University of South Carolina Sumter
Encyclopedia
The University of South Carolina Sumter is a public university
located in Sumter, South Carolina
. One of the 7 regional USC campuses and is currently an accredited two-year school in the University of South Carolina System
, it is home to approximately 1,500 students. It is fully accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
.
to establish an academic branch of Clemson in Sumter at the old Sumter Airport site on Miller Road. This was Clemson's first such branch. The original campus consisted or four buildings and was designed to accommodate 550 students. The initial enrollment of 97 had grown to only 245 by 1973. in 1973. Upset by this poor growth rate, the Commission successfully negotiated with Clemson and USC to terminate the Sumter branch's relationship with Clemson and to become a branch of the USC System.
USC Sumter now has an enrollment of over 1,000 per academic year. USC Sumter confers two-year associate's degrees and also offers baccalaureate degree programs in business administration, elementary education, nursing, early childhood education, and interdisciplinary studies
.
The University of South Carolina Sumter announced Monday, October 30, 2006 the return of intercollegiate athletics to the campus. Competitive sports have not been on campus since the 1970s, when the mascot was The Partisans and the school colors were purple and white.
University of South Carolina Sumter now sponsors four collegiate teams known as the Fire Ants. The athletic department colors are garnet and white, while the university's colors are garnet, black, and white. The teams compete in Region X of Division I in the NJCAA
. These sports are men's baseball
and soccer, and women's soccer and softball
. The USC Sumter Fire Ants began playing in the 2007-2008 academic year with baseball and softball. Men's and women's soccer began play in the Fall of 2008. The University plans to add more sports as the support grows for its teams.
The baseball team plays at Riley Park
, three miles east of campus. The softball team plays at Palmetto Park, a half mile northwest of campus. The soccer field is on campus.
The baseball team in its 2nd season won the 2009 NJCAA Region X regular season title. The Fire Ants would finish third in the Eastern District with a record of 52-11.
Kershaw, and Williamsburg counties) are in a state of economic transition. That transition
amounts to a movement away from the region’s traditional industries that require low-cost,
low-skill labor and toward knowledge-intensive industries that require the kind of highly
skilled workers who are typically the product of higher education. According to one
administrator at the University of South Carolina Sumter, the Sumter area has lost about
one-third of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000, and the Dean of the Sumter campus
expects this trend to continue, as more manufacturing firms move their operations offshore
in search of cheaper labor.1 The transition appears to be in its earliest stages, however. The
area’s major employers continue to be manufacturing firms, though local officials believe that
the recent decision to relocate the Third Army to Shaw Air Force Base
will significantly change the area’s population and employment bases over the next five years or so.
Though the local desire pre-dates recent job losses, it is primarily in this context that
representatives of the community of Sumter (the Dean of the Sumter campus, the local
Chamber of Commerce and other economic development officials, and several members of the
Sumter delegation to the state legislature) have petitioned the president of the University of
South Carolina to support changing the University of South Carolina Sumter from a two-year
institution to a four-year institution. Among community representatives, this is seen
not only as an economic development imperative to attract new business and industry to the
region but as a quality of life issue and a matter of civic pride. Initially, the President’s
response to the petition was that the political and economic climate in the state precluded
the addition of another full-service institution to the USC system, but the community has
persisted in its request, even to the point of introducing an act in the legislature to mandate the change of status. The act initially passed without funding, but has since been
unattached from another bill and is now subject to a new process of introduction and debate.
In response to this persistence, President Sorensen strengthened his expression of five
conditions to be met before he would consider supporting the change of status for USC
Sumter. The first of these conditions relates to enrollment—which, on both a headcount and
an FTE basis, has been steadily declining at USC Sumter since about the mid-1990s, despite
increases in both faculty size and budget. The second condition calls for increases in faculty
scholarly productivity, since total faculty publications are at this time less than the output of a single professor at a typical research university. Related to scholarly productivity, the
President calls for dramatic increases in external research support, since USC Sumter’s
current research earnings are the lowest of any regional campus in the system.5 The fourth
Dean Carpenter has noted for example, that recent changes in the textile industry indicate that in the near future, there will be no textile-related jobs in the state of South Carolina.
Students located in Sumter currently can pursue four-year degree options in Business and
Teacher Education, but these degrees are technically offered by other regional campuses
within the University of South Carolina system; and though students enrolled in these
programs remain, for the most part, at Sumter and are taught by Sumter faculty, they are
technically students of the other campuses and ultimately receive their degrees from those
campuses.More recently, under a new director of admission, enrollment has begun to stabilize.Faculty at Sumter typically teach a 4-4 load, though this is standard among the regional
campuses. The Dean has also said, "We have a particular concern about research in the sciences. USC Sumter is in desperate
need of a new science building, since its current facility is not adequate even for lower
division teaching." Research space for all faculty is confined to a single bench in teaching
condition calls for Sumter to lower substantially its FTE expenditures per student; and the
final condition—beyond Sumter’s control—is the development of an economic climate in the
state of South Carolina that would make feasible Sumter’s growth in mission.
In response to these conditions USC Sumter officials revised a campus transition plan that
includes hiring over time new research-oriented faculty and assumes that the costs of
transition can be funded out of enrollment increases, for which tactical actions and goals are
provided. These actions include counting as USC Sumter students those students currently
enrolled in programs conducted in partnership with other regional campuses, attracting
greater numbers of new first-time students, and retaining greater numbers of students who
transfer out, stop out, or drop out.
In order to help USC system administrators evaluate the long-term prospects for USC
Sumter as a four-year institution, University officials from the office of the Provost
contacted Yardley Research Group in August 2006, to conduct assessments of both market
demand for four-year degrees at USC Sumter and the marketability and feasibility of USC
Sumter as a four-year institution. The work on the project commenced on September 20,
2006, with a background meeting with Provost’s staff in Columbia and has continued with in almost the last four years through
several visits to the campus in Sumter and the collection and analysis of various data sets to
help reach conclusions about expansion of labs, with the possibility of increased space in the Summer could
be credible scientific research taking place in the present facilities. Funding for a new science
building is currently high on the state’s priority list, though it is not clear if the building
being planned will be appropriate for a four-year campus or for faculty research.
Public university
A public university is a university that is predominantly funded by public means through a national or subnational government, as opposed to private universities. A national university may or may not be considered a public university, depending on regions...
located in Sumter, South Carolina
Sumter, South Carolina
-Demographics:, there were 59,180 people, 34,717 households, and 4,049 families living in the city. The population density was 4,469.5 people per square mile . There were 416,032 housing units at an average density of 603.0 per square mile...
. One of the 7 regional USC campuses and is currently an accredited two-year school in the University of South Carolina System
University of South Carolina System
The University of South Carolina System is a state university system of eight campuses set up in 1957 to expand the educational opportunities of the citizens of South Carolina as well as extend the reach of the University of South Carolina throughout the state...
, it is home to approximately 1,500 students. It is fully accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools is one of the six regional accreditation organizations recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation...
.
Colleges and Schools
- College of Arts and Sciences
- School of Nursing
- School of Business Administration
- School of Education
- School of Interdisciplinary Studies
History
In 1965 the Sumter County Commission on Higher Education, desiring to fulfill its purpose of starting or bringing a public college to Sumter, entered into an agreement with Clemson UniversityClemson University
Clemson University is an American public, coeducational, land-grant, sea-grant, research university located in Clemson, South Carolina, United States....
to establish an academic branch of Clemson in Sumter at the old Sumter Airport site on Miller Road. This was Clemson's first such branch. The original campus consisted or four buildings and was designed to accommodate 550 students. The initial enrollment of 97 had grown to only 245 by 1973. in 1973. Upset by this poor growth rate, the Commission successfully negotiated with Clemson and USC to terminate the Sumter branch's relationship with Clemson and to become a branch of the USC System.
USC Sumter now has an enrollment of over 1,000 per academic year. USC Sumter confers two-year associate's degrees and also offers baccalaureate degree programs in business administration, elementary education, nursing, early childhood education, and interdisciplinary studies
.
Athletics
University of South Carolina Sumter now sponsors four collegiate teams known as the Fire Ants. The athletic department colors are garnet and white, while the university's colors are garnet, black, and white. The teams compete in Region X of Division I in the NJCAA
National Junior College Athletic Association
The National Junior College Athletic Association , founded in 1938, is an association of community college and junior college athletic departments throughout the United States. It is held as Divisions and Regions. The current NJCAA holds 24 separate regions.-History:The idea for the NJCAA was...
. These sports are men's baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
and soccer, and women's soccer and softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
. The USC Sumter Fire Ants began playing in the 2007-2008 academic year with baseball and softball. Men's and women's soccer began play in the Fall of 2008. The University plans to add more sports as the support grows for its teams.
The baseball team plays at Riley Park
Riley Park (Sumter)
Riley Park is a stadium in Sumter, South Carolina. It is primarily used for baseball and was the home of Sumter Braves. Today the stadium is mostly used for American Legion Baseball in the summer. It is also home to the USC Sumter Fire Ants of the NJCAA and the Morris College Hornets of the NAIA....
, three miles east of campus. The softball team plays at Palmetto Park, a half mile northwest of campus. The soccer field is on campus.
The baseball team in its 2nd season won the 2009 NJCAA Region X regular season title. The Fire Ants would finish third in the Eastern District with a record of 52-11.
Recent Proposal to Convert From Two-Year to Four-Year College
The city of Sumter, South Carolina and the area surrounding it (the county of Sumter itself, Lee, Clarendon,Kershaw, and Williamsburg counties) are in a state of economic transition. That transition
amounts to a movement away from the region’s traditional industries that require low-cost,
low-skill labor and toward knowledge-intensive industries that require the kind of highly
skilled workers who are typically the product of higher education. According to one
administrator at the University of South Carolina Sumter, the Sumter area has lost about
one-third of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000, and the Dean of the Sumter campus
expects this trend to continue, as more manufacturing firms move their operations offshore
in search of cheaper labor.1 The transition appears to be in its earliest stages, however. The
area’s major employers continue to be manufacturing firms, though local officials believe that
the recent decision to relocate the Third Army to Shaw Air Force Base
Shaw Air Force Base
Shaw Air Force Base is a United States Military facility located approximately west-northwest of Sumter, South Carolina. It is under the jurisdiction of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command...
will significantly change the area’s population and employment bases over the next five years or so.
Though the local desire pre-dates recent job losses, it is primarily in this context that
representatives of the community of Sumter (the Dean of the Sumter campus, the local
Chamber of Commerce and other economic development officials, and several members of the
Sumter delegation to the state legislature) have petitioned the president of the University of
South Carolina to support changing the University of South Carolina Sumter from a two-year
institution to a four-year institution. Among community representatives, this is seen
not only as an economic development imperative to attract new business and industry to the
region but as a quality of life issue and a matter of civic pride. Initially, the President’s
response to the petition was that the political and economic climate in the state precluded
the addition of another full-service institution to the USC system, but the community has
persisted in its request, even to the point of introducing an act in the legislature to mandate the change of status. The act initially passed without funding, but has since been
unattached from another bill and is now subject to a new process of introduction and debate.
In response to this persistence, President Sorensen strengthened his expression of five
conditions to be met before he would consider supporting the change of status for USC
Sumter. The first of these conditions relates to enrollment—which, on both a headcount and
an FTE basis, has been steadily declining at USC Sumter since about the mid-1990s, despite
increases in both faculty size and budget. The second condition calls for increases in faculty
scholarly productivity, since total faculty publications are at this time less than the output of a single professor at a typical research university. Related to scholarly productivity, the
President calls for dramatic increases in external research support, since USC Sumter’s
current research earnings are the lowest of any regional campus in the system.5 The fourth
Dean Carpenter has noted for example, that recent changes in the textile industry indicate that in the near future, there will be no textile-related jobs in the state of South Carolina.
Students located in Sumter currently can pursue four-year degree options in Business and
Teacher Education, but these degrees are technically offered by other regional campuses
within the University of South Carolina system; and though students enrolled in these
programs remain, for the most part, at Sumter and are taught by Sumter faculty, they are
technically students of the other campuses and ultimately receive their degrees from those
campuses.More recently, under a new director of admission, enrollment has begun to stabilize.Faculty at Sumter typically teach a 4-4 load, though this is standard among the regional
campuses. The Dean has also said, "We have a particular concern about research in the sciences. USC Sumter is in desperate
need of a new science building, since its current facility is not adequate even for lower
division teaching." Research space for all faculty is confined to a single bench in teaching
condition calls for Sumter to lower substantially its FTE expenditures per student; and the
final condition—beyond Sumter’s control—is the development of an economic climate in the
state of South Carolina that would make feasible Sumter’s growth in mission.
In response to these conditions USC Sumter officials revised a campus transition plan that
includes hiring over time new research-oriented faculty and assumes that the costs of
transition can be funded out of enrollment increases, for which tactical actions and goals are
provided. These actions include counting as USC Sumter students those students currently
enrolled in programs conducted in partnership with other regional campuses, attracting
greater numbers of new first-time students, and retaining greater numbers of students who
transfer out, stop out, or drop out.
In order to help USC system administrators evaluate the long-term prospects for USC
Sumter as a four-year institution, University officials from the office of the Provost
contacted Yardley Research Group in August 2006, to conduct assessments of both market
demand for four-year degrees at USC Sumter and the marketability and feasibility of USC
Sumter as a four-year institution. The work on the project commenced on September 20,
2006, with a background meeting with Provost’s staff in Columbia and has continued with in almost the last four years through
several visits to the campus in Sumter and the collection and analysis of various data sets to
help reach conclusions about expansion of labs, with the possibility of increased space in the Summer could
be credible scientific research taking place in the present facilities. Funding for a new science
building is currently high on the state’s priority list, though it is not clear if the building
being planned will be appropriate for a four-year campus or for faculty research.