USC governing board elects first chairwoman

COLUMBIA — The University of South Carolina’s governing board unanimously elected its first ever chairwoman.

Rose Newton, wife of Republican state House Judiciary Chariman Weston Newton, on Friday became the first woman in the school’s nearly 225-year history to lead its board.

Newton succeeds Thad Westbrook, who was chairman from 2022 through 2026.

Other elected female members sitting on the board include Dr. Coleman Floyd Buckhouse of Florence, the daughter of former longtime board member Dr. Eddie Floyd; Leah Moody, a Rock Hill lawyer and daughter of the late Rep. Bessie Moody-Lawrence; and Emma Morris, a lawyer in Seneca.

While Newton is USC’s first chairwoman, she’s far from the only woman leading a college board in the state.

The governing boards of Clemson University, College of Charleston and Coastal Carolina University are all led by women.

Kim Wilkerson became Clemson’s first female board chair in 2021.

Renee Buyck Romberg is College of Charleston’s second female chair. She was elected to lead the board in 2023. Before Romberg, Marie Land in 2009 became the first female chair at the college founded in 1770.

At Winthrop University in Rock Hill, Kathy Bigham, mother-in law of former state Sen. Scott Talley, was the last woman to lead the board of the college founded in 1886 to train teachers. First appointed to the board in 2003, Bigham was elected chairwoman in 2008. She remains vice chair.

And at Lander University, Linda Dolny, elected in 2018, was the last female board chair. She still sits on the Greenwood college’s board.

“We have a lot of women doing a lot of great things in the state so just glad to be a part of that team moving higher ed forward in the state of South Carolina,” Newton told reporters Friday.

Newton, a third-generation banker who chairs the board at the Bank of Clarendon, holds degrees in finance and economics from Converse College and a Master of Business Administration from USC. She’s been on the board since 2018.

Her husband, Rep. Weston Newton, has a law degree from USC. He’s led the House Judiciary Committee since 2022.

Their daughter, Reedy Newton, was USC’s student body president before graduating in 2023. Their son, William Newton, is a 2025 graduate and first-year USC law school student, and their younger daughter Eliza Rose is a senior at USC.

Rose Newton said she hopes to maintain the momentum the university has enjoyed in recent years in terms of student growth and investments.

Before rising to the chairmanship, Newton was vice chair for four years.

Reid Sherard, a Greenville attorney who has been on the board since 2023, will succeed Newton as vice chair.

They are among USC’s 16 board members elected by the Legislature to represent each of the state’s judicial circuits. The board has four other members: one appointed by the governor and three ex-officio members including the governor or his designee, the state’s K-12 education superintendent, and the president of the school’s alumni association.