Dr. Harris Pastides
By Matt Joyner
                  
Carroll Gray introduced Dr. Harris Pastides, 28th President of the University of South Carolina to Charlotte Rotary. Dr. Pastides was inaugurated on August 8, 2008 after serving USC for the past 10 years as a professor and Vice President for Research and Health Sciences. Prior to his arrival in Columbia, Dr. Pastides served as Chair of the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Dr. Pastides received his PhD in Epidemiology from Yale University.
 
Remarking upon the Club's singing of "America the Beautiful," Dr. Pastides related how the same song was sung at his USC investiture in honor of the fact that his parents were immigrants to the United States from Greece in 1948. Founded in 1801, when Thomas Jefferson was President, the University of South Carolina is the proud home of the first freestanding library on a United States college campus. As President, Pastides is both the President of USC, the flagship institution in the University of South Carolina system as well as the President of the system as a whole.
 
Pastides' investiture in August, 2008 now seems like it took place in a "different world" from today's economic environment. Shortly after taking office the financial meltdown of Fall, 2008 resulted in the South Carolina state government slashing the University of South Carolina's funds by over 23%, the greatest reduction for higher education of any state in the entire country. Alabama is second with an 11% cut. South Carolina correspondingly has one of the lowest rates of adults with four year college degrees. Only 15% of adults over the age of 25 in South Carolina have college degrees.
 
The drastic reduction in USC's budget has led to an intense planning effort to preserve the core functions of the university in serving students, maintaining faculty and serving the South Carolina community. As a result many non-tenured, "adjunct" faculty positions have been terminated and some of the former adjuncts from the local professional community have volunteered to continue serving regardless. Likewise several tenured faculty have volunteered to teach extra courses to bridge the gap. As of now the University has avoided any furlough of staff.
 
Despite the budget cuts, morale remains high on campus and the overwhelming majority of Dr. Pastides' email is encouraging. The number of students applying to USC are up and at an all time record, again reflecting a shift to public education in the economic downturn. In the midst of its challenging economic circumstances USC maintains two outstanding scholarship programs, the McNair Scholarships and the Magellan Scholar Program. The McNair Scholarships are awarded to non-South Carolina native students attending USC from a $30 million gift from NC-born USC alumnus Bob McNair and his wife Janice. The Magellan Scholar Program supports undergraduate research projects with $3,000 grants for projects undertaken under faculty supervision. Recently a USC Magellan Scholar who specialized in medieval music was awarded a prestigious Marshall Scholarship for postgraduate study.
 
Leading USC in an era of economic turmoil and global competition, Dr. Pastides gets his inspiration from the USC students, faculty and alumni. "We are going to find a way forward," he said.
      
   
Head Table: Dave Zimmer, Tyler Ream, Joel Walters, Tom Cottingham, Mac McCarley;
Invocation: Benton Bragg;
Visitors & Guests: Mark Norman; Health & Happiness: Natalie English; Song: Biff Virkler; Piano: Thomas Moore; Photos: Bert Voswinkel

• Republican John Lassiter will join Democrat Anthony Foxx in the campaign for Charlotte's Mayor; Ronnie Bryant shared a raffle ticket with three friends at the recent Fight Night for Kids charity event and they won a Mercedes-Benz! The group is not sure what to do with his interesting opportunity; Brent Royall was profiled in the In My Opinion section of the Business Journal.
         
• Tom Burgess is coordinating Flight of Honor applications and will be glad to discuss the opportunity to participate. Contact Tom at 704-366-5911 or email tnburgess@bellsouth.net.

The Large Club Conference (Rotary clubs with membership over 300) was held February 8-10 in Oklahoma City, OK. John Snyder and Sandy Osborne represented Charlotte Rotary and are back with lots of new ideas and a new perspective on Rotary. Sixty four clubs attended; fifty two responded to survey questions. Below are a few interesting statistics: