dailygamecock.com UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2018
VOL. 111, NO. 05 l SINCE 1908
ZACH MCKINLEY // THE GAMECOCK President Harris Pastides and Patricia Moore-Pastides celebrate his 10 years as the 28th president of USC with events throughout the week, including the State of the University address.
Ten years of Pastides Arunmani Phravorachith @Arunmani_P
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or the past decade, Harris Pastides has served as the president of the University of South Carolina. As president, Pastides leads the USC flagship system of eight institutions in 19 geographic locations alongside his wife, First Lady Patricia Moore-Pastides. “It’s just been an honor and a privilege,” Pastides said. Pastides first came to USC to be the dean of the School of Public Health and then advanced to the position of Vice President for Research and Health Sciences. On Aug. 1, 2008, Pastides and his wife were selected to become the president and the first lady of the university.
“My whole life has been embedded in school, from my first day of kindergarten to this ... I’ve never had a year where I wasn’t either at a school or a university,” said Pastides. “I do love it.” One of the very first challenges Pastides faced upon officially being named president was the effects of the Great Recession. “Our budget got cut by nearly 50 percent over two to three years. It was a great challenge to not furlough or fire too many people to keep the best of the university going,” said Pastides. “It wasn’t only me who got us through, it was this wonderful team of people we had and the faculty and many others.” Finding enough state support to fund university operations is an ongoing challenge. Other concerns included floods that decimated the region and the effects of alcohol abuse.
SEE PASTIDES PAGE 8