March 19, 2026, Andy Shain
What the USC Board of Trustees approved at their March meeting — including new construction and renovation projects, various contracts, academic changes, and housing and meal fees.
March 19, 2026, Andy Shain
The USC Board of Trustees formally approved a number of new construction and renovation projects, including a neurological hospital and rehabilitation center, and received updates on the university’s master plan, including redeveloping the student union and developments on South Main Street. Trustees also adopted a resolution in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the 225th anniversary of the founding of USC.
March 04, 2026, Kristine Hartvigsen
AI is everywhere — and marketing is no exception. This year marked the first time that the American Advertising Federation incorporated an AI category into its Midlands ADDY Awards, and University of South Carolina students rose to the challenge, showcasing what is possible in dynamic, creative concept and design in collaboration with AI.
February 06, 2026, Craig Brandhorst, photos by Kim Truett
Cocky’s Reading Express turned 20 in 2025. The folks behind USC’s ongoing effort to promote childhood literacy tell the story, one book at a time.
February 05, 2026, Marketing and Communications
2025 Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award winner Tom Mullikin has enjoyed a long and eclectic career. Now, the longtime environmental lawyer is managing the Palmetto State’s fish, wildlife and natural areas as director of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.
January 13, 2026, Kristine Hartvigsen
The University of South Carolina has recognized students, faculty and staff members for their work on campus and in the larger community with 2026 Martin Luther King Social Justice Awards. The awards recognize individuals who have exemplified the philosophies of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. through acts of community service, social justice or racial reconciliation.
December 19, 2025, Kristine Hartvigsen
Sports Business Journal recently named USC senior instructor Susan O’Malley one of the top 125 influential sports business figures of the past quarter-century. Follow her path to stardom.
November 11, 2025, Valerie Weingart
South Carolina Honors College student Michael Pitre has been named a finalist for the 2026 Marshall Scholarships. If selected, he plans to pursue an MPhil in biological sciences to develop novel treatments for Parkinson's disease before returning to USC for medical school.
November 03, 2025, Valerie Weingart
A Rhodes scholar embodies academic excellence, strong collaboration and leadership skills, and dedication to working for the good of humanity — all of which describe South Carolina Honors College student and public health major Hannah Brennen. Her research and involvement in the Columbia community throughout her academic career have her poised to become USC's 11th Rhodes scholar and first since 2016.
October 31, 2025, Megan Sexton
As the university marks the celebration of First-Gen College Celebration Week, we caught up with first-generation students, alumni, faculty and staff who are thriving in the classroom and beyond.
September 19, 2025, Rebekah Friedman, photos by Kim Truett
Alumna Henrie Monteith Treadwell filed the lawsuit that desegregated USC. That moment was merely the prologue to a long and meaningful career.
May 20, 2025, Megan Sexton
Susan Elkins, the founding chancellor of Palmetto College, steps down this month after 12 years leading the program which encompasses USC’s two-year system campuses along with online bachelor’s degree completion programs.
May 14, 2025, Brandon Pugh
Rising Honors College senior Ella Michel has been awarded a 2025 Udall Undergraduate Scholarship to continue her work at the intersection of energy, environment and community.
May 06, 2025, Valerie Weingart
Senior NROTC midshipman Ryan Lohr realized early that, to grow as a communicator, he couldn’t just talk about the world in his classes — he needed to engage with the world.
April 29, 2025, Craig Brandhorst / photos by Kim Truett
New athletics director Jeremiah Donati has only been on campus since January, but his vision for USC has been years in the making.
April 29, 2025, Gregory Hardy and Laura Morris
Jennifer Baumstark, a seasoned certified nurse-midwife and newly appointed director of the University of South Carolina’s accredited nurse-midwifery program, is spearheading efforts to improve maternal health across South Carolina. With a focus on mentorship, advocacy and expanding the nursing-midwifery workforce, Baumstark brings over two decades of clinical and academic experience to this pivotal role.
April 17, 2025
Ridha Fatima, a biochemistry and molecular biology major in the Honors College, says her experiences as a service-minded leader at the University of South Carolina will inform her career as a physician and health care advocate.
April 17, 2025
Tremayne Ansani, an Honors College neuroscience major from Columbia, has dedicated his University of South Carolina career to service and leadership in the classroom, in research and in helping his fellow students and the community at large.
April 17, 2025
Reese Lycan, an Honors College student from Lexington, Kentucky, is majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology with a goal of becoming a physician. But she also wants to advocate for better health care access, particularly for low-income residents of rural Appalachia.
April 17, 2025, Laura Erskine
USC’s student government has two graduating seniors who have been accepted to Harvard Law School, one of the nation’s top programs. The students credit their time in student government, along with the excellent training they received both in the classroom and beyond, with helping them reach their goals.
March 18, 2025, Megan Sexton
For USC alumna Caroline Fermin, the decision to join the Marines at a time when only 2 percent of the officer corps were women led to a successful 25 years in the military with high-level global postings and numerous medals for meritorious service. She followed her military service with a thriving second career in public service, now as the director of Veterans Affairs for Beaufort County.
March 07, 2025, Laura Erskine
A primary care doctor is a key player in patient care, but South Carolina is facing a doctor shortage. That’s why both USC’s School of Medicine Columbia and School of Medicine Greenville are prioritizing primary care, with an emphasis on family medicine, thanks to their deans, Dr. Gerald Harmon (Columbia) and Dr. Phyllis MacGilvray (Greenville).
March 05, 2025, Catherine Pruitt
Allan Cabanayan was a leader among students interested in health occupations even before he got into upper-level nursing classes at the University of South Carolina. Growing up just down the road from USC in Hopkins, South Carolina, Cabanayan discovered his passion for nursing while attending Lower Richland High School, where he joined his school’s HOSA-Future Health Professionals chapter.
February 11, 2025, Allen Wallace
Dance Marathon, the university’s largest student-run philanthropic organization, brings together students from across USC to raise money and awareness for patients and families at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital. The Main Event is Feb. 22.
January 16, 2025, Megan Sexton
University of South Carolina alumnus and Medal of Honor recipient Marine Corporal (retired) Kyle Carpenter will be recognized during Monday’s national championship college football game.
January 15, 2025, Anna Francis
Natasha Hastings came to the University of South Carolina with dreams of excelling as an athlete. Although her talent eventually would propel her to an NCAA championship, multiple world championships and two Olympic gold medals, her initial start on the Gamecock track and field team was less than stellar. Her body was sound, but she had psychological demons to slay.
January 13, 2025, Laura Erskine
Korebami Adebajo is by every measure an exceptional student. On track to earn her bachelor’s degree this spring from USC’s Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing, she’s currently applying to doctoral programs. And she just turned 18. While her age may be notable, what truly sets Adebajo apart is her drive to achieve her goals.
November 26, 2024, Kristine Hartvigsen
Charleston native Keith Heyward Jr. was a restless third-grader when he realized his career goal was to teach. He knew that young Black boys craved a teacher they could relate to. Today, the University of South Carolina alumnus teaches kindergarten at James Island Elementary School. He makes sure the youngsters who step into his classroom feel safe and empowered.
November 12, 2024, Kristine Hartvigsen
Long before she was traveling the world as senior director of business development and operations at CNN Sports, Amy Jordan was an Honors College student sending news releases around the world as a press intern for the late U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings. To date, Jordan has covered four different Olympic games, numerous Super Bowls, the U.S. Open and more.
November 08, 2024, Kristine Hartvigsen
University of South Carolina alumnus Robert Chambers LeHeup is a Marine Corps infantry veteran with two combat tours under his belt when he left the service in 2004. In 2012, he founded Bullets and Bandaids to heal and support vets through storytelling and artwork.
November 04, 2024, Kristine Hartvigsen
Artificial Intelligence advocates might defensively suggest, in good humor, that chatbots are “only human” and therefore prone to occasional mistakes. New research by a team at the University of South Carolina Department of Psychology basically confirms that notion with some important caveats.
October 31, 2024, Hannah Cambre
At USC, where one in five students identify as first-generation, the university is doing more than ever to help this important and growing population flourish with resources and support. We sat down with five first-gen students to learn more about their stories and the people and resources that have helped them thrive at USC.
October 07, 2024, Cary Mock
Some hurricanes are remembered for their wind damage or rainfall. Others for their coastal flooding. Hurricane Helene was a stew of all of that and more. Its near-record-breaking size, storm surge, winds and rainfall together turned Helene into an almost unimaginable disaster that stretched more than 500 miles inland from the Florida coast. Geography professor Cary Mock writes about the hurricane for The Conversation.
October 07, 2024, Cary Mock
Some hurricanes are remembered for their wind damage or rainfall. Others for their coastal flooding. Hurricane Helene was a stew of all of that and more. Its near-record-breaking size, storm surge, winds and rainfall together turned Helene into an almost unimaginable disaster that stretched more than 500 miles inland from the Florida coast. Geography professor Cary Mock writes about the hurricane for The Conversation.
September 17, 2024, Megan Sexton
Kelly Goldberg, a clinical assistant professor of anthropology teaching in the South Carolina Honors College, is the winner of the university’s Michael J. Mungo Undergraduate Teaching Award.
September 10, 2024, Chris Horn
Anna Hoppmann is a pediatric oncologist with Prisma Health and a clinical assistant professor at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Columbia where she graduated nine years ago. She also chairs the S.C. Childhood Cancer Taskforce, which recently released a 25-year trend report on childhood cancer incidence, survival and mortality in South Carolina.
September 04, 2024, Rebekah Friedman / photos by Kim Truett
The Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing is named after a family, not a single person. Brothers Alex, Carl and Ray Molinaroli showed us why.
August 01, 2024, Megan Sexton
After a long military and government career, Augustus Way Fountain found his way back to the classroom. The chemistry instructor at USC is a winner of this year’s Garnet Apple award for teaching innovation.
July 17, 2024, Allen Wallace
At 22 years old, just a few weeks after graduating from the University of South Carolina, Caroline Salisbury is leading a team of more than 350 people at the world’s most famous resort.
May 23, 2024, Megan Sexton
This fall will mark the 25th year of the Carolina LifeSong Initiative, a program started by Carolina Distinguished Professor of Music Scott Price that provides piano lessons and creative music-making experiences for students with autism and other disabilities.
May 15, 2024, Megan Sexton
Dawn Pilotti, a long-time mathematics teacher and online doctoral student in USC’s College of Education, brought her sixth-grade students with learning differences from Tennessee to Columbia this spring to demonstrate their improved math skills.
May 14, 2024, Thom Harman
Maybe you were shouting from the stands in Cleveland as Dawn Staley’s remarkable women’s basketball team brought home the third national championship in program history. Maybe you were among the 24 million viewers watching on TV as they turned a so-called rebuilding year into an undefeated season and rings all around. Maybe you were even out there in the Thomas Cooper reflecting pool with several hundred other ecstatic Gamecocks, making a splash all your own.
April 18, 2024, Communications and Marketing
While working on her degree in nursing, South Carolina Honors College student Natalie Trimble also served in various capacities in Student Government and worked in the larger Columbia community to improve the lives of students and residents. For her efforts, the Aberdeen, Maryland, resident is the recipient of the 2023 Steven N. Swanger Leadership Award.
April 15, 2024, Hossein Haj-Hariri
Hossein Haj-Hariri, dean of USC's Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing, writes about the college's growth, education and research innovation and impact on South Carolina's economic and infrastructure planning.
March 18, 2024, Laura Morris
USC’s College of Engineering and Computing and the Darla Moore School of Business established a new 4+1 pathway partnership in 2024. This unique collaboration offers students the opportunity to earn an undergraduate degree from engineering and computing and a master’s degree from the Moore School in five years.
March 05, 2024, Page Ivey
Assistant professor of medicine Deepak Bhere was drawn to the study of stem cell therapy because he wanted to do research that has real impact on patients’ lives. His team at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Columbia has the potential to do just that as they pursue new treatment options for patients with glioblastoma.
February 23, 2024, Megan Sexton
The School of Medicine Greenville, led by Dean Marjorie Jenkins is committed to educating and producing a new type of physician, offering a technologically advanced medical school environment, and addressing an ongoing shortage of doctors in a rapidly growing state.
January 25, 2024, Carol J.G. Ward
Former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley will join the faculty of the University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law on March 1.
January 22, 2024, Craig Brandhorst
In March 2023, University of South Carolina alumnus Leroy Chapman Jr. made headlines — as the first person of color to be named editor-in-chief of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It was a big deal for the 155-year-old paper, for the city of Atlanta and for journalism in general. It was also a big deal for Chapman’s alma mater, which recognized his professional achievements with the 2023 College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Award.
January 11, 2024, Rebekah Friedman
After losing her mother to Alzheimer’s, journalist and TV personality Leeza Gibbons devoted her second act to helping caregivers through Leeza’s Care Connection.