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When S.C. State University President George Cooper took the helm four months ago, most people thought the turmoil caused by the firing of his predecessor and allegations of micromanagement by board members would be his biggest challenge. Then the economy, followed by the state’s budget ax, changed the scope of what mattered at the state’s higher learning institutions.
By Chelsea Hadaway
chadaway@scbiznews.com
When S.C. State University President George Cooper took the helm four months ago, most people thought the turmoil caused by the firing of his predecessor and allegations of micromanagement by board members would be his biggest challenge.
Then the economy, followed by the state’s budget ax, changed the scope of what mattered at the state’s higher learning institutions.
“The real challenge is to maintain academic excellence in the face of declining resources,” Cooper said during a recent visit to the Business Journal.
As state budget cuts take more and more money away — the school’s state appropriation is 24.7% less than last year — the university is looking to alternative funding sources, such as fundraising and alumni giving.
“If you can’t do it alone, you have to develop strategic alliances,” said Cooper, who has spent the past several months meeting alumni and community leaders.
The current percentage of alumni giving back to the university is about 6%; Cooper is looking to increase that. Cooper wants each alumnus to pledge at least $100; with 26,000 alumni, that would mean at least $2.6 million.
Transportation logjam
Another of Cooper’s priorities is to jump-start construction of the James E. Clyburn University Transportation Center, which he said has stalled because of red tape in the state procurement process.
Cooper said that the university has secured $27 million in federal funds but that the state procurement process has not made it easy to use the money.
The center would not only increase the school’s visibility, it would boost the local economy by employing people, he said.
Advancing legacy
Cooper comes to the university after his predecessor, Andrew Hugine, was fired. In 2007, the S.C. State board cited a performance evaluation critical of Hugine’s leadership and his failure to advance academic performance, among other issues. The vote led several board members to resign and yielded charges that the board micromanages the university.
But Cooper said there is plenty of positive progress and plans to focus on.
Washington Monthly magazine ranked the school No. 1 in social mobility. Cooper said that, although half of the school’s students come from families making less than $30,000 a year, and 30% come from families making less than $20,000 a year, “Our graduates stand shoulder to shoulder with graduates of any university in the United States,” he said.
Cooper also cites the university’s nuclear engineering program, the nation’s only one to be accredited in the past 10 years.
S.C. State has published 1.5 million textbooks for children in Zanzibar.
And earlier in the fall, S.C. State was chosen to collaborate with the University of South Carolina and the Medical University of South Carolina in a prostate cancer research center through the Centers of Economic Excellence.
Academics and economics
Cooper also aims to continue advancing the school’s quality and reputation.
“My concern is where we need to be the next 20 to 30 years,” Cooper said.
If the school isn’t producing outstanding programs, no one will invest in the university, he said. And if the university isn’t producing outstanding students, business and industry won’t move to the state.
Cooper is looking to boost S.C. State’s priority within the Statehouse. He has met with the Orangeburg legislative delegation, has a meeting scheduled with Gov. Mark Sanford and has a part-time lobbyist working on behalf of the school.
He strongly suggested the legislature and the governor should set priorities instead of making across-the-board cuts. “They have to be people with a vision.”
Reach Chelsea Hadaway at 843-849-3142.
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