South Carolina State University - Bulldog Yearbook (Orangeburg, SC)

Page 16 text:

Presidents Of The College THOMAS E. MILLER, B.A., M.A., LL.D. 1896—1911 President Miller graduated from Lincoln University in 1872; the same year he served as School Commissioner of Beaufort County; in 1873-74, he studied law at the University of South Carolina and was admitted to the bar in 1875; in 1876-79, he served in the House of Representatives of South Carolina; he was elected to the U. S. Congress September 24, 1890, and served to March 3, 1891; he was returned to the House of Representatives of South Carolina in 1894; and in 1895, he was elected to the State Constitutional Convention. In 1896 he was appointed president of South Carolina Agricultural, Industrial and Mechanical College.

Page 15 text:

The History Of South Carolina State College The Constitutional Convention of 1895 enacted provisions authorizing the Legislature to create the College by a severance of the state’s interest from Claflin University. In pursuance of such authoriza- tion, the General Assembly in 1896 enacted statutes providing for the establishment of The Normal, |ndus- trial, Agricultural and Mechanical College. The same Legislature provided for the appointment of a Board of Trustees, an administration, a faculty, and for the adoption of rules and regulations to govern.the College’s operation. Pursuant to this organization, a faculty composed of thirteen South Carolinians was chosen by. Dr. Thomas E. Miller, a former Congressman from-South Carolina, who had been appointed as the first President of the College; and on September 27, 1896, the doors of the institution were opened. The College plant consisted of one hundred and thirty-five acres, eight small buildings, a small dairy herd, and afew farm animals. Because of the meager facilities, academic instruction was mostly given on.logs hewn from the campus wilderness, in the tradition of the Mark Hopkins ideal college. These logs were later made into lumber for the first dormitory and classroom buildings. : In 1911, Robert Shaw Wilkinson, a native of Charleston and a former Professor of Physics at the College, was elected President. Under his adminis- tration the income of the College was increased. from both federal and state sources, and a-.federal appropriation for extension work was added. After twenty-one years of sincere service, Dr. Wilkinson passed; and on March 15, 1932, the presidency was undertaken by Milter F. Whittaker who at that time was Director of the Mechanical Department. Some of the outstanding activities that marked President Whittaker’s administration were the establishment of a Law School, Extension School units in fifteen South Carolina communities, and a Reserve Officers Training Corps Infantry Unit. President Whittaker gave eighteen years of dynamic service to the College, and in 1949 he died with a firm faith that: ‘“The college is serving the people of this state as never before. The worth of the institution is best expressed in the community relationship which it maintains and the improvement of rural and civic life which it promotes through its graduates, its faculty, and its extension agencies. The College has exhibited its economic, civic, and social worth to the Commonwealth of South Carolina.” In 1950 Benner C. Turner, Dean of the School of Law, was elected President of the College. He retired in’ 1967 after seventeen years of service. Under President Turner’s. administration the College’s growth was tremendous, both in academic activities as.well as in physical and human resources. Outstand- ing..changes included the rapid growth of both undergraduate and graduate enrollments; increases in the number of faculty and staff; increases in the number holding doctoral degrees; the reorganization of the administrative and instructional areas of the College; major improvements in the physical plant which. included the renovation of buildings and the construction of many new building, among which were. a new academic building, and dormitories for both=men.and women, a cafeteria, walkways, drives, roads and attractive landscaping; all of which have “added tothe comfort and beauty of the campus. Upon.the retirement of Dr. Turner, the Board of Trustees» appointed Dr. M. Maceo Nance, Jr., Vice President of Business and Finance, as Acting Presi- dent of the College to serve until a successor to the former president could be chosen. The appointment became effective June 24, 1967. Dr. Nance was elected President by the Board on June 23, 1968 and was inaugurated November 27, 1968. The 1969-70 enrollment, including the summer school, is 3,302. No work is done below the college level. Up to the present time, 105,129 students have matriculated at the College and 10,162 have received certificates, diplomas, and degrees from the various departments. These graduates may be found in every walk of life-professional, industrial, civic and religious. The legal and official name of the institution was changed to South Carolina State College, by act of the General Assembly of 1954.

Page 17 text:

ROBERT SHAW WILKINSON, B.S., M.A., Ph.D. 191932 President Wilkinson was born in Charleston, South Carolina, February 18, 1865. He received his early training at Shaw Memorial School and Avery Institute of Charleston. He was appointed, by Congressman Miller, to West Point in 1884, and won first place in the competitive examination, but he resigned the position because of poor health. He graduated in the year 1891. He then accepted a position as instructor at Kentucky State University. On June 29, 1896, he was elected to serve on the first faculty of the Colored Normal, Industrial College of South Carolina. At the death of President Miller, he became President of the College. MILLER F. WHITTAKER, B.S., M.S., LL.D. 1932—1949 After the death of President Robert Shaw Wilkinson, Professor Miller F. Whittaker, Dean of the Division of Mechanical Arts, a member of the faculty for nineteen years, was named as Acting President by the Board of Trustees, March 14, 1932. On May 30th, the beginning of the new scholastic year, he was permanently elected President of the State Agricultural and Mechanical College. He was a native of Sumter, South Carolina. President Whittaker accepted the presidency at the age of thirty-nine. He was the registered architect of all the buildings on the college campus except two. He held the B.S. and the M.S. degrees in architecture from the University of Kansas and the LL.D. from Allen University. BENNERICSRURNER: BAT LE Basle: 1950—1967 Dr. Benner Creswill Turner was born in Columbus, Georgia, and attended the. elementary schools of that city. He attended Philip’s Andover Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, from 1919-1923. He entered Harvard University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, in 1923 and received the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1927. In September, 1927, he entered the Harvard University Law School and received the Bachelor of Laws degree in 1930. Allen University, Columbia, South Carolina honored him with the LL.D. degree in 1950. After graduating from Harvard, Dr. Turner worked in Pennsylvania and Columbus, Georgia. On January 1, 1943 he began services as Professor of Law in the Law School of North Carolina College, Durham, North Carolina. In 1947 he accepted appointment as Dean of the Law School of South Carolina State College. On August 1, 1950, Dr. Turner was appointed President of South Carolina State College. M. MACEO NANCE, JR., A.B., M.A., LL.D. 1968— Dr. M. Maceo Nance, Jr., Vice-President of Finance and Business of South Carolina . State College, was named Acting President by the Board of Trustees to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of President Benner C. Turner. He assumed the presidency June 29, 1968, becoming the first graduate of the college to serve in this capacity. A native of Columbia, South Carolina, he attended the elementary schools in that city and graduated from Booker T. Washington High School. He entered South Carolina State College in 1942 and left to enter the United States Navy in 1943 where he served until 1946. He returned to the College in 1946 and earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1949. He received the Master of Science degree from New York University in 1953. In 1968 he was awarded the LL.D. degree from Morris Brown College, Atlanta, Ga. He returned to his Alma Mater as a clerk in the bookstore and has since held positions as Military Property Custodian, Director of the Student Union, Assistant Business Manager, and Business Manager. He was elected Vice-President for Finance and Business July 1, 1967.