More than 200 Years of Student Success: USCB Roots Date to 1795
University of South Carolina Beaufort (USCB) is a “new institution” that dates to 1795 when the South Carolina General Assembly voted to establish Beaufort College. That college became a two-year regional campus of the University of South Carolina System in 1959. With no four-year baccalaureate degree-granting institution in Beaufort, Jasper, Hampton, or Colleton counties, USCB won its hard-fought petition to become a full four-year comprehensive university in 2004.
From 2005 to 2017, USCB was the fifth fastest-growing public university in the US according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. USCB now enrolls more than 2,200 students on three vibrant campuses: Bluffton, Beaufort, and Hilton Head Island.
USCB offers specialized instruction in 58 areas of study, including 20 bachelor’s degrees, two master’s degrees in the liberal arts, the sciences, and professional disciplines, as well as robust life-long learning opportunities in-person, online, and hybrid. A hallmark of USCB’s academic excellence is a focus on experiential learning.
Selected Highlights
- 1795 - South Carolina legislature founds Beaufort College to confer such "degrees in the liberal arts and sciences...as are usually conferred in other colleges in Europe and America .... "
- 1862 - Civil War closes Beaufort College. Old Beaufort College Building used as a hospital.
- 1865-76 - Old Beaufort College Building used by the federal Freedmans Bureau as a school.
- 1909 - Old Beaufort College Building becomes Beaufort Elementary School.
- 1959 - Local leaders open the Beaufort campus of USC with authority to offer university courses.
- 1968 - The state grants USC Beaufort the authority to offer associate degrees.
- 1970s: The university begins offering a limited number of four-year degrees through partnerships with USC Aiken and USC Columbia.
- 2004 - USCB opens newly built Bluffton campus and awards first bachelor’s degrees. Jane T. Upshaw named Chancellor.
- 2007 - Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) established at USCB.
- 2009 - USCB partners with Town of Bluffton to open the Water Quality Laboratory.
- 2009 - Sand Shark mascot introduced.
- 2012 - Island Ambassadors training program established in partnership with the Town of Hilton Head Island (USCB helped develop the Ambassadors in 1998).
- 2015 - Dr. Al M. Panu named Chancellor.
- 2018 - Beaufort College Honors launched with dedicated cohorts in Biology and Nursing.
- 2018 - Hilton Head Island campus opens; home of the Hospitality Resort and Tourism Management Program.
- 2018 - Faculty- and student-produced By The River, an in-depth interview program featuring Lowcountry authors and poets, begins airing on SCETV in 2018; nationally televised on PBS since 2022. Show is renamed Books by the River in 2025.
- 2019 - First graduate program: the M.S. in Computational Science.
- 2019 - Town of Bluffton Ambassadors Program launched.
- 2019-21 - USCB named a Top Producer of Fulbright Scholars.
- 2020 - USCB students log 78,000 volunteer and experiential learning hours valued at $1.9 million to local communities. This community service tradition continues.
- 2020 - M.Ed. in Literacy and expanded Honors for high-achieving students from all majors.
- 2021 - Cybersecurity concentration added after winning a US Department of Defense grant that made the university one of the collaborators for the new South Coast Cyber Center.
- 2021 - USCB is selected for the French Embassy’s prestigious Transatlantic Mobility Program.
- 2022 - Sand Sharks join the NCAA Division II Peach Belt Conference.
- 2023 - USCB is the lead on a $1 million National Science Foundation Regional Innovation Engines Development Award to establish the Maritime Cybersecurity Institute.
- 2023 - Era of men's and women's basketball begins.
- 2024 - USCB’s Chamber Music Series celebrates 45 years in Beaufort.
- 2024-25 - Celebrates the 20th anniversary of becoming a comprehensive university.
- 2025 - USCB's economic impact reaches $141 million, plus 1,236 jobs and $63.6 million in labor income across South Carolina.
USCB is a cultural hub for the southern Lowcountry, bringing together people from diverse backgrounds, both residents and tourists, for cultural and educational experiences from athletics and the arts to lifelong learning.
USCB Sand Sharks compete in 13 men's and women's sports – basketball, baseball, softball, soccer, golf, cross country, and indoor and outdoor track and field – with the rallying cry of Fins Up!
The Center for the Arts in Beaufort is a bedrock of cultural programming for adults and children, and USCB’s Chamber Music Series enjoys a robust patronage.
The Institute for the Study of the Reconstruction Era (ISRE) was founded at USCB in 2019 as a response to the growing recognition of Beaufort as a site of national significance to the history of Reconstruction. It is currently the only research institute focusing solely on the Reconstruction Era attached to an organization of higher learning in the nation.
USCB’s dedication to regional growth and development is matched by its commitment to cultivating global perspectives for campus communities. Most USCB students are from South Carolina, yet their USCB experiences are global.
The university enjoys study-abroad relationships with HZ University in the Netherlands, Woosong University in South Korea, Hebei Normal University and Changzhi University in China as well as Goa University, Amity University Mumbai, Nagindas Khandwala College, Kohinoor International Management Institute, and the Vidyalankar School of Information Technology in India.
2020 COVID Response
In spring 2020, like institutions around the world, USBC put the health and well-being of its campus communities before all other considerations in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Sand Sharks were an integral part of mitigation and information campaign strategies for people across Beaufort County. All three campuses hosted COVID testing, COVID and flu vaccine clinics, and relief services, including food distribution for those in serious need. More than 30 volunteer vaccinators and 30 volunteer assistants from USCB helped operate two Mass Vaccination Clinics for the public, and student researchers analyzed wastewater, looking for signs of COVID – a process which may help public health officials pinpoint future pandemic outbreaks.
Chancellor's Vision
Dr. Al M. Panu envisions USCB as a place of first choice for students, faculty, and staff, who have the capacity to be anywhere they choose. He describes USCB as “an institution that gives any student – no matter who they are, where they are from, or how they have been prepared – the opportunity to fulfill their greatest potential.” Not a cookie-cutter hierarchy of potential, but rather "the understanding, commitment, and pedagogical talent to meet students where they are and take them to their particular heights.”
Learn more about USCB's History
Dr. J. Brent Morris,
"A Legacy of Education in Beaufort County"
Dr. Lawrence S. Rowland
"New College, New Nation: Remarks at the re-Dedication of the Beaufort College Building,
November 2, 2000"
Dr. Walter B. Edgar
"Celebrating Higher Education in Beaufort, 1795-2010"