Higher education in South Carolina

[CorgiMatt]

Higher education in South Carolina just got a big boost with the hiring of USC's new president.

http://www.thestate.com/local/story/459499.html

[Spartan]

It seems like Pastides will be a good president for USC. His involvement with the SC Research Board and Innovista should put him in a good position to continue- and hopefully accelerate- the progress that has been happening at USC.

One observation I have is that it seems like there is less "fanfare" (for lack of a better term) for Pastides than there was when Sorenson was hired. Maybe its because Sorenson followed the Palms era...

[GvilleSC]

This is HUGE news for the state of South Carolina.

Clemson University has been ranked 22nd among public universities in the US by US News and World Report. Last year Clemson was ranked at 27.

Clemson also claimed the number 2 spot in the "up and coming institutions" list.

The quest for Clemson to be a top-20 university is getting ever-closer to reality.

http://www.clemson.edu/newsroom/articles/t...wsRank0809.php5

[CorgiMatt]

And despite it's broader mission of educating more South Carolinians, USC isn't looking too shabby either.

http://uscnews.sc.edu/2008/08222008-ADMN262.html

[Spartan]

Thats great news for both schools. I'm impressed that Clemson was able to make that much of a jump over last year. I've always appreciated the fact that Clemson set that ranking goal and has worked to make it happen.

[CorgiMatt]

USC has another record year raising research funds.

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs....NEWS01/80825027

Here's another article about it.

http://uscnews.sc.edu/2008/08252008-RSRC264.html

Edited August 25, 2008 by CorgiMatt

[GvilleSC]

Clemson University's "Taps" yearbook has been named the nation's most outstanding college yearbook for the fourth straight year. Taps is 102 years old and will print its 100th volume this year (none were produced during 1944 or 1945 due to WWII).

link to the article from The Greenville News

Clemson researchers also had a hand in the research of an Eco-friendly bottle that will be in stores later this month.

Clemson researchers Danny Roberts and David Gangemi worked to develop the recyclable, biodegradable, petroleum-free containers using research grants from the nutraceutical industry.

The bottle is stronger than and lighter than glass. They are applying for a patent, which Clemson will own.

Pretty cool!

[CorgiMatt]

Greenville Tech has surpassed Clemson in number of undergraduate students and now trails only USC-Columbia out of all S.C. colleges and universities. I wonder when they'll field a football team.

[GvilleSC]

Yea, Greenville Tech has had some great leadership over the past several years and is part of the reason that the Upstate is such a driving force in the South Carolina economy. I'm glad they're growing. Within the next ten years, GTC will be a four year institution.

It also should be noted that enrollment means little when talking about the quality of an education. I'll leave it at that.

In other higher education news, Clemson University has surpassed its goal of $150 million in research for a fiscal year. It was laid out as a 10 year goal when Barker became president. It's still within that time period and has been exceeded! Clemson continues to head in the right direction for the top-20. Barker is definitely the right man to lead the university into the future.

[Spartan]

The College of Charleston is starting a marketing campaign in Greenville, Spartanburg, and Columbia to bring in more of the state's brightest. They tend to loose applicants to USC and Clemson. I think its a worthwhile effort. I'm not sure where CofC stands on this, but I think they are the only institution in SC that has the potential to compete with USC and Clemson as a leading in-state institution in terms of both academics and athletics. I would like to see them add about 5,000 in population to put them closer to where Clemson is today. Then I'd like to see them start up a football program. I would like to see a third D1-A school in SC.

Post & Courier Article

[CorgiMatt]

So that we have not two but three Division 1 schools in our little state competing against each other for Division 1 caliber athletes? Hmm.

[Spartan]

Yes. Division 1 - A. We have many more DI-AA schools.

[monsoon]

The College of Charleston is starting a marketing campaign in Greenville, Spartanburg, and Columbia to bring in more of the state's brightest.....

I had always thought the College of Charleston was a more competitive school to get into over USC and Clemson becasue for one thing, demand had been higher than open slots and thus the school had the opportunity to demand higher standards. Maybe this is no longer the case.

[Spartan]

I've always perceived it to be on par with the other two, it just has a smaller student body so its not as prominent as Clemson or Carolina within the state.

[GvilleSC]

I had always thought the College of Charleston was a more competitive school to get into over USC and Clemson becasue for one thing, demand had been higher than open slots and thus the school had the opportunity to demand higher standards. Maybe this is no longer the case.

I don't think it's fair to say 'more competitive' in the recent past. It's really close.

The average SAT scores for the 2004 freshman classes:

Clemson: 1,204

College of Charleston: 1,208

U. of South Carolina: 1,148

The average SAT scores for the 2007 freshman classes:

Clemson: 1,221

College of Charleston: 1,220

U. of South Carolina: 1,185

[krazeeboi]

^I have to keep in mind that they've changed the SAT grading scales since I was in high school.

[GvilleSC]

^I have to keep in mind that they've changed the SAT grading scales since I was in high school.

The 2004 scores would still be on the 1600 scale. I'm guessing that the 2007 scale must be excluding the writing portion, too. I doubt there'd be that small of an increase with an additional 800 pts up for grabs.

[Greenville]

^It is still using the old scale (1600 maximum) for comparison purposes. The averages would be much higher if they were using the new scale.

[MikesLogic]

The College of Charleston is trying to attract more in-state students it has a high ratio of out-of-state students to in-state and they would like to change that.

[CorgiMatt]

Two USC researchers have just won major national honors, doing their part to help the university maintain its status as South Carolina's only Carnegie-designated university of "very high research activity."

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2008/no...t_major_honors/

[CorgiMatt]

The University of South Carolina and Clemson University are making great strides in their engineering departments. The attached article explains their successes and goals. They are determined to make our state a renowned training ground for engineers.

http://www.columbiabusinessreport.com/news...-programs?rss=0

[Spartan]

This is good to see. This is SC's "clustering" strategy in action.

[Spartan]

I'm a fan of responsible budgeting, and usually Mark Sanford is on target with it, but his proposed cuts to our higher education system are just beyond what I ever expected.

Looking at the proposed budget, I see the following:

Examples include phasing out the USC branches of Union, Lancaster, and Salkehatchie over a two-year period.

It starts on page 122. Its quite a read. Some of it makes sense, but the general idea of slashing our education budget by $120 million is an atrocity.

[CorgiMatt]

Even in this economy the University of South Carolina's grants for research are up compared to last year. It is a reflection of the quality of research going on at USC and of the caliber of faculty applying for the grants.

http://www.columbiabusinessreport.com/news...last-year?rss=0

[CorgiMatt]

From the sound of the attached article from Free Times, the University of South Carolina could be front and center in receiving economic stimulus money for research.

http://www.free-times.com/index.php?cat=19...010403093774856