Beginning May 12, Courtney Catledge will serve as campus dean for the University of South Carolina Lancaster. Catledge was the director of the USC Lancaster Bachelor of Science in Nursing Collaborative program and has as interim campus dean at USC Lancaster since January 2024.
“Dr. Catledge is the ideal leader to continue the campus’s upward trajectory. Her leadership in creating greater numbers of health care professionals who serve the local community,” says Susan Elkins, Palmetto College chancellor.
“Her leadership as interim dean with strong ties to the campus and business community have been assets in continuing to bring an affordable, accessible, flexible and achievable higher education to the Lancaster region and beyond.”
During her time at USC Lancaster, Catledge was part of a team responsible for securing $2.8 million in rural innovation grants from the Center for Rural and Public Health.
Those grants help fund pathway programs to enhance the rural health care workforce in South Carolina, creating a pipeline for certified nursing assistants to eventually earn bachelor’s degrees in nursing.
“Being able to serve as the dean of the University of South Carolina Lancaster is really an opportunity to be a driving force for change, but to also continue to support the great things that we do here at USCL and across the Palmetto College campuses,” says Catledge. “I've lived in Lancaster my entire adult life. I've raised my children here. I'm very passionate about making a difference in our community.”
Catledge earned a trio of degrees — a doctorate and two master’s degrees — from the University of South Carolina and, as a nurse, served as a family nurse practitioner working in both urgent care and retail medicine.
Her scholarly research focuses on community and public health, including asthma, Hepatitis B and risk reduction to diseases impacting rural communities.
She takes over a thriving USC Lancaster campus, which has seen multiple semesters of historic enrollment growth, including in fall 2024. Niche.com named Lancaster the top two-year campus in South Carolina for eight consecutive years (2018-23).
The institution celebrated its 65th anniversary in 2024 and has recently expanded its academic offerings with the high-fidelity nursing simulation laboratory, the Native American Studies Center and a new location in Indian Land.
“Our university is very important to our community, and our students impact our community daily,” Catledge says. “I consider it a privilege and an opportunity to be able to serve alongside our wonderful staff and faculty and to continue to help to see our students grow into productive citizens who make a difference in our region and beyond.”
The University of South Carolina Palmetto College includes four two-year regional Palmetto College campuses — USC Lancaster, USC Salkehatchie, USC Sumter and USC Union — and Palmetto College Columbia, and more than 40 online and on-campus bachelor’s degree completion programs.