Heading into 2025, the field of higher education faced significant challenges at the national level, from free-speech debates to research funding cuts and more. But at the University of South Carolina, all signs point to dynamic growth and institutional strength.
From record-setting enrollment and new heights in fundraising to the ongoing progress on a forthcoming Health Sciences Campus, USC’s momentum is both impressive and inspiring.
Here’s a look at a few of this year’s highlights.
Record enrollment, fundraising and research
There are lots of factors you could look at to measure the health of a university — and by almost any metric, the University of South Carolina is excelling. This year, the university set records in enrollment, applications received, fundraising and research funding.
For the first time, total enrollment at USC Columbia exceeded 40,000 students. This year, more than 60,000 prospective students applied to attend USC — a 13 percent increase over last year.
Private fundraising hit a record, too: $260 million. Among those gifts was the largest in university history — $75 million from Peter McCausland, his wife Bonnie and their foundation, resulting in the newly named McCausland College of Arts and Sciences.
Last, but certainly not least: Even in the face of a rapidly shifting federal funding landscape, the university hit a record $323 million in sponsored awards.
“With strong support from our Office of Research, USC’s faculty researchers are innovating, pushing the boundaries of science and scholarship, and addressing issues of critical importance to our state and nation,” said USC President Michael Amiridis.
Best first-year experience — again
For the seventh consecutive year, the University of South Carolina earned the top spot among public institutions for its first-year student experience.
Prospective students throughout the country are learning what we have known all along — that the University of South Carolina is a welcoming and supportive community offering a world of opportunity to its students and helping them find what they want to do in life.
It doesn’t stop after the first year, either, with the university’s Carolina Experience office dedicated to offering unified support to students throughout their time here.
“The University of South Carolina is preparing the leaders of tomorrow while helping students find their purpose with a remarkable on-campus experience today,” said Provost Mary Anne Fitzpatrick.
Transformational gift leads to new name for USC’s largest college
In April, USC announced the renamed McCausland College of Arts and Sciences following a historic $75 million investment.
Peter McCausland, who earned his degree in history from the University of South Carolina in 1971 and went on to found Airgas Inc., said the college and its faculty were foundational to his success.
His investment aims to support faculty excellence “while expanding the opportunities for students majoring in arts and sciences to leave USC with the curiosity and critical-thinking skills to help them pursue their dreams,” McCausland said.
Next stop: Garnet Station
As enrollment grows, so do the number of mouths to feed. This year, USC took an important step toward expanding dining services.
Located in the heart of campus on the first floor of the Russell House, Garnet Station opened in August as an all-you-care-to-eat dining hall featuring more than 500 seats, both indoors and outdoors. Altogether, almost 21,000 square feet of space was renovated. Garnet Station offers a grill, home cooking, a global station, a pizza station, a salad bar and deli, and a dessert and coffee station.
“We’re thrilled to bring an incredible range of new dining experiences to the heart of campus,” said Clete Myers, district manager for Carolina Food Co. “Garnet Station offers a fresh, welcoming space for students to enjoy an all-you-care-to-eat experience.”
Focused on brain health
USC opened its seventh Brain Health Clinic in October, this one in Orangeburg. The location is significant, as Orangeburg County ranks eighth out of 3,142 counties nationwide for its incidence of Alzheimer’s disease.
The clinic is part of the statewide Brain Health Network, which is addressing an acute need for cognitive care in underserved areas of South Carolina. Other clinic locations include Columbia, Darlington, Lexington, Seneca, Sumter and Winnsboro. Next year, USC will open a Brain Health Center in Columbia.
The Brain Health Network is part of a larger commitment by USC to address neurological care in the state, with a specific emphasis on Alzheimer’s and related dementias. Late in 2024, USC announced plans for the state’s first standalone, comprehensive medical facility dedicated entirely to integrated care of patients with brain and nervous system illnesses.
Those plans continued to move forward in 2025, with significant support from the General Assembly.
Coming soon: A new, expanded School of Medicine Columbia
If you’ve been to the BullStreet District lately, you know that momentum is building. Of all the projects underway, none is more significant than the School of Medicine Columbia, which broke ground in February on a cutting-edge, 300,000-square-foot-plus medical education and research facility.
As a key part of USC’s transformative $300 million Health Sciences Campus, the forthcoming facility (slated to open in 2027) is a win all the way around: for medical students, for researchers, for the city, for the state and for the university.
“Our mission is to serve the people of South Carolina and beyond through education, research and compassionate care, and we are thrilled to continue this promise in practice soon at the Health Sciences Campus for generations to come,” said Dr. Gerald Harmon, interim dean of the School of Medicine Columbia.
Finalists for Rhodes, Marshall scholarships
It’s a rare feat for the University of South Carolina to have a Rhodes Scholarship finalist or a Marshall Scholarship finalist. In 2025, the university had both.
In November, public health major Hannah Brennen became the first USC student named as a Rhodes finalist since 2016.
Brennen, a student in the South Carolina Honors College, is a public health major with a minor in Spanish. Her academic work focuses on maternal health.
Shortly after Brennen was named a finalist came news that Honors College student Michael Pitre was a finalist for the Marshall Scholarship. Pitre is a third-year student earning a customized Baccalaureus Artium et Scientiae-MD (BARSC-MD) degree with a minor in neuroscience.
The Rhodes Scholarship, established in 1902, is one of the oldest and most prestigious scholarships in the world and funds two years of graduate-level study at the University of Oxford.
The Marshall Scholarship provides funding for one to two years of graduate study in the United Kingdom. Established in 1953, the scholarship honors the strong relationship between the United States and United Kingdom.
“This is a remarkable achievement for our students,” said Jennifer Bess, director of national fellowships for the South Carolina Honors College. “Having both in the same cycle for the first time since 2011 is a testament to the caliber of these students and their dedication to academic excellence and service to the USC community and beyond.”
Faculty accolades
USC’s faculty members deliver on the promise of the university every day through their teaching and research. Here are just a few of the professors who earned recognition in 2025 through awards or election to national academies.
- Demetrius Abshire (nursing): American Academy of Nursing
- Jessica Barnes (geography): 2025 Guggenheim Fellowship
- Greg Carbone (geography): Michael J. Mungo Distinguished Professor of the Year
- Carolyn Harmon (nursing): American Academy of Nursing
- Peiyin Hung (public health): Outstanding Researcher Award from the National Rural Health Association
- Sheryl Mitchell (nursing): American Academy of Nursing
- Malissa Mulkey (nursing): American Academy of Nursing
- Nikolaos Vitzilaios (engineering): Michael J. Mungo Undergraduate Teaching Award
- Guoan Wang (engineering): National Academy of Inventors
- Scott Weiss (music): Order of the Palmetto
In addition to the awards above, 140 current and emeritus faculty members — more than at any other institution in South Carolina — were included on a list of the world’s most-cited researchers published annually by Stanford University and academic publishing company Elsevier.
A’ja, A’ja everywhere
This fall, A’ja Wilson was one of six athletes selected for the USC Athletics Hall of Fame, a milestone marking a year full of highlights for the South Carolina native. And then came yet another honor: On. Dec. 9, Wilson was named Time Magazine’s Athlete of the Year.
The former South Carolina women’s basketball star, now playing in the WNBA for the Las Vegas Aces, has achieved heights that only the most elite athletes ever reach. The Columbia, South Carolina, native is a three-time WNBA champion, a four-time WNBA MVP and the only WBA player ever to reach 300 points in a single postseason, which she did this year on the way to her third championship.
The stats go on and on. She also led the Gamecocks to their first-ever NCAA women’s basketball championship in 2017 and has earned two Olympic gold medals. Then there’s her deal with Nike — the A’One series of shoes and other gear.
In this city and at our university, we’re proud to call Wilson our own. So iconic is Wilson to the University of South Carolina that, in 2021, USC unveiled a statue of her in front of the Colonial Life Arena. And she still remembers her formative years under Coach Dawn Staley and the family-like bonds she built with her fellow Gamecock basketball players.
“Our culture is a sisterhood,” Wilson says. “We are true sisters. We’ve always just had this feeling that even when you make it to the pros, or whatever the next level is, if we see each other anywhere, we have that connection.”
Taking the lead in civics
Just in time for the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, USC announced a new center dedicated to supporting and extending core American values.
The Center for American Civic Leadership and Public Discourse will produce scholarship in areas such as democratic self-governance and the rule of law while also promoting bipartisan conversation around important issues. The center’s first public event, held in September, featured Cornel West along with legal scholar and philosopher Robert P. George of Princeton University.
“From its beginning, the Center for American Civic Leadership and Public Discourse will help students and citizens in South Carolina truly grasp the ideas and values that have both inspired and challenged Americans of each generation,” said Christopher Tollefsen, a philosophy professor in the McCausland College of Arts and Sciences who is serving as interim executive director.
A great Gatsby collection
From NPR to The Wall Street Journal, coverage of the classic Jazz Age novel The Great Gatsby was everywhere this year. As F. Scott Fitzgerald’s American masterpiece celebrated its 100th anniversary, the University of South Carolina was perfectly positioned to help tell the story.
From January through July, USC hosted the exhibition “‘Something significant, elemental and profound’: Celebrating 100 Years of The Great Gatsby,” featuring materials from the university’s extensive Matthew J. & Arlyn Bruccoli Collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Bruccoli collection has long attracted Fitzgerald researchers, putting USC at the center of scholarship around his work.
Beyond the materials in the exhibition, USC also hosted numerous Gatsby-themed events, with jazz, dance and more.
“What I hope we’ve achieved, with both the exhibition and the events, is a more immersive experience of what it was like to live at this time and what it was like to attend one of Gatsby’s parties,” said Michael Weisenburg, director of rare books and special collections.
Student-athletes soar
On the court and on the field, Gamecocks excelled in 2025.
For just the second time in USC history and the first time since 2002, the Gamecocks won three SEC championships in a single season: women’s basketball, women’s golf and equestrian.
During the 2024-25 season, the women’s basketball team went 35-4 overall and 15-1 in SEC play — and made it to the national championship game for the second year in a row. The team was on fire again as the 2025-26 season opened, notching up decisive wins against Clemson and the No. 8 Trojans, among others.
Meanwhile, both men’s and women’s tennis teams made it to the NCAA tournament, and women’s golf coach Kalen Anderson was named SEC Coach of the Year for the fifth time. South Carolina also defeated Clemson 7-4 in the 2024-25 Palmetto Series.
As always, USC’s athletes also performed well in the classroom. Since 2015-16, the university has led the SEC in the number of student-athletes making the SEC Academic Honor Roll, with 4,225.
Joffrey Ballet: A world-class residency
In March, 24 dancers from the Joffrey Ballet came to campus for a three-week residency. To call it remarkable would be an understatement; it was downright unprecedented. It all came about because of a relationship forged with Joffrey CEO Greg Cameron when President Michael Amiridis was serving as chancellor at the University of Illinois-Chicago.
The residency offered USC dance students the opportunity to study and perform alongside one of the world’s elite dance companies. Music students were involved, too, joining with dancers for a performance at the Koger Center.
“Getting to do what I love at such a high level while pursuing my degrees is a very unique opportunity,” said Mia Sanderson, who at the time was a senior double majoring in dance performance/choreography and advertising.
First Lady Aggelopoulou-Amiridis, an avid arts supporter, was a key champion of the residency.
“The Betsy Blackmon Dance Program is on an ascending trajectory, so a collaboration with a company of the caliber of Joffrey is very fitting at this time of growth,” she said.