USC Columbia Mission Statement | Regional and Senior Campuses | Accreditation | University Officials | Academic and Support Services

Mission Statement

The primary mission of the University of South Carolina, a multi-campus public institution serving the entire state of South Carolina, is the education of the state’s diverse citizens through teaching, research and creative activity, and service.

Teaching

The University is committed to providing its students with the highest-quality education, including the knowledge, skills, and values necessary for success and responsible citizenship in a complex and changing world. A particular strength of the University of South Carolina is the excellence, breadth, and diversity of its faculty.

Research

Convinced that research and scholarship, including artistic creation, are essential for excellent teaching, the University pursues aggressively an active research and scholarship program. The University is dedicated to using research to improve the quality of life for South Carolinians.

Service

Another important facet of the University's public mission is service--to its community, state, nation, and the world in such areas as public health, education, social issues, economic development, and family support systems.

Founded in 1801 in Columbia, the University of South Carolina began providing programs in communities statewide in the 1950s and 1960s. At that time, a network of campuses was established in response to community initiative and support for accessible, affordable educational programs principally for local citizens. In the 1970s, the Aiken and Spartanburg (now USC Upstate) campuses were granted the authority to award baccalaureate degrees. The Beaufort campus was given the same authority in 2002. While the regional campuses, the senior campuses, and the Columbia campus all pursue teaching, research, creative activity, and service, they do so with an emphasis suited to their individual campus missions.

Columbia Campus

As a major teaching and research institution, USC Columbia has long offered a comprehensive range of undergraduate and graduate programs through the doctoral level. With a mission of teaching, research, and service, USC Columbia addresses the state's needs for master's level, professional, and doctoral education, for conducting and sharing research, and for responding to statewide and regional demands for educational resources and professional expertise.

USC Columbia aspires to national and international stature as it provides equitable access to its opportunities, resources, and activities.

Senior Campuses

Separately accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), Aiken, Beaufort, and Upstate take as their primary mission the delivery of basic undergraduate education to their respective areas. These senior campuses also offer graduate-level course work through the University's Extended Graduate Campus program and offer master's degree programs in response to regional demand.

Regional Campuses

Accredited with USC Columbia by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the regional campuses in Lancaster, Allendale (Salkehatchie), Sumter, and Union principally provide the first two years of undergraduate education, as well as selected associate degree programs mainly for their locales. The regional campuses also provide for the completion of a bachelor's degree by offering selected upper-division course work in conjunction with the Aiken, Beaufort, Columbia, and Upstate campuses as well as some graduate education through the University's Extended Graduate Campus program. In addition to providing these programs, the regional campuses bring the resources of the entire University to citizens throughout the state. Additional information about USC's regional campuses can be found at www.rcce.sc.edu/NewWeb/RegCampus/index.html.

USC Columbia Mission Statement

Committed to becoming one of the finest universities in America, USC Columbia is dedicated to nationally recognized excellence in its student population, faculty, academic programs, living and learning environment, technological infrastructure, library resources, research and scholarship, public and private support, and endowment. The University is further resolved to enhance the industrial, economic, and cultural potential of the state so that South Carolina and the University can prosper together. USC Columbia recognizes its historic responsibility to achieve overall excellence and to provide South Carolina’s citizens a university as good as any in the nation.

One of the oldest and most comprehensive public universities in the United States, the University of South Carolina Columbia is the major research center of the University and its largest campus, enrolling more than 18,000 undergraduate students and more than 8,500 students in graduate and professional programs.

From its location in the state capital, the University offers a range of excellent programs and activities designed to enhance the intellectual, cultural, physical, and social development of its diverse student body. Students can pursue bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and professional degrees in over 350 major degree programs. USC Columbia’s professional programs in law, pharmacy, and medicine, and the magnitude of its graduate programs in areas such as the arts and sciences, international business, public health, social work, and library and information science distinguish it from all other institutions of higher learning in the state of South Carolina. Additional opportunities for personal and career development, including an associate degree program at Fort Jackson, are provided to the citizens of South Carolina through outreach and continuing education activities. USC Columbia offers the most comprehensive array of educational programs in the state and is the only South Carolina institution classified as a Four Year I by the Southern Regional Education Board.

Students at USC Columbia come from various backgrounds, with different career goals and levels of aspiration. The distinctiveness of USC Columbia lies in the conspicuous diversity that nurtures and stimulates students, faculty, and constituents. USC Columbia aspires to national and international stature as it provides equitable access to the full range of its opportunities, resources, and activities.

As a relatively selective institution, USC Columbia seeks to attract inquisitive students who have demonstrated academic ability, who are committed to learning, who are capable of self-discipline, and who wish to benefit from the variety of experiences provided by a major university with students, faculty, and staff drawn from throughout South Carolina, the nation, and the world. The University strives to educate graduates who are capable of excelling in their chosen fields, who are dedicated to learning throughout their lives, and who are responsible citizens in a complex society requiring difficult ethical and value-related decisions. By offering its students reasonable freedom to select from among the many experiences available in liberal arts, the natural sciences, the social sciences, the performing and creative arts, and the professions, USC Columbia encourages students to seek their full potential in the broad array of endeavors associated with our various schools and colleges.

A central mission to the University is to advance knowledge and enrich our cultural heritage. To achieve this mission, the University supports a faculty actively engaged in research in a breadth of disciplines including those listed above.

An important mission of the University is to engage its considerable resources in service to the state and society for the purposes of cultural enrichment, the dissemination of knowledge, and the enhancement of the overall quality of life. USC Columbia’s teaching, research, and service programs affect every part of life in South Carolina.

History

Chartered in 1801 as South Carolina College, the University of South Carolina was the first state university to be supported continuously by annual state appropriations. In the years before the Civil War, it rapidly achieved a reputation for academic excellence in the classical tradition and was known as one of the best endowed and most distinguished colleges in the United States. Its faculty included Francis Lieber, editor of the Encyclopaedia Americana and author of On Civil Liberty and Self-Government; the nationally known scientists John and Joseph LeConte; and chemist William Ellet, who produced some of the first daguerreotypes in the United States. By the 1830s, distinguished alumni virtually filled the state's General Assembly. James H. Hammond and Wade Hampton were the most prominent of a parade of future governors, senators, judges, and generals who graduated during the antebellum period.

The pre-Civil War campus included Longstreet Theatre and all the buildings in the area known today as the Horseshoe (with the exception of McKissick Museum). When the voluntary enlistment of all students into the Army of the Confederacy forced the college to close in June 1862, the buildings were used by the Confederate government as a hospital. By the time General Sherman's army reached Columbia in February 1865, the hospital housed wounded Union soldiers as well. A fire soon started that destroyed most of the city, but federal troops helped save the campus buildings from the flames.

After reopening in 1865, the institution went through six reorganizations and name changes during the last decades of the 19th century, while legislators, administrators, and faculties reassessed the institution’s goals and struggled to define its mission. Finally in 1906, at the beginning of its second century, it was rechartered for the third, and last, time as the University of South Carolina, with a graduate school.

In sharp contrast to the South Carolina College's antebellum, elitist philosophy, President William Davis Melton in 1925 expressed a far-reaching principle that had emerged in the first quarter of the century: "Education is not a special privilege to be enjoyed by a special few." Thus, in its final reorganization, the University of South Carolina developed this institutional objective: to furnish both liberal and professional education to the people of South Carolina.

Efforts to achieve this objective were almost immediately hampered by the early arrival of the Great Depression in South Carolina. Enrollment declined, some courses were eliminated, and buildings went without repairs. The situation improved greatly in the late 1930s because of grants from federal New Deal agencies. Then America entered World War II, and the campus was virtually transformed into a naval training base, with payments from the Navy helping the school continue to function during the war years.

Fulfillment of the promise of the early years of the 20th century began in earnest in the 1950s. Since then, dynamic academic expansion and the development of a statewide network of campuses have produced highly diverse and innovative education programs. A commitment to graduate education along with involvement in major research programs has attracted an outstanding faculty. A master plan for the campus environment and buildings will preserve the historic campus atmosphere while providing new academic, residence, and campus life facilities.

Today, the University serves the entire state and includes, in addition to the Columbia campus, three four-year campuses (Aiken, Beaufort, and Spartanburg) and four regional campuses offering primarily two-year programs (Lancaster, Salkehatchie, Sumter, and Union). Enrollment on all campuses totals more than 39,000. Of these, more than 27,000 students are on the Columbia campus, about one-third of whom are enrolled in graduate and professional programs. The University offers more than 350 degree programs, including 11 programs of study for associate degrees, baccalaureate degrees in 140 areas, master's degrees in 160 areas, doctoral degrees in 63 areas, and professional doctorates in law, medicine, and pharmacy. Many programs are nationally and internationally ranked, from the creative arts, liberal arts, health and physical sciences, to law, business, and engineering. Regional campuses primarily offer associate degrees to students who may earn 60 hours of credit applicable toward a baccalaureate degree program. The four-year campuses, in addition to basic courses, primarily offer programs leading to the baccalaureate degree. Graduate courses are also offered at more than 50 sites throughout the state under the Extended Graduate Campus program administered by the Columbia campus. Other programs are broadcast via closed-circuit television from studio classrooms on the Columbia campus and through the state's ETV digital satellite network.

Coinciding with this statewide outreach program has been the establishment of the South Carolina Honors College on the Columbia campus. The college is designed to offer academically gifted undergraduates the finest advantages of a small college in the context of a large comprehensive university.

The University's effort in the international area, particularly important to the state's development of foreign trade and investment, continues to expand; academic exchange programs and research linkages have been established with European, African, and South American universities, as well as with China and Japan.

In keeping with both its 19th-century and its 20th-century heritage, the University continues to promote academic excellence while responding progressively to its educational responsibilities and the citizens of South Carolina. It has committed itself to earning a place in the Association of American Universities (AAU), which includes 60 of the finest institutions of higher learning in America. Pursuing this goal, the University aspires to build upon its commitment to enhancing not only our students' knowledge, understanding, and economic viability, but also their sense of character, empathy, and mutual respect. Such ambitions and ideals were cornerstones of the original college and remain fundamental to the University's purpose in South Carolina and in society.

Accreditation

The University of South Carolina is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award the associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. The accreditation report of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools is available to the public in the Office of the Provost and the Office of Institutional Planning and Assessment and is on reserve at the Thomas Cooper Library.

In addition to this comprehensive accreditation, the professional schools on the Columbia campus are individually accredited by their respective associations as follows:

College of Arts and Sciences: In the Department of Psychology, the graduate degrees in clinical-community psychology are accredited by the American Psychological Association; graduate degrees in school psychology are accredited by the National Assocation of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, and the National Association of School Psychologists with the doctoral program also being accredited by the American Psychological Association. The Master of Public Administration degree offered by the Department of Political Science is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration. The Department of Theatre and Dance is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Theatre and the University/Resident Theatre Association. The Department of Art is accreditied by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. The Department of Chemistry is accredited by the American Chemical Society.

Moore School of Business and the School of Accounting: American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business.

College of Education: National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Other Related Educational Programs.

College of Engineering and Information Technology: Programs in chemical engineering, civil engineering, computer engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. The program in computer science is accredited by the Computing Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology.

School of Hospitality, Retail, and Sport Management: Accreditation Commission for Programs in Hospitality Administration.

School of Law: American Bar Association, Association of American Law Schools.

College of Mass Communications and Information Studies: The School of Journalism and Mass Communications is accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. The School of Library and Information Science is accredited by the American Library Association.

School of Medicine: Liaison Committee on Medical Education of the American Medical Association--Association of American Medical Colleges.

School of Music: National Association of Schools of Music.

College of Nursing: Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.

College of Pharmacy: American Council on Pharmaceutical Education.

Arnold School of Public Health: American Boards of Examiners in Speech Pathology and Audiology of the American Speech and Hearing Association, Council on Education for Public Health, National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification.

College of Social Work: Council on Social Work Education.

University Officials

Board of Trustees

Mark Sanford, Governor of South Carolina, Ex Officio Chair
Herbert C. Adams, 8th Judicial Circuit, Chair
Miles Loadholt, 2nd Judicial Circuit, Vice Chair
Arthur S. Bahnmuller, 3rd Judicial Circuit
James Bradley, 6th Judicial Circuit
Mark W. Buyck Jr., Gubernatorial Designee
John L. Fields, 10th Judicial Circuit
C. Edward Floyd, 12th Judicial Circuit
Samuel R. Foster II, 16th Judicial Circuit
William C. Hubbard, 5th Judicial Circuit
William W. Jones Jr., 14th Judicial Circuit
Toney J. Lister, 7th Judicial Circuit
Rita M. McKinney, President, USC Alumni Association, Ex Officio
Darla D. Moore, Gubernatorial Appointee
Michael J. Mungo, 11th Judicial Circuit
M. Wayne Staton, 15th Judicial Circuit
Inez M. Tenenbaum, State Superintendent of Education, Ex Officio
John C. von Lehe Jr., 9th Judicial Circuit
Eugene P. Warr Jr., 4th Judicial Circuit
Mack I. Whittle Jr., 13th Judicial Circuit, Chair Emeritus
Othniel H. Wienges Jr., 1st Judicial Circuit
Thomas L. Stepp, Secretary

Administrative Officers

Andrew Sorensen, Ph.D., President
Brad Choate, M.A., Vice President for University Advancement
William F. Hogue, Ed.D., Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer
Jane M. Jameson, M.P.A., Vice President for Human Resources
Rick Kelly, B.S., Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Walter H. Parham, J.D., General Counsel
Harris Pastides, Vice President for Research and Health Sciences
Dennis A. Pruitt Sr., Ed.D., Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students
Thomas L. Stepp, B.A., Secretary, Board of Trustees; University Secretary and Treasurer

Academic and Support Services

Libraries

Detailed instruction concerning the use of library facilities is provided both in English 101 as well as in tours offered by the library's Reference Department. A library guide, which gives information about library services, is available upon request.

Thomas Cooper Library (Greene Street). This library, which opened in June 1976, contains all of the University library collections in Columbia except those located in the South Caroliniana Library, Coleman Karesh Law Library, Mathematics Library, Music Library, Springs Business Library, and Medical Library. Thomas Cooper Library seats approximately 2,500 readers. Included in the seating are more than 900 private, locked facilities for faculty and graduate students involved in research and 40 study rooms seating up to four persons each. The library has three classrooms for use by librarians and other faculty on a limited basis. Two of the rooms are modern multimedia classrooms funded by the University 101 program and used primarily for the library instruction module of UNIV 101. A more traditional classroom is also available for library-related instruction and individual class sessions as requested.

Special areas in the library include the student Computer Lab, the Government Information Department and the Map Library on Level 5, the Science Library on Level 4, the Educational Films Collection on Level 3, and Rare Books and Special Collections on the Mezzanine Level. Access to the collections is obtained through the library's Online Catalog with terminals located throughout the building.

The library provides multiple research databases that are available via the Web to the University community from both on and off campus. Librarians provide assistance with these resources in person as well as via phone, via e-mail, and online. The Center for Adaptive Technology located in the Computer Lab in the Thomas Cooper Library has four PCs, a Braille embosser, a tactile graphics-capable Braille embosser, screen readers, screen magnifiers, two scanners with OCR translation software, a CCTV, plus other hardware and software for students with disabilities.

Medical Library (V.A. Campus). A special collection serving the research and study needs of the students and faculty of the medical school. Available to all USC students.

Music Library (School of Music Building, 2nd Floor). A collection including more than 90,000 books and scores, 135 periodical subscriptions, more than 60,000 sound recordings in all formats, and more than 300 videos, laser discs, and DVDs. Thirty-two carrels are equipped for remote viewing and listening. The International Index to Music Periodicals, RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, and the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd edition) are available online via the Web. Available to all USC students.

South Caroliniana Library (Horseshoe). Largest collection in the world of South Carolina material. Includes books, pamphlets, newspapers, maps, and manuscripts relating to South Carolina and the South.

Research Bureaus and Institutes

Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences. The institute is a leader in research of coastal ecosystems, with research ranging from the molecular to the landscape level of organization. Assessing impacts of human activities is an integral part of many of the studies. Using a multidisciplinary approach to investigate the complexity of coastal and marine environments, we bring together researchers in many fields. These include the sciences and disciplines such as geography, economics, environmental health, policy, statistics, and geographic information processing and remote sensing technologies. We provide students with opportunities to pursue their research interests, welcome visiting researchers and classes, and offer educational programs for university and secondary-school faculty and students, state and federal agency personnel, nongovernmental organizations, and the general public. The institute was established in 1969 through the joint efforts of the Belle W. Baruch Foundation and the University of South Carolina. A freestanding entity within the College of Arts and Sciences, the institute has headquarters and laboratory facilities on the University's main campus in Columbia and a 25,000-square-foot laboratory located on Hobcaw Barony, near Georgetown, S.C. For more information, please visit our Web site, www.baruch.sc.edu.

Center for Disability Resources/UCEDD. The Center for Disability Resources (CDR), a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service (UCEDD), is an interdisciplinary training program of the Department of Pediatrics. The CDR receives administrative and operational support from the University of South Carolina and a federal grant awarded under P.L. 106-402, Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Developmental Disabilities. Through interdisciplinary training, exemplary services, technical assistance, and information dissemination activities, the CDR identifies and uses the vast resources within institutions of higher education to improve the quality of life for people with developmental disabilities and their families as well as other citizens of our state.

Center for Electrochemical Engineering. The Center for Electrochemical Engineering (CEE) was created July 1, 1995, within the Department of Chemical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Information Technology at the University of South Carolina. Its mission is to provide a means for students, faculty, and industrial researchers to interact on projects that involve electrochemical science and engineering. The CEE is dedicated to the integrated study of fuel cells, hydrogen storage, batteries, supercapacitors, corrosion and corrosion protection, and electrodeposition of metal alloys and composites. The CEE serves as a focal point for the development (system identification, specific cell design, engineering, testing, and evaluation) of new power source technologies, novel corrosion protection strategies, and environmentally friendly coatings.

Center for Health Promotion and Risk Reduction in Special Populations. The Center for Health Promotion and Risk Reduction in Special Populations is housed in the College of Nursing. The purpose of the center is to provide the infrastructure to develop a critical mass of investigators to study problems related to the center focus, to promote and support interdisciplinary collaboration in research, and to develop and initiate mechanisms to disseminate research findings into the scientific community, clinical practice, and health care policy. The center supports the College of Nursing’s long-range goal to conduct interdisciplinary research, which builds knowledge in the science of health promotion and risk reduction in special populations.

Center for Information Technology. The center establishes the University of South Carolina as a leader in the research and development of advanced information systems. Under the broad themes of agent-based software systems and information security, researchers at the center are investigating multiagent systems, information awareness and security, ontological engineering, service-oriented computing, and computational intelligence, with applications to enterprise integration, executive decision support, and agent-based software development. The center is part of an ongoing effort at USC to increase information systems security awareness and develop high-quality education and research in this area, with a goal of becoming one of the leading academic institutions in information security education. The center serves as a focal point for the University's research, public service, and education efforts in these important new areas of technology, providing well-qualified scientists and engineers and an educational and research capability that meets the needs of industry and government.

Center for Mass Communications Research. Located in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, the Center for Mass Communications Research engages faculty and graduate students in a wide range of studies for individual and organizational clients involving the processes and effects of mass communication, including audience analysis, readership studies, content analysis, advertising and public relations effectiveness research, communication surveys, polls, samples, and other studies involving consumer and organizational behavior. The center also participates in interdisciplinary studies, especially externally funded projects that involve the communication aspects of scientific research. In addition, the center sponsors conferences and symposia of state, regional, and national interest to mass communications industries and scholars. The center works collaboratively with the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies Office of Research.

Center for Mechanics, Materials, and Nondestructive Evaluation. The statewide center serves as a focus for research in solid mechanics, material science, fracture mechanics, nondestructive evaluation, and advanced joining methods. The center is supported by the Southeastern Electron Microscopy Center, which houses SEM, TEM, STEM, and optical microscopy facilities for microstructural evaluation. With the recent addition of the Advanced Materials Institute, which focuses on industrially relevant research in the area of friction stir joining, the center's research projects span a spectrum from basic science to industry applications. Areas of expertise include materials characterization, dynamic and static mechanical testing, structural analysis, state-of-the-art noncontacting strain measurement methods, advanced numerical simulations, and fracture mechanics. Facilities include sophisticated mechanical test capabilities (including high-vacuum environmental chambers and dynamic loading systems), optical strain analysis equipment for field and laboratory use, novel nanoscale measurement capability including AFM- and SEM-based systems, and a unique friction stir welding process for manufacturing joints under controlled conditions.

Center for Nursing Leadership. The Center for Nursing Leadership is an interdisciplinary center housed in the College of Nursing. The purpose of the center is to develop and advance dynamic nurse leaders in practice, education, and service and provide the structure to continually build the leadership capacity of nurses. Program development and evaluation, seminars, workshops, and consultation are provided to enrich the leadership opportunities for nursing faculty, clinical practitioners, nursing students, and other professionals. It also serves as a forum for local, regional, and national nurse leaders, other health care professionals, and public policy leaders to engage in shaping the future of nursing, the delivery of health care, and the design and implementation of health policy.

Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE). The primary purpose of the center is to research clinical, economic, and humanistic outcomes related to the utilization of pharmaceutical products and services. The center strives to cultivate an interdisciplinary research environment, which blends expertise and interest from academia, industry, and government. Currently the center is being restructured and is inactive.

Center for Retailing. The University of South Carolina's Department of Retailing has a goal of becoming the outstanding, comprehensive educational center for retailing education in the world. The department seeks innovative, entrepreneurial initiatives that will serve students while simultaneously benefiting the retail community. One of the major opportunities to accomplish these goals while working closely with colleagues is the Center for Retailing. The Center for Retailing has been developed to support the academic programs and faculty through outreach and research while serving as a resource to the retail community. The ultimate goal of the center is to become a clearinghouse for research in the areas of retail technology and international retailing. The center is supported by founding partners, including Wal-Mart, Miller Brewing Company, Fairchild Books, JDA Software, BIG Research, and Retail Forward.

Center for Science Education. The center, administered as part of the College of Arts and Sciences, coordinates content area aspects of pre-service and in-service science and mathematics teacher training. The center coordinates instruction in all sciences and mathematics, ranging from one-hour in-service presentations through formal, graduate-level course offerings, to multiyear program development. The center draws upon the expertise of science and mathematics faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences and science and mathematics education faculty in the College of Education to provide these services. The goal of the center is the improvement of the quality of instruction in the sciences and mathematics from the elementary-school level through the post-secondary-school level, or K-16.

Division of Research, Moore School of Business. An integral part of the Moore School of Business, the division publishes analyses of significant business and economic problems in its Business & Economic Review and Economic Indicators series. Through its programs the division facilitates research by students and faculty members and encourages the use of economic data by regional businesses and public groups. The division also conducts special research projects for both private and public organizations and sponsors an annual Economic Outlook Conference that features the latest economic forecast from the division's South Carolina Economic Forecasting Service. All of the division's research is available to the public at http://esearch.moore.sc.edu.

Earth Sciences and Resources Institute (ESRI-USC). The institute conducts environmental studies primarily integrating geology, hydrology, and geochemistry with advanced computer applications for subsurface characterization, prediction of groundwater flow and solute transport, and agricultural and nonpoint source studies. Applied research programs focus on both site-specific and regional scale hydrogeologic studies that involve field, laboratory, and modeling activities. A key component of the institute’s groundwater research is the use of geophysical techniques to describe the geologic framework of groundwater systems and to determine the extent of groundwater contamination. The institute uses geographic information system (GIS) capabilities for managing large spatially-oriented databases and modeling diverse geographic data.

Funding for the environmental research program comes from both public and private sources. The U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Energy, Argonne National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, state agencies, and several environmental consulting firms have recently supported environmental earth science research within the institute.

The institute contributes to the academic mission of the University of South Carolina through its contribution to the Master's in Earth and Environmental Resources Management (MEERM) program administered by the School of the Environment. This graduate degree program was initiated in the late 1980s to expand the business- and management-related expertise of technically oriented individuals. The MEERM program offers expanded opportunities to pursue environmental-related course work while maintaining its focus on integrating business and technical decision making. ESRI-USC plays a key role in the MEERM program through teaching, graduate student research opportunities, and graduate student advisement. ESRI-USC also provides many educational opportunities apart from the MEERM program through the availability of graduate research assistantships, summer intern programs, and undergraduate hourly employment. The institute is committed to providing high-quality research opportunities in earth and environmental sciences for graduate and undergraduate students at the University of South Carolina.

The environmental research capabilities of the Earth Sciences and Resources Institute are expanding to meet the increasing need for better understanding of subsurface phenomena. In that regard, the institute is providing state-of-the-science solutions to the environmental challenges before us.

Electron Microscopy Center. Administered as a part of the College of Arts and Sciences, the center is open to USC faculty members and students for training and research in analytical microscopy imaging and microanalysis of materials.

The center is equipped with three transmission electron microscopes (TEMs), including a high-resolution JEM 2100F TEM; three scanning electron microscopes with X-ray microanalysis systems; a wavelength dispersive electron microprobe; a two-photon laser confocal microscope; four ultra microtomes; and other modern equipment necessary for material studies.

Institute for Families in Society (IFS). The Institute for Families in Society seeks to enhance family well-being through education, research, and service by means of a partnership between the University of South Carolina and the broader community, including the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. The USC Institute for Families in Society serves as a catalyst to facilitate:

• collaborative relationships among public agencies, policymakers, academic units, community groups, and business leaders for the purpose of discovering and enacting effective ways to enhance family well-being
• research, education, and service that is family-focused, interdisciplinary, and relevant to community needs
• academic and community educational activities that promote the exchange of new ideas about family enhancement
• interdisciplinary professional education at the undergraduate and graduate levels to produce personnel who are competent to fill family service and policy development jobs.

The Richard L. Walker Institute of International and Area Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences serves as an interdisciplinary research and public-service unit of the University.

The Walker Institute was founded in 1961 and is the principal unit in the University for promoting research, scholarship, and public-service programs in international affairs and the comparative cross-cultural study of human societies as well as for encouraging and facilitating related teaching and public-service activities.

The institute works in cooperation with faculty and research units in various colleges and departments of the University to facilitate research on public policy issues. It provides consultative and training services and undertakes special research projects for governmental and nongovernmental organizations, foundations, and public sector agencies.

Incorporated within the institute are the programs in African studies, Asian studies, European studies, Islamic studies, Latin American studies, and Russian studies, as well as the Association for Research on Ethnicity and Nationalism in the Americas (ARENA).

Institute for Public Service and Policy Research. The institute is an interdisciplinary research and public service unit of the University of South Carolina. Its principal purpose is to address current and emerging issues relating to matters of public policy, governance, and leadership through research, educational activities, publications, and direct assistance programs. The goal of the institute is to improve the quality of social, political, environmental, and economic life, with a primary focus on South Carolina. The institute is composed of several programs, including Environmental Research and Service, Survey Research, Governmental Research and Service, the S.C. Semester Program, the Washington Semester Program, and the Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities.

Institute for Southern Studies. The institute coordinates academic research and public service to further the understanding of South Carolina and the South. Although the institute is administratively located within the College of Arts and Sciences, its interdisciplinary emphasis calls for a working relationship with departments and colleges throughout the University. Funding assistance and research fellowships are often provided to community officials as well as out-of-state and foreign scholars studying the many different aspects of Southern culture. In addition, the institute provides information upon request and works closely with other educational institutions within the state. Public programs, publications, scholarly research, and undergraduate courses of study are sponsored by the institute.

Institute for Tourism Research. The institute is administered as part of the School of Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management with the purpose of developing research, education, and service programs for South Carolina's largest industry--tourism. Among other endeavors, the institute conducts studies in the following areas: feasibility, needs assessment, market segmentation, position analysis, image and advertising effectiveness, visitor profile analysis, and economic impact. At the state, national, and international levels, the aforementioned research enables the institute to provide information to government, industry, and community leaders through publications, workshops, and consultancy.

The National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. The center and the University 101 Program at the University of South Carolina form one functionally integrated academic unit. The center's mission is to support and advance efforts to improve student learning and transitions into and through higher education. The center achieves this mission by providing opportunities for the exchange of practical and theory-based information and ideas through the convening of conferences, teleconferences, institutes, and workshops; publishing monographs, a peer-reviewed journal, an electronic newsletter, guides, and books; generating and supporting research and scholarship; hosting visiting scholars; and hosting a Web site and electronic listservs. As one academic unit, the center and University 101 report to the Office of the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost.

The Riegel and Emory Human Resource Research Center. The Riegel and Emory Human Resource Research Center was founded in January 1982 through the generosity of Riegel Textile Corp. and the family of the late Mr. German H.H. Emory, former chair of Riegel. The basic objectives of the center are:

• to conduct research in motivation and satisfaction of workers
• to dignify work and the worker
• to emphasize human values in the workplace
• to enhance skills of management
• to encourage higher levels of cooperation in the workplace
• to preserve the values of the free market system.

The center staff and faculty believe that scholarly research is most useful when practitioners, whom the research results might benefit, are involved in formulating the design and carrying out the research. Thus, center staff work closely with an advisory board made up primarily of business executives in determining the problems needing attention and the approaches that offer the most promise. The center also sponsors periodic executive conferences at which faculty and senior human resource practitioners review the center's research findings and discuss current human resource needs.

South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology (SCIAA). The institute is a full-time research facility and state agency within the University with professional and support staff and facilities for field and laboratory research on a year-round schedule. Under the S.C. Code of Laws (60-13-210 and 54-7-610 et seq.), it has a dual responsibility for service research programs for the state and for academic research programs for the University.

SCIAA has some 60 employees (with an additional 10 graduate and undergraduate student employees) in its Columbia, Aiken, and Charleston offices among its research, cultural resource consulting, and administrative divisions; the Office of the State Archaeologist; the Office of the State Underwater Archeologist; and the Savannah River Archaeological Research Program.

The Underwater Archaeology Division administers some 475 hobby licenses yearly and issues salvage licenses for the recovery of cultural resources located beneath the state's navigable waters. The institute has the Western Hemisphere's largest water-logged wood conservation tank and is currently treating numerous cannons, ships, canoes, and other artifacts from around the state.

The service programs under the Office of the State Archaeologist deal with environmental impact archaeology and historic preservation within the same theoretical and methodological concepts of scholarly excellence as the academic programs supported by the University and by grants. The research division of the institute is also excavating, with the assistance of the U.S. Department of Defense/USMC, the 1560s and 1570s Spanish colonial capital of Santa Elena and the French Huguenot site of Charlesfort on the U.S. Marine Corps base at Parris Island, S.C.

The institute is responsible for the statewide inventory of 21,500 archaeological sites, for the curation of all state of South Carolina prehistoric and historic archaeological collections (now amounting to 29,000 cubic feet), and for the synthesis of all research data available concerning the prehistoric and historic archaeology and anthropology of the state, both on land and beneath the waters. This pursuit of research leads to an understanding of the 12,000 or more years of cultural development in South Carolina. The institute sponsors conferences, interdisciplinary studies, avocational societies, and visiting scholars; trains students in research; has an extensive publication program; and has an extensive contracts and grants program. The institute, within the University of South Carolina, participates in numerous University activities, scholarly events, and programs and works cooperatively with other universities to further archaeological and anthropological research.

The South Carolina University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service (S.C. UCEDD). The S.C. UCEDD is an interdisciplinary training program of the Department of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine. The S.C. UCEDD receives administrative support from the University of South Carolina and a federal grant awarded under P.L. 106-402, Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Developmental Disabilities. Through interdisciplinary training, exemplary direct services, and applied research, the S.C. UCEDD identifies and utilizes the vast resources within institutions of higher education to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities, their families, and other citizens of our state.

The term "developmental disabilities" includes severe, chronic disabilities due to mental and/or physical impairment that become manifest early in life, result in substantial functional limitation, and require long-term coordinated, specialized services.

TRIO Programs. TRIO refers to educational opportunity programs funded under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965. While student financial aid programs help overcome financial barriers to higher education, TRIO Programs help overcome class, social, and cultural barriers to higher education. The University of South Carolina sponsors five TRIO programs.

The Opportunity Scholars Program is a campus-based program that provides academic support services to first-generation college students who come from families with low income. The program includes academic classes, counseling, tutoring assistance, and cultural enrichment activities.

The Educational Talent Search Program provides career and college admissions guidance services that help disadvantaged students in grades 6-12 prepare for and enroll in postsecondary education.

The Upward Bound Program provides academic and cultural enrichment activities that help disadvantaged high-school students prepare for and enroll in postsecondary education.

The Educational Opportunity Center provides information and services that help disadvantaged adults pursue degrees at postsecondary institutions.

The Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achieve Program helps TRIO-eligible students gain admission into graduate programs and earn doctoral degrees to prepare for a career in college teaching. The program includes research preparation, faculty mentoring, career counseling, and educational workshops.

McKissick Museum

McKissick Museum at the University of South Carolina, accredited by the American Association of Museums, is located at the head of the historic Horseshoe. Remodeled in 1976 to serve as a center for the University's museums, art gallery, and archives, McKissick was formerly the central library at USC. In order to "tell the story of Southern life, culture, and community," the museum administers a broad range of activities. Exhibitions and collections include: Southern folk art; works by state and regional artists; artifacts relating to the University's history, the history of South Carolina, and the material culture of the South; and the Bernard Baruch Silver Collection. The Howard Gemstone Collection, which is part of one of the finest collections of minerals in the Southeast; the extensive Ferillo political campaign memorabilia collection; and the South Carolina Folk Arts Resource Center are also parts of McKissick Museum. Art, history, and science traveling exhibitions are offered as well as exhibitions based on the permanent collections and faculty research interests. Special cultural events and other educational activities are also regularly scheduled. McKissick also administers a graduate-level certificate program in museum management.

University Press

The University of South Carolina Press shares the University's central missions--to advance knowledge and to enrich the state's cultural heritage. Established in 1944, it is one of the oldest publishing houses in the South. With more than 1,500 books published, the press is important in enhancing the scholarly reputation and worldwide visibility of the University of South Carolina. The press publishes in a variety of disciplines, including history (African American, American, Civil War, maritime, Southern, and women's), contemporary literature, regional studies, religious studies, rhetoric, and social work. The press now has more than 600 titles in print and publishes approximately 50 new books annually.

Fellowships and Scholar Programs

The Office of Fellowships and Scholar Programs was established in 1994 to provide innovative education initiatives for academically talented students. Reporting to the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, the staff of the office facilitates the pursuit of nationally prestigious fellowships by University students and coordinates an enhanced University experience for the Carolina and McNair Scholars. The involvement and leadership of these scholars make them prime candidates for national fellowships and scholarships. In addition to the scholars, other high achieving students are identified, recruited, and advised to compete for such prestigious scholarships as the Rhodes, Truman, Marshall, Rotary, NSF, Fulbright, Mellon, Udall, and Goldwater. Once identified, students are provided support and assistance in every aspect of candidacy, such as selecting appropriate courses, completing applications, writing essays, and interviewing. Although the ultimate goal is for University students to be awarded these competitive and prestigious scholarships, the preparation process for potential scholars is designed to be developmental and thus rewarding in and of itself. This program is available for qualified University students.

The coordination of scholar programs is also assigned to this unit. Scholar programs provide an enhanced University experience for Carolina and McNair Scholarship recipients through programs, communication, and student group advisement. An advisory committee representing a wide range of academic and administrative units on campus assists the operations of the office. The office is located in Room 101 of Harper College on the USC Horseshoe.

Pre-Professional Advising

The Office of Pre-Professional Advising provides assistance and support for USC pre-law, pre-med, and pre-health professional students. The director and associate director of the Office of Pre-Professional Advising report to the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost.

As an important step beyond academic advising, the office will assist USC students and alumni in the application process to the professional schools of their choice. The office assists by providing administrative support, workshops, a vast array of resources, test and application materials, an active listserv, an information bulletin board outside the office, and a credentials service. The office aims to keep interested applicants informed about important deadlines, evolving issues in their areas of interest, and helpful resources on and off campus. The Office of Pre-Professional Advising is located in Room 208 Sumwalt College.

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