Dan Sanders, Kathy McKinney, Dr. Georgia Nugent, and Jim Reynolds

More than 70 members of the SCICU Board of Trustees and their guests attended the 2015 Biennial Retreat held at the Westin Poinsett Hotel in downtown Greenville on March 5-6. Every two years the Board meets in extended session to examine issues critical to the success of independent higher education in South Carolina.

Thursday afternoon, the SCICU Council of Presidents met with Ken Carrick, president of Coleman Lew & Associates for a briefing on the Strategic Vision and Succession Plan that Ken is preparing. Ken will meet with all the college and university presidents, Board officers and committee chairs, past Board chairs, members of the Board of Trustees, and other stakeholders to develop a strategic vision for SCICU and match the personnel needs of the organization with that vision in anticipation of leadership retirements in the next 3-5 years.

The sounds of Anderson University's jazz ensemble Smooth Gold under the leadership of Professor Doug Norwine welcomed the Trustees and guests to the evening's reception and dinner. After dinner, Dr. Georgia Nugent, senior fellow at the Council for Independent Colleges and former president of Kenyon College, provided a strong and thoughtful defense of the liberal arts with her presentation Securing America's Future: The Power of a Liberal Arts Education.

Board Chair Kathy McKinney convened an early morning business meeting of the Trustees which included an opening prayer by Anderson City Mayor Terence Roberts, chair of the Public Policy Committee, and a welcome by Greenville City Mayor Knox White. Among the many items of business on the agenda, the Trustees approved the organization's audited financial statements and the IRS Form 990 for the fiscal year ending August 31, 2014, as presented by Finance Committee Chair Brent Weaver. Lonnie Emard, chair of the Development Committee, reported on the CIC/IT-oLogy matching grant (see related article).

Jim Reynolds speaks on TransformSC

Pinch hitting for a snow-bound NAICU President David Warren, Jim Reynolds, the Board's chair-elect, made a very timely presentation on TransformSC, an Education Initiative of the South Carolina Council on Competiveness. TransformSC seeks to design new learning models that significantly increase the number of South Carolina graduates who are career, college, and citizenship ready. Jim's presentation was a perfect segue into the next program Access and Success: Bridges to a Brighter Future at Furman University.

Continue Reading the Retreat Overview on SCICU's website  

Left to Right: Margaret and Duff Bruce, Jolley Bruce Christman, and Kathy McKinney at the 2015 Board Retreat.

At the recent SCICU trustees retreat in Greenville, The Jolley Foundation was recognized for 50 years of contributions to the SCICU organization.

The Jolley Foundation was created in 1947 by Robert A. Jolley and Rucker T. Jolley, grandparents of Jolley Bruce Christman and Duff Bruce who attended the trustees retreat.

The mission of The Jolley Foundation is to help create and sustain a vibrant and healthy Greenville community and to improve the lives and opportunities of the most vulnerable citizens. To accomplish this, the foundation invests in strong community organizations that promote economic independence and positively contribute to the quality of life of the economically, physically, and emotionally challenged.

SCICU is among many worthy organizations that have been assisted by The Jolley Foundation over the years. Since 1958, The Jolley Foundation has contributed almost $550,000 to the unrestricted fundraising campaign at SCICU. These unrestricted funds are distributed each year by formula to our member colleges and most colleges use the funds to supplement existing scholarship programs.

SCICU extends a warm and heartfelt "thank you" to The Jolley Foundation for 50 years of generous and loyal support of the SCICU organization. 

North Greenville University Board of Trustees voted today to name Dr. Randall Pannell as interim president of the school effective immediately.

The decision is in response to NGU President Dr. Jimmy Epting's announcement of his sabbatical and retirement effective June 1, 2015.

Pannell came to the institution in 2011 when he was hired as vice president for academics.  

"We want to continue offering quality education as well as protect the culture here during this interim period," said Bill Tyler, member of the interim leadership search committee. "We feel we can accomplish this with Dr. Pannell."

Pannell has more than 30 years of teaching and leadership experience in higher education.  Continue Reading

Dr. Colleen Perry Keith, President of Spartanburg Methodist College since 2009, has been named president of Pfeiffer University. The announcement was made today by the trustees of the Misenheimer, North Carolina college. Pfeiffer also has campuses in Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham and is a sister college in the United Methodist connection.  

"While we are sad to be losing Dr. Keith, we know that this is a great fit for her skills and experience and a wonderful next step for her career as a college president," said Dr. Phinnize Fisher, Chair of the Board for SMC. "Dr. Keith has been an exceptional leader for SMC and will bring her outstanding gifts in administration and fundraising to bear for Pfeiffer's benefit. She is widely regarded throughout the field of higher education as a thoughtful and effective leader. SMC's loss is Pfeiffer's benefit."

Under Keith's leadership, SMC has completed a major funds campaign, increased its capacity for fundraising, raised its public profile across the state, expanded its alumni programming, started two new degree programs, and taken on capital projects including the construction of Ellis Hall. SMC's enrollment has remained strong throughout Keith's tenure and the college's outstanding athletic programs have continued to thrive in competition at the national level.

Continue Reading 

The SCICU Board of Trustees approved the organization's audited financial statements for the fiscal year ending August 31, 2014 at their meeting on March 6. The independent auditor's report by Elliot Davis, LLC determined that the financial statements examined present fairly, in all material respects, the assets and financial position of SCICU and concluded that there were no findings for corrective action. The report in its entirety is posted on the SCICU website under Publications.

During the March 6 meeting, the Trustees approved SCICU's IRS Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, for the year ending August 31, 2014, and directed that the form be filed with the Internal Revenue Service. A copy of the Form 990 is posted on the SCICU website under Publications.   

The House gave 2nd reading to the FY 2015-16 General Appropriations bill on March 12 after four days of intense and often heated debate. In the end, the House showed its displeasure with the direction of higher education in this state by defunding the Commission on Higher Education (CHE) and sacking the president and Board of Trustees of South Carolina State University, the state's only public, four year historically black university. An attempt to form a Board of Regents with a one year temporary budget proviso failed, but there are bills pending in both the House and Senate that would create a single governing board for public higher education institutions by statute.

In the House version of the budget, the higher education sector is slated to receive $16 million dollars less than last year. The need-based grants program administered by CHE, or its successor agency, is $2.6 million short of last year's appropriation, and lottery funding for the academic libraries consortium (PASCAL) was cut off after many years of being the first priority for excess unclaimed prize money.

Merit scholarships (Palmetto Fellows, LIFE, HOPE, and Tuition Assistance) received full funding, and the Higher Education Tuition Grants Commission was appropriated $136,772. If this amount holds through the rest of the budget cycle, the maximum tuition grant will go from $3,000 this year to $3,100 for the 2015 academic year. Thanks to the support of our many advocates over the years, tuition grants was spared from the worse of the House higher education budget cuts.

The House plans to give 3rd reading to the Appropriations Bill on March 17, the same day that the Tuition Grants Commission makes it budget presentation to the Higher Education Subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee. The subcommittee members are Sen. John Courson (Richland), chairman, Sen. Darrell Jackson (Richland), and Sen. Danny Verdin (Laurens). Advocates for independent higher education should contact their state senators and urge them to continue to support the Tuition Grants Commission and to restored funding for the CHE need-based grants program and PASCAL.

Thank you to those who have contributed to the CIC Challenge Grant:

Amy Love

Blue Cross/Blue Shield of SC
BMW 

Brenda Torrence

Brent Weaver

Clyde Bess

Cox Industries

Derial Ogburn

Eddie Shannon

Erwin Maddrey

Hans & Stephenie Helland

Henri Baskins

HRP Associates

Jennet Alterman

Jim Fort

Jim Reynolds

Lucy Grey McIver 

Malloy Foundation

Metromont Corporation

Mike LeFever

Milton Kimpson

Minor Shaw

Russell Cook 

Sanders Family Foundation

SouthState Bank

TD Bank

Williams Family Foundation