Thousands of graduates from across the University of South Carolina will celebrate May commencement ceremonies beginning Thursday, May 7. USC President Michael Amiridis will deliver remarks at all four baccalaureate ceremonies taking place at the Colonial Life Arena (schedule below). Separate ceremonies also will be held for the Joseph F. Rice School of Law, the two Schools of Medicine and the doctoral graduates.
Colonial Life Arena ceremonies include:
Friday, May 8, at 8:30 a.m. for graduates of the School of Music and the Darla Moore School of Business.
Friday, May 8, at 3 p.m. for graduates of the College of Nursing, the Arnold School of Public Health, the College of Social Work, the College of Information and Communications, and the College of Pharmacy.
Sheila Johnson, an entrepreneur, sports executive, and philanthropist, will receive an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree at the ceremony. Johnson began her career in education before co-founding Black Entertainment Television in 1978. In 2005, Johnson founded the Salamander Collection and continues to serve as CEO of this company that owns, manages and develops luxury hotels and resorts in the U.S. and Caribbean.
She is also a partner with Monumental Sports & Entertainment and is the only African American woman with an ownership stake in three professional sports teams — the NBA’s Washington Wizards, the NHL’s Washington Capitals and the WNBA’s Washington Mystics. She serves as executive in residence at USC’s College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management.
Saturday, May 9, at 11 a.m. for graduates of the S.C. Honors College (Bachelor of Arts and Sciences students only) and the McCausland College of Arts and Sciences.
Scott Bessent, the 79th Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, will receive an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree at the ceremony. A native of Conway, S.C., Bessent began his career working for Brown Brothers Harriman, the oldest private investment bank in the United States.
He later worked for Soros Fund Management, serving as managing partner of its London office and, later, chief investment officer from 2011 to 2015. Before his appointment as U.S. treasury secretary in 2025, Bessent was CEO and chief investment officer of Key Square Capital Management, a global hedge fund that he founded in 2015.
Saturday, May 9, at 4 p.m. for graduates of Palmetto College, the Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing, the College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management, the College of Education, and the Joseph F. Rice School of Law (graduate programs).
Ronald Leopold, executive director of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, will receive an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree at the ceremony. Leopold held various posts at the Dutch General Pension Fund for Public Employees, where he worked extensively on policies for war victims and social justice.
In 2011, he was named executive director of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, one of the world’s most visited museums dedicated to Holocaust remembrance and human rights education. In 2018, USC was selected as a partner site of the Anne Frank House, one of only four such partners worldwide and the only one in North America.
Other Columbia ceremonies include:
- Doctoral Hooding: Thursday, May 7, at 10 a.m. at the Koger Center for the Arts.
- Schools of Medicine Ceremony: Friday, May 8, at noon at the Koger Center for the Arts.
- Joseph F. Rice School of Law Ceremony: Saturday, May 9, at 8:30 a.m. on the historic Horseshoe.
Overall, nearly 10,000 students will graduate from the University of South Carolina system. Ceremonies at the three comprehensive institutions and regional Palmetto College campuses begin May 1.
South Carolina graduates by the numbers:
- Columbia – 7,897
- Aiken - 469
- Beaufort - 336
- Upstate - 694
- Lancaster - 199
- Salkehatchie - 96
- Sumter - 151
- Union - 98
Visit the university’s commencement website for information, including parking details.