Anniversary Message from Chancellor Stockwell
As we draw our attention to the forty year history of USC Upstate, I reviewed an earlier University publication celebrating our 25th year. Its lead article opened with reminiscences of history professor Dr. John Edmunds, and one of five founding faculty members. “I taught in a long classroom that had great pipes over the top, and I had to talk above the clanging of the pipes because they took all the steam for the hospital building from the laundry.” The location was the basement of the nurses’ residence at what was then Spartanburg General Hospital where classes were offered during the first semesters of the University’s operation.
Marian Murph, the first staff member, said of the initial 10 years during which the University passed the 2,000 enrollment mark, “no one can ever know how much fun that was.”
“We were all young,” Edmunds said, “young students, young faculty … and there was tremendous zest. The enthusiasm was just contagious.” He concludes, “the surroundings were humble but the mission was exciting.”
The mission was to build a university. It was focused. It was real. It was compelling.
We’ve come a long way since then, as reflection on the past four decades makes clear. The zest of youth was the catalyst in those early years. A mission of overwhelming importance is the catalyst now and into the future … our “metropolitan mission” … a commitment to academic excellence framed by deep engagements across Upstate South Carolina.
As we pursue our mission, enrollments continue to grow (approaching 5,000) reflecting the growth of the Upstate. The main campus occupies nearly 300 acres, beautifully landscaped with its quadrangles surrounded by academic buildings, athletic facilities and student residential housing. The massive new Health Education Complex is under construction, defining the north end of the academic core of the campus. Robust downtown operations are evident in both Spartanburg and Greenville. Two hundred extremely well-credentialed faculty members support the excellent academic reputation of the University (three of whom in successive years have won Fulbright Awards, as profiled in this issue). And the University has repositioned its athletics program in NCAA Division I, beginning this fall.
Forty years later, it’s even more exciting … and it’s still fun!
John C. Stockwell
Chancellor