Stories for Students

person with dark hair in lab wearing lab coat, blue mask and blue gloves

Operations and supply chain project could save lives in cancer clinical trials

May 14, 2021, Marjorie Riddle Duffie

A project by a team of Moore School operations and supply chain students focused on reducing the time it takes to activate industry-sponsored cancer clinical trials. Their recommendations for more efficient processes could get a patient started on a trial before their cancer becomes terminal, and the treatment could be approved faster by the Food and Drug Administration for eligible patients, saving many more lives.

Topics: Students, Faculty, Academics, Experiential Learning, Student Voices, Darla Moore School of Business

Eugene Debs, at center with flowers, who was serving a prison sentence for violating the Espionage Act, on the day he was notified of his nomination for the presidency on the socialist ticket by a delegation of leading socialist

Free speech wasn't so free 103 years ago, when 'seditious' and 'unpatriotic' speech was criminalized in the US

May 13, 2021, Eric P. Robinson

The United States government – in the midst of World War I – undertook unprecedented efforts to control and restrict what it saw as “unpatriotic” speech through passage of the Sedition Act of 1918. The restrictions – and the courts’ reactions to them – mark an important landmark in testing the limits of the First Amendment, and the beginnings of the current understanding of free speech in the U.S.

Topics: College of Information and Communications

allie salrin

Student finds purpose through campus service

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.

Topics: Students, Experiential Learning, Recognition, Service, College of Arts and Sciences

Jabari Bodrick, U101 Teacher of the Year

Forging student connections

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.

Topics: Students

The Maxcy monument stands right of center on the historic Horseshoe, which is green with summer

UofSC announces May commencement speakers

April 21, 2021, Jeff Stensland

Newly appointed U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and S.C. Rep. G. Murrell Smith Jr. will receive honorary degrees and address University of South Carolina graduates during May commencement ceremonies on the Columbia campus.

Topics: speakers

shawnese cleveland class of 2021

Class of 2021: Shawnese Cleveland

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.

Topics: Students, Experiential Learning, Careers, College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management

a plate of cooked vegetables on a bed of rice

Carolina Food Co. offers healthy ways to fuel up for finals

April 17, 2021, Jason Dermack

With final exams on the horizon, your health and wellness should be one of your top priorities and it all starts with eating right. We recently spoke with Tanya Miceli, a registered dietician with the Carolina Food Co., to get her take on how you can make good food choices that satisfy your stomach while also stimulating your brain.

Topics: Healthy Carolina

Sydney Womack, graduating senior May 2021

Class of 2021: Sydney Womack

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.

Topics: Students, Student Voices, College of Engineering and Computing, School of Music, South Carolina Honors College

woman wearing glasses in white shirt with red sweater tied around shoulders and holding a walking stick with foliage in the background

Blind poet's writing brings new beauty into focus

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.

Topics: Students, Faculty, Diversity, Student Voices, College of Arts and Sciences

baseball diamond in Truist Park in Atlanta with rain tarp in place and view of skyline in background

MLB's decision to drop Atlanta highlights the economic power companies can wield over lawmakers - when they choose to

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.

Topics: Faculty, Diversity, School of Law

Adarsh Shidhaye holding his framed Sullivan Award.

Sullivan award winner's college career exemplifies service

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.

Topics: Students, Experiential Learning, Recognition, Signature Events, Health Sciences, Service, Student Voices, Arnold School of Public Health, South Carolina Honors College

Payton Ramsey holding her framed Swanger Award.

Swanger award winner uses her drive for hard work to help others

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.

Topics: Students, Experiential Learning, Recognition, Signature Events, Health Sciences, Service, Leadership, College of Arts and Sciences, South Carolina Honors College

Issy Rushton holding her framed Sullivan award.

Sullivan Award winner helps lead student body through pandemic

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.

Topics: Students, Experiential Learning, Recognition, Signature Events, Leadership, Student Voices, College of Arts and Sciences

Friendship 9 students who protested against racial discrimination and were put in prison, Rock Hill, South Carolina, February 1961

'Our ultimate choice is desegregation or disintegration' - recovering the lost words of a jailed civil rights strategist

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.

Topics: Faculty, Diversity, History, College of Arts and Sciences, University Libraries

Brianna Lewis, 2021 graduating senior

Class of 2021: Brianna Lewis

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.

Topics: Students, Health Sciences, Student Voices, College of Arts and Sciences, South Carolina Honors College

The sphere at the top of the Maxcy monument

Major League Soccer and University of South Carolina announce multi-year education partnership

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.

Topics: University Leadership, Academics, Partnerships

Jotaka Eady

UofSC alumna uses politics, technology to elevate the 'underestimated'

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.

Topics: Alumni, Academics, Experiential Learning, Diversity, Leadership, Careers, College of Arts and Sciences

two female and one male student wearing masks

Curiosity, scientific research lead to prestigious award for UofSC students

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.

Topics: Students, Scholarships, Recognition, Student Voices, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Engineering and Computing, South Carolina Honors College

UofSC home to 60 ranked programs

UofSC med school leads nation for grads practicing in underserved areas

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.

Topics: Academics, Research, graduate-studies, Recognition, College of Arts and Sciences, Darla Moore School of Business, College of Engineering and Computing, The Graduate School, College of Information and Communications, School of Law, Medicine (Columbia)

photo of a bridge over a river with blue sky in the background

Concerts honor frontline workers, aim to strengthen community through music

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.

Topics: Students, Alumni, Faculty, Service, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Music, South Carolina Honors College

Woman wearing a yellow scarf with blurred background

Education professor fights status quo to make schools more equitable

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.

Topics: Faculty, Academics, Research, Diversity, Recognition, Leadership, College of Education

empty dining room with the alps in the background

COVID-19 impact: Changes in tourism

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.

Topics: Faculty, Research, COVID-19, College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management

Long term health care workers with patients

Resistance, innovation, improvisation: When governments fell short during COVID-19, long-term care workers stepped up

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.

Topics: COVID-19, College of Arts and Sciences

students walk in building on campus

VIDEO: Team effort allowed students to return to campus in fall

March 18, 2021, Joshua Burrack

From the classroom to the research lab to the front lines of testing and tracing, the University of South Carolina community has taken extraordinary steps over the past year to safeguard its students, faculty and staff in the face of COVID-19. As we mark the one-year point of the pandemic, here’s the third in a three-part video series documenting the resilience, ingenuity and commitment that have guided us through this period.

Topics: Students, Faculty, Research, Initiatives, Safety, Health Sciences, COVID-19, Service, Leadership, Arnold School of Public Health

Reggie, Connor and Ian Bain

3 brothers, 3 Goldwater Scholarships, 1 passion

March 15, 2021, Aïda Rogers and Chris Horn

Reggie, Connor and Ian Bain all double majored in mathematics and a field of science, they’re all alumni of the University of South Carolina’s Honors College (Ian graduates in May) and Carolina Scholars and each was named a Goldwater Scholar, which is considered the nation’s most prestigious undergraduate award for STEM majors.

Topics: Students, Scholarships, Student Voices, College of Arts and Sciences, South Carolina Honors College

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