USC celebrates 225th anniversary in 2026

COLUMBIA — Dec. 19 marks 225 years since the founding of South Carolina’s flagship university.

“But we’re not going to wait to start celebrating,” University of South Carolina President Michael Amiridis told attendees of the annual State of the University address Wednesday.

The Carolina Band played as attendees enjoyed slices of birthday cake on the historic Horseshoe.

Amiridis went on to say the university was part of “an experiment which changed forever our state and our country.”

Before the waning years of the 1700s, colleges in the United States were private, often religious, institutions.

In 1795, the University of North Carolina became the first public university in the country to hold classes. The University of Georgia opened for students six years later in 1801. And the Palmetto State established South Carolina College, now USC, on December 19, 1801. The first classes took place in 1805.

After serving as president, Thomas Jefferson dedicated himself to the cause of public higher education, designing and funding the University of Virginia, which opened in 1825.

“Even today, when our public universities excel, so does the entire country,” Amiridis said.

When USC started, it was a fraction of the size, geographically, it is today.

“Our beginning may have been modest in size, but it was bold in ambition,” Amiridis said. “Always there was a vision for a brighter future and a commitment to serving our state and its citizens for countless generations. We are living in that future, and we are still building for great seasons to come.”

Amiridis went on to boast USC’s growing enrollment and record fundraising. He also touted hiring at the university under his leadership — 140 new tenure and tenure-track positions, a 12% increase.

“We are growing our faculty to meet the needs of an expanding student body, and to ensure we continue to provide the highest quality of teaching and research,” he said.

And the university has seen an increase in federal research funding despite national spending cuts.

USC researchers received $77.8 million in National Institutes of Health grants for the current school year, compared to $58.5 million in 2022.

And National Science Foundation grants have nearly rebounded — $24.8 million this year compared to $25.2 million in 2022.

“This is substantial growth in an evolving landscape for research funding,” Amiridis said. “Our researchers are focusing on critical and emerging areas such as advanced materials, battery innovation and energy, brain health, environmental challenges, obesity, and artificial intelligence.”