The University of South Carolina (also known as USC, South Carolina, or simply Carolina) is a public, coeducational, research university. The main campus is located in Columbia, South Carolina and is part of the University of South Carolina System. Founded in 1801, the university offers programs of study leading to bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from sixteen degree-granting academic divisions. It currently enrolls over 25,000 students; the president of USC is Andrew J. Sorenson.

History

The university was founded as South Carolina College on December 19, 1801, and is the first state-supported institute of higher learning in the United States. It closed during the United States Civil War due to a lack of students, re-opening in 1866. During Reconstruction, the university was the only one in the South to admit and grant degrees to blacks. Once Reconstruction ended, the university was closed for three years and then reopened in 1880 as a whites-only agricultural college.

In 1906, the institution was rechartered as the University of South Carolina. In the 1950s, other campuses across the state began to be established. On September 11, 1963, as a result of a court order, the university admitted three African-Americans, the first since Reconstruction.

Campus

The first building at South Carolina College was Rutledge Chapel, which served as a residence hall, chapel, administrative office and academic building at the same time. Soon after, DeSaussure College was built. Surrounding these two buildings, others were constructed in the shape of a horseshoe. Among them was Caroliniana Library, the first freestanding library in the United States.

The horseshoe is situated in downtown Columbia, one block to the southeast of the State Capitol. During the 20th century, the campus began to spread out dramatically in every direction but northwest. Today it includes the student union, 21 residence halls, numerous academic buildings, Longstreet Theatre, the Koger Center for the Arts, the Carolina Coliseum, the Colonial Center, Sarge Frye Field , and various facilities for Olympic sports.

Recent additions to the campus are the Greek village and the Strom Thurmond Fitness and Wellness Center, the largest facility of its kind on a college campus in the United States.

West Quad was opened in the fall of 2004; this residence hall believed to be one of only four in the world to be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.

Future plans include the construction of a research campus, mainly between the horseshoe and the Congaree river ; a new home for the Arnold School of Public Health ; and a new baseball stadium adjacent to the Colonial Center.

Colleges and schools

• College of Arts and Sciences (Merged in Spring 2005)
• South Carolina Honors College
• The Graduate School
• College of Education
• School of Music
• College of Mass Communications and Information Studies
• Moore School of Business
• College of Engineering and Information Technology
• College of Hospitality, Retail, and Sport Management
• School of the Environment
• College of Social Work
• School of Law
• School of Medicine
• College of Nursing
• College of Pharmacy
• Arnold School of Public Health

Students

Approximately 26,000 students attend the University of South Carolina, Columbia. (Another 11,000 students study at several regional campuses of the USC System, including Spartanburg and Beaufort.)

Almost all freshman live on campus, and a total of 8,000 reside in campus housing. This number continues to grow, and the university is in the process of adding more suite-style resident halls. Popular off-campus housing includes the University Commons and Sterling University. The two main social points are Five Points and the Congaree Vista.

The Greek system at USC is less popular than at marge universities in other southern states. However, with the addition of the Greek village, built between 2002 and 2004, an increase in interest is expected.

Athletics

Carolina's 18 collegiate sports teams are known as the Fighting Gamecocks. They all compete at the Division I level of the NCAA and all sports but men's soccer compete in the Southeastern Conference (East Division). The school colors are garnet and black.

The university was a founding member of the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1953, but it left in 1971 after disputes over the conference's recruiting regulations and the dominance of four North Carolina schools. The USC football team then started competing as an independent and other sports competed in the Metro Conference . In 1992, USC joined the SEC together with the University of Arkansas to bring membership total to 12.

Football is the school's most popular sport, and standing-room-only crowds are common at 82,000-seat Williams-Brice Stadium. After the retirement of Lou Holtz from the coaching ranks in 2004, the university hired Steve Spurrier to lead the Gamecock football program.

Basketball has been a popular sport ever since Frank McGuire was the head coach in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Under his watch, the university built the 12,000-seat Carolina Coliseum. Starting in the 2002-2003 season the Gamecock basketball teams started playing in the 18,000-seat Colonial Center. Before the 2001-2002 season, Dave Odom became the school's basketball head coach. In 2005, USC won the NIT, which is the secondary tournament to the NCAA.

The baseball teams also have been successful over the years. Under Head Coach Ray Tanner, the team made three consecutive appearances at the College World Series from 2002 to 2004. The school has been the national runner-up on three different occasions.

Other successful programs include men's soccer, track & field, softball, and women's basketball.

Clemson University is South Carolina's in-state rival, and the two schools compete in all sponsored sports aside from softball and equestrian. Another rival is the University of Georgia.

Notable Faculty

Elise Blackwell teaches in the Creative Writing program. She is the author of Hunger, a 2003 Los Angeles Times notable book that Nobel Prize Literature Laureate J. M. Coetzee has described as "original and engrossing."

Notable Alumni

Some of USC's more notable alumni are:

• 35 South Carolina Governors, including:
  • Jim Hodges
  • David Muldrow Beasley
  • Carroll Ashmore Campbell, Jr.
  • Ernest "Fritz" Hollings (also a U.S. Senator
  • Robert McNair (also owner of the Houston Texans)

• Hootie and the Blowfish (all four band members attended the university; Jim Sonefeld played on the USC soccer team)
• Aleen Bailey, Olympic gold medal winner
• Andrew Card, President George W. Bush's Chief of Staff
• Rita Cosby , Fox News correspondent
• Mike Dunleavy, Sr., NBA head coach
• Dawn Ellerbe , U.S. Track & Field Champion, U.S. Olympian
• Alex English, NBA star and basketball Hall of Famer (top ten all-time scorer with 25,343 points)
• Adam Everett, shortstop for the Houston Astros and an Olympic gold medal winner
• Charles Frazier, author of the best-selling novel Cold Mountain
• Lindsey Graham, U.S. Senator
• Otis Harris, Olympic medalist
• Jasper Johns, artist
• Hootie Johnson , Chairman, Augusta National Golf Club
• Shannon Johnson, WNBA player and an Olympic medalist
• Clint Mathis, current member of the U.S. national soccer team
• Darla Moore , successful banker (the Moore School of Business is named after her)
• Brian Roberts, infielder for the Baltimore Orioles
• George Rogers, Heisman Trophy winner
• Sterling Sharpe, former NFL player and ESPN show host
• John Swearingen , former chairman of Standard Oil
• Terrence Trammell, U.S. silver medalist in 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics (world champion in 60-meter hurdles)
• Tonique Williams-Darling, U.S. gold medalist in 2004 Summer Olympics (400 meters)
• Van Earl Wright , anchor for Fox Sports
• Lillian Garcia, WWE ring announcer

Other campuses

• University of South Carolina Aiken
• University of South Carolina Beaufort
• University of South Carolina Lancaster
• University of South Carolina Salkehatchie
• University of South Carolina Sumter
• University of South Carolina Union
• University of South Carolina Upstate

External links

• University of South Carolina
• USC Campus
• Official Athletics Site