May 11, 2021, Megan Sexton
Growing up in Orangeburg, South Carolina, Jay Pinckney spent a lot of time in the outdoors, hunting and fishing with his father. By the time he was in the eighth grade he knew he wanted to be a marine biologist, part of the generation fascinated by Jacques Cousteau’s undersea adventures.
May 10, 2021, Abe Danaher
Stephen Cutler, dean of the University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy, was named the university’s interim provost on May 7, 2021. Cutler will take over for William F. Tate IV, who was selected as the new president of Louisiana State University.
May 05, 2021, Page Ivey
Jaden Sorbie wasn’t really interested in her “family business” of flying — at least not when she arrived at the University of South Carolina campus with a goal of working in live event management. All it took was a year of working with the pilots in the South Carolina Air National Guard and Sorbie was hooked.
May 03, 2021, Craig Brandhorst
When Joey Driskell crosses the stage to receive his physician’s assistant degree from the School of Medicine this May, he will be 40 years old. His wife will be watching. So will his kids. But if you think for one second he’s getting a late start, think again.
April 30, 2021, Audrey Hill
The Office of Sustainability along with mechanical engineering students worked together to create a sustainable solution for providing power to events at UofSC. The solar trailer is a converted, movable trailer that is able to store energy from the sun and power electrical equipment.
April 29, 2021, Abe Danaher
Thomas E. Hodges has been named interim dean of the University of South Carolina College of Education; he begins on July 1. Hodges succeeds Jon Pedersen, who served as dean of the college since 2016 and recently accepted a deanship at Oklahoma State University’s College of Education and Human Sciences.
April 28, 2021, Megan Sexton
Darren Burton, who grew up in the tiny town of Estill, South Carolina and attended high school in Irmo, will graduate with leadership distinction in May with a degree in accounting from the Darla Moore School of Business and the South Carolina Honors College.
April 23, 2021, Madyn G. Coakley
Senior Allie Salrin came to the University of South Carolina intent on studying international business, but after taking a job in the Office of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity during her first semester, she quickly realized her interest in public policy and service. Salrin is the recipient of the 2021 Undergraduate Student of the Year Award presented by the Association for Student Conduct Administration for her dedication to promoting the values of community, inclusion, integrity and education.
April 23, 2021, Craig Brandhorst
Former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley, a two-time UofSC graduate, was at a loss for words when he learned the international organization he helms won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2020. Beasley has served as the executive director of the World Food Programme since 2017.
April 22, 2021, Bryan Gentry
University of South Carolina graduate Johnny Chiang became chairman of Taiwan's oldest political party, the Kuomintang, in 2020, not long after the party suffered a crushing electoral defeat. His term has been marked by rising tensions with China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory.
April 22, 2021, Chris Horn
It’s a fact that students who complete University 101 at the University of South Carolina do better in their collegiate pursuits. Having Jabari Bodrick as your U101 instructor is icing on the cake. Just ask the students who nominated Bodrick for this year’s U101 Teacher of the Year award.
April 22, 2021, Communications and Public Affairs
President Bob Caslen and host Sally McKay revisit the past year with Issy Rushton, the Student Government president who was elected just as the COVID-19 pandemic began in earnest.
April 21, 2021, Megan Sexton
Jory Fleming is the most decorated national fellowship winner in the university’s history, winning the prestigious Rhodes, Truman, Goldwater and Hollings scholarships. He now has another title to add to his accomplishments: published author.
April 21, 2021, Chris Woodley
South Carolina College of Social Work professor Sue Levkoff and College of Arts and Sciences professor Alan White established the South Carolina - Advancing Diversity in Aging Research (SC-ADAR) program to address the lack of diversity among scientific experts.
April 20, 2021, Craig Brandhorst
First-generation college student Shawnese Cleveland started her academic career as a political science major, intent on going to law school one day and perhaps working in government. After watching the event staff do their thing during a women’s basketball game at Colonial Life Arena, the Georgia native changed her mind and changed her major. Now, following back-to-back campus internships, the sport and entertainment management major is kicking off her career at a Las Vegas resort.
April 20, 2021, Page Ivey
Katherine Kimbrough came to UofSC to study music performance with her voice as her instrument. After graduating in May, she plans to attend graduate school and with the goal of becoming a performer and teacher.
April 15, 2021, Chris Horn
Sydney Womack’s calendar has been booked nearly solid during her four years at South Carolina and little wonder — she majored in biomedical engineering, minored in mathematics, earned a performance certificate in the School of Music, conducted undergraduate research and co-authored a scholarly article and three poster presentations. She also attended football, basketball and baseball games whenever she could, held leadership positions in two engineering student societies and regularly volunteered to pitch STEM career opportunities to high school students.
April 15, 2021, Bryan Gentry
Ann-Chadwell Humphries hardly touched poetry before she became blind in 2012. Today, she is immersed in South Carolina’s poetry community, and recently published a book titled An Eclipse and a Butcher. The collection of nearly 40 poems touches on topics ranging from art to family life, from eclipses to blindness. She wrote and workshopped some of the poems in graduate classes at the University of South Carolina.
April 15, 2021, Benjamin Means
Over 100 companies publicly denounced Georgia’s new restrictive voting law, Major League Baseball went beyond words by moving the 2021 All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver. In The Conversation, law professor Benjamin Means writes about how corporations use their economic power as leverage to get what they want from lawmakers.
April 14, 2021, Page Ivey
Jaeseung Kim, assistant professor in the College of Social Work since 2018, studies work and caregiving challenges for low-income parents and how work-family policies, both private and public, can help address such challenges. We asked Kim about how the pandemic has affected men and women differently and how to help those suffering the effects.
April 14, 2021, Office of Communications and Public Affairs
Adarsh Shidhaye says he “hit the ground running” thanks to a pre-medical summer camp offered by the Office of Pre-Professional Advising. The program was so valuable to him that he started working as an ambassador during his freshman year, providing that same help to incoming students. Shidhaye’s service to his fellow students while earning a degree in public health as well as minors in business administration and medical humanities and culture has also earned him the university's highest undergraduate honor, the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award.
April 14, 2021, Office of Communications and Public Affairs
Payton Ramsey of Hammond, Louisiana, has overcome a visual disability from childhood to become the first member of her family to attend college. The biological sciences major is also a member of the South Carolina Honors College who has spent her time at UofSC perfecting her leadership skills and expanding her mind through research. For her efforts over her four years at South Carolina, Ramsey received the 2021 Steven N. Swanger Award, the university’s second-highest undergraduate honor.
April 14, 2021, Office of Communications and Public Affairs
Issy Rushton was installed as president of the student body at the University of South Carolina just as the COVID-19 pandemic was shutting down the world. The native of the Gold Coast in Australia was half a world away when she went to work helping her fellow students and the university navigate the pandemic and focus on returning to campus. For her leadership, Rushton was one of two members of the Class of 2021 to receive the university's highest undergraduate honor, the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award. The award, named for a 19th-century New York lawyer and philanthropist, is given each year for outstanding achievements, campus leadership, exemplary character and service to the community.
April 14, 2021, Bobby J. Donaldson and Christopher Frear
In 1961, a group that would come to be known as the “Friendship Nine” hoped to reinvigorate the sit-in movement with a “Jail, No Bail” strategy to push the costs of enforcing segregation onto the city, rather than onto civil rights supporters, who paid substantial bail fees every time students were arrested. Bobby Donaldson, history professor and director of the Center for Civil Rights History and Research, writes about the strategy and a 60-year-old letter by activist Thomas Gaither – arrested with the Friendship Nine during a sit-in in Rock Hill, South Carolina – deep in a records box in the South Caroliniana Library.
April 14, 2021, Joseph A. Seiner
Sexual harassment at work is a very common occurrence for women, regardless of age or income level. Among women who have experienced unwanted sexual advances in the workplace, almost all reported that male harassers usually go unpunished. Law professor Joseph Seiner writes in The Conversation about the unfortunate reality that engaging in this conduct will result in no real consequences.
April 13, 2021, Chris Horn
Brianna Lewis was voted “most likely to become a brain surgeon” in the first grade, and the Simpsonville, S.C.-native will soon begin earning the “Dr.” portion of that prediction. She’s headed to medical school this fall after wrapping up four years in the Honors College and two bachelor’s degrees — one in biology and another in experimental psychology.
April 13, 2021, Abe Danaher
Major League Soccer and the University of South Carolina announce a historic multi-year partnership making South Carolina an Official Education Partner of MLS. Through the strategic partnership, MLS players and Greats (former players) will have access to online educational opportunities and unique post-secondary academic resources offered through the university system, as well as world-class personal and professional development.
April 13, 2021, Megan Sexton
Associate professor in sport and entertainment management at the University of South Carolina Nick Watanabe focuses on the economics of sports along with human behavior in the context of sport.
April 11, 2021, Dana Woodward
The university’s Board of Trustees, as well as several board committees, met Friday (April 9). Here’s a rundown of actions the board took.
April 09, 2021, Chris Woodley
Kimberly Tissot was met with a challenge in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the executive director of Able South Carolina, a Columbia-based organization that provides services to people with disabilities, Tissot had to find a way to continue offering services to those in need.
April 09, 2021, Jeff Stensland
The University of South Carolina named J. Derham Cole, Jr. its Vice President for System Affairs following a vote by the school’s Board of Trustees on Friday (April 9). The newly created position will be responsible for coordinating a host of activities and major initiatives among the entire UofSC system.
April 07, 2021, Madyn G. Coakley
With only a few short months until summer, it’s time for parents to find summer activities to enhance the lives and bolster the minds of their children. Fortunately, UofSC offers a wide variety of summer camps for all interests from computer science and engineering to music and dance.
April 07, 2021, Carol J.G. Ward
Most of Barnett Berry’s career has been about advancing what he calls the profession that makes all other professions possible – teaching. As a scholar and researcher, he is an advocate for teachers and how they can and must be more instrumental in the future of education. Berry is the 2021 recipient of the James A. Kelly Award for Advancing Accomplished Teaching.
April 05, 2021, Craig Brandhorst
When it comes to leadership, nursing professor and researcher Bernardine Pinto’s biggest impact might come in the form of her mentorship, which to her mind is almost as important as the work she does with cancer survivors themselves.
April 01, 2021, Megan Sexton
Jotaka Eaddy, a 2001 political science graduate and the first Black woman elected as the university’s student body president, is the founder and CEO of a Washington-based social impact consulting firm specializing in strategy development, management consulting, public affairs and community engagement.
March 31, 2021, Carol J.G.Ward
Research opportunities, passionate faculty mentors and the chance to explore diverse interests drew the University of South Carolina’s 2021 Goldwater Scholarship recipients to the Columbia campus. The prestigious scholarships are awarded annually to undergraduate STEM majors across the country who are interested in pursuing research careers in mathematics, natural sciences and engineering.
March 30, 2021, Jeff Stensland
Gov. Henry McMaster awarded $6 million in Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) funds to the University of South Carolina, who, in partnership with Benedict College, will establish eight Apple computer labs statewide. The labs will be strategically located for use by local school districts, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), the South Carolina Technical College System and citizens in the community.
March 30, 2021, Megan Sexton
The School of Medicine Columbia is the top medical program in the country for graduates who are practicing in areas where there is a shortage of health care professionals, according to the latest U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate School rankings. The rankings also show that UofSC is now home to more than 60 nationally ranked programs.
March 29, 2021, Nicole S. Maskiell
Nicole S. Maskiell writes for The Conversation about how Colonial-era figures like Hamilton fit into America’s long history of enslavement, and how slavery fueled networks of power that have lasted through the ages.
March 29, 2021, Chris Horn
Climate change policy strategists acknowledge the steep but necessary price tag for reducing greenhouse gases. But there are hidden costs besides, and a University of South Carolina political geographer says we must account for those, as well, in the global push to go green.
March 25, 2021, Franklin G. Berger
Colorectal cancer remains a major source of cancer incidence and mortality worldwide. The American Cancer Society recently estimated that in 2021, there will be 149,500 new cases of colorectal cancer and 52,980 deaths in the U.S. alone. In The Conversation, Franklin G. Berger, professor emeritus in biological sciences, writes about two significant developments that could save lives.
March 25, 2021, Dr. Jennifer T. Grier
Dr. Jennifer T. Grier writes for the Conversation on whether or not people who have already recovered from a coronavirus infection should get the COVID vaccine.
March 25, 2021, Chris Horn
Cantey Heath’s 36-year career at the University of South Carolina began in alumni relations, pivoted to fundraising, then took another turn when he became special assistant and chief of staff to former university president Harris Pastides. Now, the university secretary and secretary of the Board of Trustees is headed for retirement.
March 24, 2021, Megan Sexton
Brooke McKeever, associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, discusses how we have worked through the communications challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
March 24, 2021, Allen Wallace
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster recognized the continued success of University of South Carolina Dance Marathon in a ceremony Tuesday at the State House.
March 23, 2021, Carol J.G. Ward
Celebrating Local Heroes with The Concert Truck, a series of 10 events performed aboard a mobile music venue will honor 10 frontline heroes with video vignettes that highlight personal stories of sacrifice and courage and live music composed and performed by music students and alumni.
March 23, 2021, Allen Wallace
Tom Regan and Nick Watanabe are associate professors of sport and entertainment management in the College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management. We talked to them last year about the pandemic’s potential economic impact on the sport and entertainment industry. We caught up with them this spring to find out how things are going and what it will take for the industry to bounce back.
March 22, 2021, Carol J.G. Ward
For three and a half decades, University of South Carolina education professor Gloria Boutte has dedicated her work to creating school experiences that are more equitable for students of color. Her scholarship, teaching, leadership and service have been recognized with the 2021 Legacy Award from American Educational Research Association.
March 18, 2021, Craig Brandhorst
A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, we asked members of the university community to share their expertise about how the coronavirus has affected all facets of life and offer insights on ways to move forward. Simon Hudson, a professor of tourism in the College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management, speaks about COVID-19’s economic impact on the tourism industry.
March 18, 2021, Robert Henry Cox, Daniel Dickson and Patrik Marier
Political science professor Robert Henry Cox and colleagues Daniel Dickson and Patrik Marier write for the Conversation about why long-term care workers are key intermediaries in the implementation of policies designed to both contain the spread of the coronavirus and maintain a sense of normalcy for care recipients.