COLUMBIA — As University of South Carolina President Michael Amiridis spoke of opportunities for boosting the stature of the state's flagship university, he also was aware of daunting tasks ahead.
They include reassuring a campus wary after three years of instability, dealing with a dwindling number of high school graduates considering a college education and overseeing the largest university construction project in state history.
"He took on a big task,"Â said Christian Anderson, a historian of higher education at the university.
Dignitaries including Gov. Henry McMaster and Statehouse leadership and university administrators and professors, and in a nod to the new president's heritage, Greek Ambassador to the United States Alexandra Papadopoulou, looked on as Amiridis was formally recognized as the 30th president of the state's largest university system on Jan. 20.
The ceremony punctuated Amiridis' first six months at the helm of a university that's been rocked by three volatile years prior, which included a bumpy presidential search that left the school chastised by accreditors for political meddling and a global pandemic that reduced in-person learning and campus gatherings. Then came the departure of Provost William Tate to lead Louisiana State University and the resignation of former President Bob Caslen following a plagiarism scandal, and months of interim leadership that left some top leadership positions open.
Amiridis, who served as the university's provost before a stint away as chancellor of the University of Illinois Chicago, has had to get reacquainted with South Carolina and mend fences with top donors, Darla Moore and Lou Kennedy, who have felt they have been snubbed by their alma mater.
At the same time, a stable of new-to-the-job university leaders are getting introduced, from a new provost coming from the University of Kentucky to a vice president of student affairs who followed Amiridis from Chicago, as well as a smattering of new college deans across the flagship campus.
Then there's newly elected Board of Trustees President Thad Westbrook, who faces the challenge of reingratiating the governing board with incensed state lawmakers who have threatened to ax a number of board members over the previously botched presidential search, overreach of the board into the president's office and multimillion dollar athletic buyouts.
"It's so good to have stable leadership — a president and a provost — who it's clear are not going to be out of here in a few years," said Carol Harrison, president of the university's American Association of University Professors chapter. "We have not had consistent leadership for a while."
Harrison said the university has a lot of major initiatives before it "not compatible with revolving door leadership," such as the construction of a new $300 million health sciences campus that will be the largest undertaking by any state public school.
The filling of vacancies in dean's offices also gives faculty hope Harrison said, with interim Dean Thomas Hodges selected to lead the education school and David Banush named head of University Libraries. Searches are active for deans at the business school, graduate school, college of social work and college of hospitality, retail and sport management.
"When hearing of your selection (as president), we were elated," Rushondra James, who chairs the university's Staff Senate, said during the ceremony. "Your reputation preceded you."
"Dr. Amiridis is the right president at the right moment for the University of South Carolina," Westbrook said in his remarks.
But the pomp and circumstance of the glimmering university mace and the hefty presidential medallion hung around Amiridis' neck also marked a shift in the eyes of the university community from the excitement of the initial honeymoon phase to anticipation of the new president's priorities.
"These kinds of events are symbolic and are an important way of marking a new start," said Anderson.
Anderson said even a new presidents walking into the healthiest of universities have a time of relationship building and adjustment. Amiridis has been a presence at sporting and campus events.
"He's clearly out there trying to build campus life again," Anderson said, following several semesters impacted by COVID-19.
The investiture ceremony started with some familiarity, remarks by Amirdis' former University of Illinois colleague Robert Jones, who is chancellor of the college's Urbana-Champaign campus and the system's vice president. Jones lauded Amiridis' commitment to keeping college affordable for all and attracting a diverse student body.
Mark Becker, a former USC provost who is president of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, talked about the challenges higher learning will face over the next five years as the college-bound population shrinks.Â
That pending problem is something Amirids addressed during the ceremony and on his tours of USC's satellite campuses across the state, Harrison said. The new president also must show a growing number of students bypassing college that coming to campuses are worth the cost and time as universities nationwide try to stay relevant.
When Amiridis took the stage, he signaled priorities, including a push for greater research efforts and initiatives for students and faculty at USC's eight campuses to work directly with industry around the state to help come up with new and practical solutions.
In the coming months, Harrison said faculty is hoping to see more from the president in terms of diversity among university professors. She said a program to attract graduate students from minority populations into post-grad programs that will lead to faculty positions shows promise.
