Invested interest
December 04, 2018, Megan Sexton
From an expanded school calendar to keep students on track to a revamped advising process,USC does a lot to prepare students for the next chapter.
Recent Stories
USC Creativity
December 03, 2018, Megan Sexton
The university has established several new degree programs that illustrate creative curricula by adding innovation, an entrepreneurial approach or other types of value to traditional degrees.
Space to print
May 15, 2018, Craig Brandhorst
Assistant professor of management Joel Wooten researches innovation and entrepreneurship and has considerable experience with innovation contests, including XPRIZE in Los Angeles. Now he wants to take the spirit of creative competition into orbit.
'Shark Tank' finale for The Proving Ground set for March 29
March 21, 2018, Taylor Evans
The community is invited to cheer students and alumni of the University of South Carolina as they compete for startup prizes and support in The Proving Ground Thursday, March 29.
Make your best pitch
February 07, 2018, Page Ivey
For the past eight years, University of South Carolina students and recent grads have had the opportunity to turn their brilliant ideas into something tangible with the Proving Ground — a startup business pitch competition along the lines of ABC’s “Shark Tank” television program.
McNair Entrepreneurship Showcase to feature Drybar founder Alli Webb
February 01, 2018, Taylor Evans
Alli Webb, founder of blow out salon company Drybar, will speak on her journey from hairdresser to entrepreneur during the McNair Entrepreneurship Showcase on Feb. 9.
Industry-infused education evolution
January 08, 2018, Allen Wallace
2018 will be a year of retail technology innovation for the University of South Carolina, as a flurry of new industry partnerships provide a digital foundation to prepare retail management students to lead the industry.
UofSC receives $500,000 NSF grant to accelerate entrepreneurship
September 20, 2017, Mike Ettlemyer
The University of South Carolina has been named the first Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Site in the state with a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to accelerate entrepreneurship.
Creating a way
September 06, 2017, Jalesa Cooley
Nursing student Shannon Eichorst has been crafting ceramics since her freshman year of high school. Now, as a junior, she is reaping the benefits of her creations as a way to send local students to Young Life summer camp.
Brew it yourself
August 15, 2017, Craig Brandhorst
Before he finished college, Kevin Varner, ’93, was working in a brewery. By his mid-20s, he had started one himself. Now, a quarter century later, the founder of Columbia’s Hunter-Gatherer Brewery and Ale House is back at it, opening a second brewery, this one so big you could fly a plane through the front door — or at least taxi in.
A Natural Course
July 07, 2017, Laura Kammerer
As a Carolina pharmacy student, David Foreman ’87 never anticipated he would venture far from the traditional drugstore. But after a family member sparked his interest in natural products, he followed his passion and became a go-to national expert in the field.
Avoiding the life of the starving artist
June 01, 2017, John Brunelli
The School of Music's SAVVY Arts Venture Challenge explores how a variety of business lessons are applicable to all arts disciplines. Musicians, dancers, actors, visual artists and even mimes learn what it takes to create a business.
Dirk Brown to direct new UofSC entrepreneur institute
May 17, 2017, Peggy Binette
The University of South Carolina has tapped tech entrepreneur, marketer and educator Dirk Brown to lead its recently established McNair Institute for Entrepreneurism and Free Enterprise.
Student-led Fashion Week to celebrate 10th anniversary
March 15, 2017, Allen Wallace
Fashion Board, a student organization in the College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management, will host its 10th annual Fashion Week March 20-24. Kat Kinslow, this year’s director of public relations for Fashion Board, says the week will be “one for the books.”
Meet the new boss
February 08, 2017, Melinda Waldrop
The process of picking a CEO might never be transparent, but researchers at the Center for Executive Succession are aiming to make it less mysterious — and more effective.
McNair opens new entrepreneur institute
November 03, 2016, Jeff Stensland
USC alumnus Bob McNair will visit Carolina on Thursday, Nov. 10 to announce the establishment of the $8 million McNair Institute for Entrepreneurism and Free Enterprise.
It's all about the kids
October 25, 2016, Dan Cook
Some teachers run from struggling students, but 2009 alumna Kari Croft has staked her career on trying to help them. Now she has a $10 million grant to establish RISE High, a charter school in Los Angeles aimed at serving students who are homeless, in foster care or facing other challenges that make it difficult for them to attend traditional schools.
Clothed in Hope
September 19, 2016, Allen Wallace
A UofSC alumna took her fashion merchandising degree and headed to Zambia. Her efforts to empower women there and help them break the cycle of poverty have succeeded beyond all expectations.
Web designer forges path, helps others find theirs
August 30, 2016, Dan Cook
When Gene Crawford was a student at USC in the early ’90s, he knew he wanted to combine graphic design with computers. He ended up forging a path in web design — and two decades later, he helps others enter the still-growing field.
Hitting the right notes
July 27, 2016, Dan Cook
When Bryan Gibson first visited the University of South Carolina in 1999 to audition for cello professor Robert Jesselson, it didn’t go well. Seventeen years later, Gibson is touring the world as a cellist and multi-instrumentalist — and Jesselson has fond memories of the student he once saw as unprepared for pursuing a career in music.
Remaking music education
May 31, 2016, Dan Cook
Today's musicians graduate into a world where they often need to cobble together their careers piece by piece — and that means they need more than just musical training. What exactly that training should be will be the focus of a major summit at the School of Music this week.
UofSC, IBM open Center for Innovation; announce new collaboration
April 14, 2016, Jeff Stensland
The University of South Carolina and IBM announced a broadening of their collaboration, applying cognitive capabilities and the Internet of Things (IoT) to develop new solutions for predictive analytics and maintenance. On Thursday the two organizations are hosted the grand opening of the $25 million Center for Applied Innovation, where university, IBM and private sector researchers—including Fluor Corporation—will use the technology for a host of real-world applications.
How fitting: Students create new business to modernize formalwear rentals
April 07, 2016, Olivia Currey
Back when Parker Moore was in high school, he and his friends spent upwards of three hours driving to and from the closest big city to get fitted for, pick up and return their rented tuxes for prom. Now a senior marketing and management major in the Darla Moore School of Business, Moore launched a business to reduce prom tux frustration. He is testing his Tux on Trux this prom season in South Carolina.
Students nurture growing business
February 23, 2016, Luci Clemens
After competing in the Proving Ground competition last semester, three University of South Carolina students are turning their business pitch into a reality — and they’re starting with your salad. John Stewart, Erin Ryan and Bri Matthews are introducing fresh, local lettuce to the Columbia campus dining with an agricultural method called hydroponics.
Start me up
January 12, 2016, Chris Horn
Columbia’s start-up culture is getting hotter, and Carolina is helping fan the entrepreneurial flames. Incubating companies is only part of the start-up equation. There’s a thriving entrepreneurial vibe now among students — enrollment in entrepreneurship classes has doubled and membership in the Entrepreneurship Club is at an all-time high — and the university has built an ecosystem on campus to foster that interest.
Enter the Ice Dragon
November 25, 2015, Craig Brandhorst
Andy Hayes and Dale McCants, two alumni of the University of South Carolina's doctoral program in mechanical engineering, are the masterminds behind the nanofluid coolant Ice Dragon, which is used by online gamers to cool high-end PCs. Now the two hope to use the same coolant on a larger scale to cool everything from motorcycle engines to office buildings.
Spreading the spark
October 16, 2015, Steven Powell
Carolina was the catalyst for his successful career, and alumnus Trey Ackerman wants to help a new generation of USC students to find similar professional success of their own.
Funny on the fly
September 23, 2015, Glenn Hare
For 20 years, Theatre 99 has been the epicenter of improvisational theatre in Charleston, attracting a cross-section of the city looking for something “edgy” to do on date night. The attic-turned-bare-bones theater above a Meeting Street bicycle shop is also where you’ll find Greg Tavares and Brandy Sullivan, both 1991 University of South Carolina theater graduates, making people laugh three nights a week.
Hotelier returns to Carolina, earns hospitality degree
September 03, 2015, Page Ivey
It's not often college students get to ask one of their classmates for an internship, but that's just what happened when Charleston hotelier Linn Lesesne decided to return to Carolina to finish her degree more than 30 years after she started it.
Enter the Ice Dragon
January 22, 2015, Craig Brandhorst
Andy Hayes and Dale McCants, two alumni of the University of South Carolina's doctoral program in mechanical engineering, are the masterminds behind the nanofluid coolant Ice Dragon, which is used by online gamers to cool high-end PCs. Now the two hope to use the same coolant on a larger scale to cool everything from motorcycle engines to office buildings.