Falcons, helping that team find the best college players to round out its roster each year.

exterior photo of the University of South Carolina law school

UofSC law students helped Breonna Taylor's family secure $12 million settlement

September 24, 2020, Carol J.G. Ward

University of South Carolina law students Jasmine Caruthers and Anna Catherine Parham say their research on no-knock warrants to assist the lawyers representing Breonna Taylor’s family in a wrongful death lawsuit was enlightening and emotional.

UofSC alumna Leeza Gibbons reads a story on video for Cocky's Reading Express

Bird watching: UofSC literacy efforts go virtual during COVID-19

August 26, 2020, Rebekah Friedman

COVID-19 has meant putting a hold on in-person programming, but Cocky’s Reading Express hasn’t stopped – it’s gone online. Since April, its Virtual Storytime YouTube playlist has featured a line-up of guest readers, including former mascots, Miss Gamecock 2020, and even famed talk show host and University of South Carolina alumna Leeza Gibbons.

Mary Gordon Ellis portrait

100 years of suffrage: After the vote, comes an era of 'firsts'

August 20, 2020, Page Ivey

South Carolina’s few but dedicated suffragists were no doubt disappointed that the state was not among the first 36 to ratify the 19th amendment, but they almost immediately set about the business of turning their suffrage organizations into education and advocacy groups. In the process, these bold women kicked off the era of “firsts.”

instructor and students perform an experiment at a summer camp

Camp will highlight Gullah/Geechee culture to spark students' interest in science

August 17, 2020, Carol J.G. Ward

A summer camp for fifth- and sixth grade-students in South Carolina’s Gullah/Geechee community will introduce Gullah/Geechee students to STEM content from their own community and provide opportunities to interact with professionals who look like them, working in the fields of science, technology, engineering or mathematics.

women with banners stand by a monument in Washington D.C. in 1918 to advocate for women's suffrage

100 years of suffrage

August 06, 2020, Page Ivey

The month of August marks 100 years since the ratification of the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote in the United States. South Carolina women were a part of the fight for suffrage that started here in the years after the Civil War. Historians and librarians at the University of South Carolina have played a major role in documenting and preserving their stories.

stethoscope icon

COVID-19 impact: Pandemic alters health care landscape in SC

May 27, 2020, Tenell Felder

UofSC Today reached out to University of South Carolina School of Medicine Columbia alumni Dr. David Ford and Dr. Cedric Rivers for insight into how COVID-19 has impacted health care in South Carolina, as well as how the state might move forward in upcoming months. Both Ford and Rivers work at hospitals in Columbia, treating patients with COVID-19.

librarian with students at Wren High School

Passion for their profession lands SC librarians on Movers & Shakers list

May 26, 2020, Carol J.G. Ward

Having an impact on their students and communities, being more inclusive for underserved populations and encouraging a lifelong love of reading and learning are passions shared by three alumnae of the University of South Carolina’s School of Information Science who have been recognized as 2020 Movers & Shakers by Library Journal.

ruins of the lumber mill that are now visible on the shores of Lake Marion

Class of 2020: Honors senior's thesis project explores history of a former SC mill town

May 07, 2020, Carol J.G. Ward

When 89-year-old Richard Mims was just a boy in the 1930s, he remembers playing a game he called “Executive” in the abandoned offices of the Santee River Cypress Lumber Co. in Ferguson near his hometown of Eutawville, South Carolina. The once-thriving mill town now lies underwater, part of the region flooded to create Lake Marion. Mims shared his memories in an oral history recorded by South Carolina Honors College graduate Caldwell Loftis.

archival image of student protests in May 1970

50 years of May

April 27, 2020, Craig Brandhorst

A half century ago, against the backdrop of the Vietnam War and seismic shifts in American culture, the campus of the University of South Carolina became a battleground — between students and the administration, between a young generation and the establishment, between radically different worldviews. But the dramatic events of that spring, which came to be known as The Months of May, weren’t strictly destructive. The lessons of that era also changed lives and changed the university itself.

artwork depicting historic admissions requirements

Podcast Episode 4: Getting in, admission standards then and now

March 17, 2020, Chris Horn

How difficult was it to get admitted to the University of South Carolina in 1897? At that time, regrettably, only white students were admitted. Students also had to know grammar, geography, algebra, history — and Latin and Greek! Admission standards at the university have varied in the past two centuries. The bar for admission is a lot different than it was in 1897, but it guarantees that those who get in are ready to succeed.

Sali Christianson

Empowering Style

March 09, 2020, Marjorie Duffie

Moore School IMBA alumna Sali Christeson has combined her entrepreneurial talent with skills she learned at the University of South Carolina to shake up the women’s workwear world. Argent — her comfortable and bold apparel line — aims to “dropkick the glass ceiling.”

Julia Whitehead

UofSC alumna Julia Whitehead makes writer Kurt Vonnegut's legacy more accessible than ever

February 25, 2020, Craig Brandhorst

Indiana native Kurt Vonnegut, who died in 2007, was one of the country’s most celebrated writers, authoring such classics as Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions. But there was no place devoted to celebrating his work — until UofSC alumna Julia Whitehead got involved. Whitehead founded the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library in 2011. Last year, the museum moved to a new space in downtown Indianapolis.

Illustration of the DNA helix.

Genetic counseling program produces impactful leaders

February 14, 2020, Margaret Gregory

Alumni of the genetic counseling program at University of South Carolina School of Medicine Columbia are making a major impact on their field. More than 25 percent of the nation's genetic counseling training programs have had School of Medicine alumni in leadership roles and five programs were founded by South Carolina graduates.

daniella cook, aisha haynes, kyanna Samuel, spencer platt

2020 social justice award winners

January 09, 2020, Page Ivey

A community organizer and equity scholar, a three-degree alumna, an education student leader and a professor with a strong record of mentoring younger colleagues are the recipients of the University of South Carolina’s 2020 Social Justice Awards and will be honored at the annual MLK Commemorative Breakfast Jan. 17 in the Russell House Ballroom.