The Daily Gamecock was on break this summer, but the university was not.
Over the summer, the University of South Carolina saw shifts in its leadership, made a deal with OpenAI and announced its participation in making a new accreditation agency alongside other Southern colleges. And next door, students are moving into a new apartment complex with over 900 beds and a few upcoming retail options.
OpenAI partnership
The university made a $1.5 million deal with OpenAI, which will give students on the Columbia campus enterprise access to ChatGPT, making it the first campus in South Carolina to do so, according to a university press release.
ChatGPT will provide students a new study tool, assistance with time management and a competitive advantage in the modern workforce, according to the press release. For faculty and staff, they can more efficiently plan lessons and grade work, the release added .
In an email to USC students, Vice President for Information Technology and CIO Brice Bible and J. Rex Tolliver, vice president for student affairs and academic support, wrote that the partnership will uphold “strict privacy standards to safeguard data.”
A new accreditation agency
USC is joining five other universities to create a new accreditation agency, the Commission for Public Higher Education.
“Innovating accreditation provides great benefits for universities, colleges, and our nation,” USC Board of Trustees Chair Thad Westbrook said in the statement announcing the effort. “The innovations we expect to implement will benefit students while making accreditation more efficient and more focused on outcomes, quality, and success.”
According to the South Carolina Daily Gazette, Westbrook said the new system could be more tailored towards large state college systems like USC and ease the burden of the reaccreditation process.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the commission will break the “activist-controlled accreditation monopoly,” referring to the current accreditation system as an “ideological stronghold” in a statement from June 26.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges is the current accreditor for universities in the Southeast.
The other institutions partnering for the commission are the State University System of Florida, the University System of Georgia, the University of North Carolina System, the University of Tennessee System and the Texas A&M University System.
President Randy Boyd of Tennessee’s system said the commission would increase competition between accreditors in his part of the announcing statement. Other system leaders included in the press release said the new agency would help improve the efficiency, lower the costs and increase the transparency of the accreditation process.
Provost resigns
Donna Arnett resigned as USC’s provost and executive vice president for academic affairs on Aug. 8, having served in the position for three years. She will continue working in her tenured position in the Arnold School of Public Health, USC President Michael Amiridis wrote in a letter to faculty.
Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, PhD, has been hired for a two-year interim term for the two positions. Fitzpatrick was the founding dean of USC’s McCausland College of Arts and Sciences in 2005 and is a Carolina Distinguished Professor in the College of Information and Communications, according to the provost’s webpage. She served as associate vice president and vice provost for special academic initiatives, vice president for system planning, interim chancellor of USC Upstate and vice provost for faculty affairs.
USC’s provost is in charge of every college and school within the university and leads the Division of Academic Affairs.
“I wish to express my gratitude to Provost Arnett for her unwavering dedication to student success and academic excellence during her three-year tenure,” Amiridis wrote in his letter. “Under her leadership, USC improved freshman to sophomore retention rates and launched several important initiatives aimed at improving the academic experience, including our new centralized academic advising system and the First-Generation Center for students.”
A dean leaves for Florida
An additional summer leadership shift was the resignation of Dean Joel Samuels of the McCausland College of Arts and Sciences. Samuels is headed to the University of Miami to serve as its provost and vice president for academic affairs.
Dean Thomas Hodges of the College of Education now serves as the interim dean for the College of Arts and Sciences. Once a permanent replacement is found, Hodges will return to his position in the College of Education.
While Hodges works in his new role, Angela Baum is filling in as interim dean in the College of Education. Baum is the senior associate dean for academic affairs within the College of Education.
“As we look forward to the new academic year, we are confident that these two leaders will ensure excellent stewardship of these colleges on behalf of our students, faculty and staff,” Amiridis and Fitzpatrick wrote in a letter announcing the changes.
A new academic center
In January, Westbrook announced that discussions were underway on a new academic center, which would give students interested in civics new paths and degree opportunities. This June, that became a reality when the board of trustees approved the Center for American Civic Leadership and Public Discourse.
Led by Christopher Tollefsen, a philosophy professor, the center will create new academic programs and promote bipartisan discussions on today’s political issues. It will also host public events on campus. It has an external advisory board of academics from around the country, and it will announce a faculty advisory committee in August, according to the center's website.
Robert P. George of Princeton University and Cornel West of Union Theological Seminary, both members of the center’s external advisory board, are the featured guests of the center’s first event. On Sept. 12, they will come to USC for a talk about how they remain close friends and collaborators while holding deeply different political and moral views, Tollefsen said.
Residents move in to Gateway 737
Gateway 737, a 940-bed student housing complex catty-cornered to Colonial Life Arena, opened its doors this fall. The apartments were a collaboration between USC’s Development Foundation and Holder Properties.
The bottom floor of Gateway 737 holds over 12,000 square feet of retail space. Currently, Chick-fil-a, Knowledge Perk Coffee Company and Roxanne’s Market are set to open locations in the complex this fall.