Susan Elkins, the founding chancellor of USC’s Palmetto College, is being awarded the Order of the Palmetto after a career of service in education.
The award, South Carolina’s highest civilian honor, will be presented to Elkins by Governor Henry McMaster during a ceremony at the South Carolina State House on Monday at 2 p.m. All Palmetto College employees are warmly invited to attend.
Elkins was named chancellor of Palmetto College in February 2013, and she announced this May that she was stepping down from the role. Palmetto College comprises the University of South Carolina system’s four associate-degree-granting colleges — USC Lancaster, USC Salkehatchie, USC Sumter and USC Union — along with the online bachelor’s degree completion programs offered by USC’s four senior institutions: USC Aiken, USC Beaufort, USC Columbia and USC Upstate. Palmetto College is a crucial part of the USC system as it offers a wide variety of locations and study options around the state of South Carolina and beyond.
As chancellor, Elkins has overseen tremendous enrollment growth as well as the expansion of USC’s online offerings for students, particularly those who have already entered the workforce and are returning to pursue higher education. Enrollment at USC’s two-year campuses has grown 54 percent since Palmetto College’s inception. The online bachelor’s degree program, which serves students who started but did not finish their college studies, has conferred more than 4,000 degrees, including more than 1,200 RN-BSN nursing degrees through USC Upstate.
Elkins was also a tenured professor of education at Palmetto College. Her publication and presentation work has focused on leadership, continuing higher education, and student access and success issues such as retention and dropout prevention. She has spent four decades focusing on student access and success at both the K-12 and college levels.
A search firm reached out and shared information about Palmetto College’s chancellor position with Elkins, and she says that “When I saw it, I said there could never be a position that is a better fit for me than this. It’s all about what I’m about — giving people opportunities for a high-quality education in accessible ways in their home communities and online.” It proved to be the perfect role for her.
“There’s just nothing better than working for the flagship system and knowing that the flagship cared enough to serve students other than those who come here to the Horseshoe,” she says. “We need multiple opportunities to serve all the different populations and meet the needs of students all across the state, regardless of where they’re located, their age or any of these other variables. I’ve loved working in these communities and then developing the online options so that we truly are anywhere, any time for all South Carolinians.”