New hires will help university meet goal of 200 instructors by 2015
USC is set to hire 100 new faculty members in the next year, thanks in part to a steady increase in private donations.
The new positions are divided among USC Columbia’s schools and colleges, and Vice Provost Christine Curtis expects to bring in between 30 and 60 instructors and researchers to fill both part-time and full-time positions. These appointments will be made in addition to replenishments for recently vacated tenure positions.
“The offers are out,” Curtis said. “A good fraction of those will be hired for this fall, but we won’t know until Aug. 16. The exact number will depend on how good we are in recruiting.”
With 100 new positions created, Curtis said USC is well on its way to fulfilling its goal of adding 200 new faculty members by 2015 — at a total projected cost of about $200 million. Curtis said USC has the funds ready for the newly advertised positions.
The initiative is a major component of the Carolina’s Promise campaign, which aims to raise a total of $1 billion by 2015 to fund new buildings and maintenance projects, employ more faculty and improve academic and student life programs across campus. With nearly $530 million at its kickoff in November 2011, the campaign has raised an additional $27 million to date.
Private donations to the university have been on the rise since 2005, according to Director of Annual Giving Steve Farwick. More than 40,000 donors contributed an unprecedented $122 million in the 2010–11 academic year.
However, how these funds are spent among the campaign’s priorities — whether for faculty research, student scholarship or a new athletic stadium — is at the discretion of the university’s private benefactors. The university has more than 4,000 funds for prospective donors to choose from.
As the flagship university for the state with the greatest reduction in higher education funding, donations are becoming a major factor for which initiatives happen and which are deferred. For Curtis, donators’ consideration will be even more essential to academic life, especially when maintaining a faculty comes at a price tag of $200 million.
“It makes a huge difference when a program is funded, particularly when there’s an endowed chair,” Curtis said. “It gives us the opportunity to expand our areas of expertise and also makes possible courses in new areas for undergraduates. It’s going to make a huge difference at this institution and strengthen us substantially.”