![A student celebrates the womens national basketball championship at the Thomas-Cooper reflecting pool.](/uofsc/images/post_images/2024/05_post_carosp24_fountain_quickpick_004.jpg)
No. 1 and Rising!
May 30, 2024, Craig Brandhorst and Kim Truett
A gallery of images that show the celebration of the women’s basketball championship in the Thomas-Cooper library reflection pool.
May 30, 2024, Craig Brandhorst and Kim Truett
A gallery of images that show the celebration of the women’s basketball championship in the Thomas-Cooper library reflection pool.
May 22, 2024, Page Ivey
Janine Davidson was impressive when she arrived at the University of South Carolina in 1998, having spent a decade in the U.S. Air Force as an aircraft commander and senior pilot. After USC, she became even more impressive.
May 17, 2024, Megan Sexton
Gamecock history is rich with standout student-athletes. A select few have taken it to the next level.
May 16, 2024, Rebekah Friedman
Van Robotics founder Laura Boccanfuso has a vision for improving education, one dancing, smiling, fist-bumping robot at a time.
May 15, 2024, story by Craig Brandhorst | photos by Kim Truett
Study abroad can change a student’s life. For Bierkeller founder Scott Burgess, it led to a dream come true.
May 15, 2024, Craig Brandhorst | photos by Kim Truett
The University of South Carolina is consistently recognized for having one of the top first-year experiences in the country. Carolinian asked nine random freshmen to share their perspectives on life at USC.
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.
February 06, 2024, Chris Horn
When it comes to risk factors for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, the Palmetto State checks every box, from high incidence of stroke and diabetes to heart disease and obesity.
February 06, 2024, Page Ivey
Health care professionals refer to the southeastern United States as the “Stroke Belt” for a reason. And South Carolina is essentially the buckle.
February 05, 2024, Chris Horn
Puggy Blackmon wants to improve more than your swing. As part of the team at PRISMA Health’s Motion Analysis and Performance Lab, the former USC golf coach is also improving lives.
February 05, 2024, Téa Smith
When Lee Patterson earned her master’s in social work in 2012, she never imagined putting it to use at Richland Library — or any library. Ten years later, she is doing exactly that.
January 24, 2024
As clinical director for the new USC Brain Health Network, Leo Bonilha brings a wealth of research expertise related to language recovery for aphasia patients and outcomes of epilepsy treatment.
January 24, 2024
When Patti Fabel was named executive director at USC’s Kennedy Pharmacy Innovation Center in 2017, the move marked a new phase in the clinical associate professor’s career.
January 24, 2024
An associate professor in the Arnold School of Public Health, Elizabeth Crouch is dedicated to improving health outcomes among rural and other vulnerable populations.
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 17, 2024, Craig Brandhorst
Attorney Joe Rice is one of the most respected plaintiff’s attorneys in the country. The cofounder of the Charleston-based Motley Rice law firm has secured hundreds of billions of dollars for clients, taking on Goliath-sized opponents like Big Tobacco and the financiers of 9/11.
January 17, 2024, Craig Brandhorst
MapQuest co-founder Chris Heivly has a history of helping early stage entrepreneurs. Now, he’s lending his expertise to a Columbia nonprofit aiming to boost the city’s tech sector.
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.
January 10, 2024, Gregory Hardy
Disaster Day is an annual professional development event at which Greenville-area emergency workers, first responders and School of Medicine students tend to volunteer victims in a simulated emergency.
January 09, 2024, Megan Sexton
Rates of sexually transmitted infections and HIV are higher in rural communities than urban areas in South Carolina. The Rural and Minority Health Research Center is working to understand and address the problem.
January 08, 2024, Megan Sexton
USC’s newest residential community opened last fall. Carolinian caught up with several new residents and their alumni parents at Move-In.
November 08, 2023, Craig Brandhorst
Seth Rose, ’03, was a first team All-American in men’s tennis, and he paid his alma mater back by helping finance two courts on campus But Rose’s love for the Gamecocks extends beyond tennis. The 2014 Gamecock Athletics Hall of Fame inductee is also a huge Gamecock football fan, and his philanthropy reflects it.
November 07, 2023, Rebekah Friedman
In the spring, audiences at USC had the chance to learn more about Jewish history from award-winning author and Holocaust expert Wendy Lower. Her weeklong fellowship with the university’s Jewish studies program was made possible by a generous gift from the Henry and Sylvia Yaschik Foundation.
November 06, 2023, Rebekah Friedman
South Carolina’s nursing shortage is an ongoing issue, and it is projected to worsen, particularly in the state’s rural areas. From Union to Walterboro, the USC system is on a mission to meet those needs.
August 25, 2023, Craig Brandhorst
Maria Hickman was a successful student athlete in college. Now executive associate athletics director at USC, she helps guide the success of the next generation.
August 25, 2023, Craig Brandhorst
Wesley and George Bryan IV made their mark on the greens as Gamecock golfers. The brothers are now teeing off as golf course owners.
August 24, 2023, Craig Brandhorst
Defensive end Travian Robertson nearly gave up football when his NFL career ended. Now the Gamecocks D-line coach is giving back — plus more.
August 17, 2023, Craig Brandhorst
No one expected Ray McManus to go to college. Three USC degrees later, he’s a professor of English at USC Sumter and a celebrated poet with three books under his belt.
August 16, 2023, Collyn Taylor
Athletics media mastermind Justin King owes his success to his team, but the USC alumnus has a singular vision and a passion for excellence.
August 15, 2023, Craig Brandhorst
In just two seasons, Head Football Coach Shane Beamer has changed the direction of USC’s football program. Entering his third year, fans are excited, his players are pumped, and his staff is ready to win.
August 14, 2023, Rebekah Friedman
In South Carolina, 42 percent of women have experienced intimate partner physical violence, sexual violence or stalking. Sara Barber knows the statistics. Since 2014, the University of South Carolina alumna has served as executive director of the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, a coalition of 22 organizations that connect survivors with emergency shelter, counseling and other services.
August 11, 2023, Megan Sexton
Walk through the doors at All Good Books, a thriving bookstore in the heart of Five Points, and you’ll see neat shelves filled with classics and new releases, a counter for coffee, beer and wine and – perhaps most important of all — a welcoming vibe.
August 07, 2023, Rebekah Friedman
After 46 years in the business, Bojangles knows how to do fried chicken. And alumna Stacey McCray, the company’s vice president of communications, knows how to promote it.
July 28, 2023, Craig Brandhorst
Gamecocks defensive line coach Travian Robertson almost walked away from football. But when he came back to the game he loves, he came back hard.
May 05, 2023, Craig Brandhorst / Illustrations by Dré Lopez
Evolutionary biologist Tim Mousseau has been studying the ecological effects of radiation at Chernobyl for decades, even during wartime.
April 27, 2023, Craig Brandhorst
Poet Ray McManus won a 2023 Governor’s Award for the Arts, but the USC Sumter English professor’s impact stretches beyond the page.
April 13, 2023, Craig Brandhorst
Alumnus Jim Barrow prefers to keep his philanthropy quiet, but when you’ve given as much support to your alma mater as he has, a thank-you is in order.
April 10, 2023, Rebekah Friedman
As senior director of policy and research at Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina, Chynna A. Phillips is taking on poverty one partnership at a time.
March 31, 2023, Megan Sexton / Photos by Kim Truett
Blue Sky begins a conversation about his six-decade career as an artist this way: “I should have been an engineer.” He swears he’s not joking. But think what Columbia would have lost if Blue Sky had not filled the public arena with color and whimsy and boldness and giant pieces of art that have become Capital City landmarks.
February 10, 2023, Page Ivey
CarolinaTIP focuses on teachers in their first three years as they transition from learning how to teach to leading their own classrooms. About half of all South Carolina teachers who leave their jobs each year are in their first five years of working in the classroom. The Carolina Teacher Induction Program has reduced the number of new teachers leaving the profession by offering them coaching support from more experienced classroom leaders — most of whom are retired instructors who want to give back to the profession.
January 30, 2023, Megan Sexton
Hope Rivers, a first-generation college student who earned three degrees from USC, is inspiring a new generation of students as the president of Piedmont Technical College.
January 18, 2023, Craig Brandhorst
First Lady Ero Aggelopoulou-Amiridis holds two graduate degrees from USC — a master’s in art history and a Ph.D. in philosophy. Her intellectual curiosity is how she makes sense of the world.
January 17, 2023, Rebekah Friedman
Indigo is tightly woven into South Carolina history, but few have worked with the rich natural dye since it fell out of favor nearly 150 years ago. Alumna Caroline Harper is bringing it back.
January 05, 2023, Page Ivey
Basketball-wise, Dawn Staley has done it all. As a player, she won MVP trophies and gold medals. As a coach, she has won national titles, coach of the year honors and more gold medals. As a mentor, she has watched Gamecock power forward turned WNBA superstar A’ja Wilson win season MVP and a WNBA championship. But Staley also transcends the sport, raising awareness for issues she cares about and money for causes she believes in. At her core, she is an advocate — for her players, first, but also for people whose voices might not be heard.
November 16, 2022, Craig Brandhorst
School of Law alumna J. Michelle Childs was appointed circuit judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit this summer. Carolinian sat down with her to discuss her time at USC and her career on the bench.
November 15, 2022, Chris Horn
A lot can change in four decades. Having served six presidents and shepherded more than 160,000 Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials and Gen Zers to graduation, the longest-serving VP for student affairs in school history is calling it a career.
November 15, 2022, Craig Brandhorst
Langston Moore and Preston Thorne made a big impact on the football field at Williams-Brice. Now the former Gamecock defensive lineman make their impact writing children’s books and visiting schools.
August 05, 2022, Chris Horn
Reedy Newton is the university’s new student government president. Her mom, Rose Buyck Newton, is on the Board of Trustees. Gamecock leadership is a family tradition.
July 26, 2022, Craig Brandhorst
This summer, the James Beard Foundation honored Chai Pani with its Outstanding Restaurant award. Three decades ago, owner Meherwan Irani was just starting to cook — as a grad student at USC.
June 07, 2022, Craig Brandhorst
The university’s Anne Frank Center is dedicated to the legacy of the famous Holocaust diarist — and is committed to changing the world through education and conversation.
May 09, 2022, Chris Horn
In his nearly 40-year career as a photojournalist, Win McNamee has documented world history and national calamity — and periodically found himself in the thick of the action.
May 05, 2022, Craig Brandhorst
Kev Roche has turned his artistic talent and quick wit into a lucrative "hustle" drawing illustrations for ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. The 2005 studio art major also has illustrated a book by two former Gamecock football players as well as given UofSC's beloved mascot Cocky a cartoon makeover.
May 02, 2022, Craig Brandhorst
Incoming University of South Carolina President Michael Amiridis is going to miss the University of Illinois Chicago, but he has zero misgivings about the new job. In fact, the former UofSC faculty member-turned-administrator is thrilled to return to the campus where he cut his academic teeth.
April 11, 2022, Craig Brandhorst
Romance, historical fiction, sci-fi — for young adult novelist Shanna Miles, it’s all fair game. It’s also rocket fuel for the imagination, whether she’s typing up the next interstellar adventure or turning kids on to reading and writing as a virtual school librarian.
February 24, 2022, Craig Brandhorst; Photos by Kim Truett
In the age of digital overload and the COVID-19 pandemic, we need our public parks and gardens more than ever. Alumni Robin Salmon, Tracy Swartout and Karen Kustafik are here to help us escape.
December 14, 2021, Megan Sexton
Alumna Carrie Morey is the founder and face of Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit, which includes restaurants in three states, a thriving online and grocery store business, a new cookbook and a PBS television show.