The son of immigrants who sought America’s economic and educational opportunities after World War II was installed Friday (Nov. 21) as the University of South Carolina’s 28th president.

Dr. Harris Pastides extolled the value of public education, including public higher education, during his investiture at the Koger Center for the Arts. The ceremony was attended by more than 45 presidents and representatives of colleges and universities from throughout the United States.

“I was educated in public schools and at a public university, and I cherish the importance of keeping the University of South Carolina affordable and accessible to South Carolina families,” said Pastides, who earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Albany, State University of New York. “No qualified South Carolinian should ever be denied the opportunity to learn because of cost.”

Pastides, who joined the university in 1998 as dean of the School of Public Health, called his teachers “my role models and my heroes … just like the teachers of our nation today.”

It was those teachers, along with other cherished people in his life, who Pastides credited with his academic achievements and rise in academia that included his former post as vice president of the university’s Office of Research and Health Sciences. During his tenure as head of the university’s research program, funding for research and sponsored programs increased 89 percent, reaching a record $206 million for fiscal year 2008.

Drawing on a quote from Sir Isaac Newston, Pastides said, “I am standing on the shoulders of the great people who have nurtured, taught, supported and loved me. That firm foundation is strengthened by the work of those who came before me at Carolina … the state leaders who believed enough in public education to invest public funds to create the South Carolina College at the dawn of the 19th century.”

Miles Loadholt, chairman of the university’s Board of Trustees, charged Pastides “to guide and guard this great citadel of learning.” During the investiture, the university presented Pastides with a presidential hood that he will wear for official academic events and the presidential medallion, which bears the university seal.

Acknowledging that his presidency begins during a global economic crisis, Pastides spoke optimistically about the future, saying he believes that the university will emerge as an even brighter beacon in the state.

“I will draw from the fortitude and inventiveness of those who have gone before … I will form a bond with you that will not be broken, forge a commitment that will not cease, and pave the way for a future with infinite opportunity and with no finite obstacles that cannot be overcome,” he said.

College and university presidents attending the investiture were Dr. Ray Greenberg, Medical University of South Carolina; Dr. Joan Hinde Stewart, Hamilton College, New York; Dr. Marcus J. Miller, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary; Dr. David H. Swinton, Benedict College; Dr. Charles Young, Allen University; Dr. James Barker, Clemson University; Dr. Betsy Fleming, Converse College; Dr. George E. Cooper, South Carolina State University; Dr. Cleveland Sellers, Voorhees College; Dr. B. James Dawson, Coker College; Dr. Sonny White, Midlands Technical College, and Dr. Susan A. Winsor, Aiken Technical College.

Other colleges and university representatives included The Citadel, Claflin University, College of Charleston, Columbia International University, Cornell College, Duke University, Erskine College, Furman University, Harvard University, Indiana University, Johns Hopkins University, Limestone College, McGill University, Morris College, Ohio State University, Ohio Wesleyan University, Princeton University, Quinnipiac University, Tufts University, University of Kansas, University of Pennsylvania, University at Albany, State University of New York, University of Georgia, University System of Georgia, University of Massachusetts Amherst, U.S. Naval Academy, Vanderbilt University, Wesleyan University, Winthrop University, Wofford College, and Yale University.

Harris Pastides is the University of South Carolina’s 28th president.

He joined the university’s faculty in 1998 as dean of the School of Public Health. In 2002, Pastides was instrumental in securing a $10 million gift from Norman and Gerry Sue Arnold for the naming rights to the school.

Pastides was named the university’s interim vice president for research in 2002 and became the vice president for research and health sciences in 2003. During his tenure, the $22 million Public Health Research Center was constructed, and research funding and sponsored programs increased 89 percent, reaching a record $206 million for fiscal year 2008. The university was recognized in 2006 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as one of only 62 public and 32 private institutions having “very high research activity.”

Pastides has led the university’s efforts to enhance its research infrastructure and to strengthen research areas that have the potential to be world-class programs, including nanotechnology, environmental sciences, Future Fuels™ (including fuel cell and hydrogen research) and health sciences. Three buildings in Innovista, the university’s research and innovation district, are scheduled for completion in 2009.

In 2005, Pastides launched the Magellan Scholar Program to fund undergraduate student research projects. More than 250 students have been named Magellan scholars and have received stipends of up to $3,000 to conduct research with the university’s leading scientists and scholars.

Before coming to the University of South Carolina, Pastides was a professor of epidemiology and chairman of the department of biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University at Albany, State University of New York, and his master’s and doctoral degrees from Yale University.

He married Patricia Moore on April 27, 1980. They have two children: Katharine, an education specialist at the Getty Villa in Malibu, Calif., and Andrew, an equity stage actor in New York City.

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Investiture: An investiture is a ceremony that confers the symbols and power of a high office. The tradition dates back to medieval Europe when investitures were held for religious leaders or for the transfer of power among monarchies. At colleges and universities, the investiture of a president usually comes during the first year of his or her presidency or at the end of the year. Presidents of colleges and universities are invited to attend the ceremony, as well as faculty members and other local, state and national dignitaries.

Dr. Harris Pastides, the University of South Carolina’s 28th president, will be presented with the university’s medallion and a presidential hood during the Friday, Nov. 21, investiture.

Mace: The University of South Carolina mace was designed and fashioned by Leslie Durbin, a distinguished silversmith from London, England. Officially adopted in 1967, the mace was presented to the university as a memorial to Susan Richardson Guignard by alumnus Dr. George Curry. The silver and gilt mace is nearly four feet long. At the top of the mace are the seals of the university, the state of South Carolina and the United States.

The mace also has a stylistic representation of the state tree, the palmetto, the fronds of which are formed by a group of 13 stars. These represent America’s founding colonies, including South Carolina. The shaft is decorated with eight stars to indicate that South Carolina was the eighth state to enter the Union.

The mace is carried in procession on occasions of importance, such as commencements, convocations and formal dedications. The placement of the mace on its stand signals that the proceedings are about to come to order; its retirement indicates the end of the exercises. The student government president carries the mace in procession, escorted by the university chaplain and representatives of the faculty, faculty emeriti, alumni, Board of Trustees and the university community at large.

The medallion: The significance of the mace is mirrored in the president’s medallion, which bears the university seal, and the chain of office. The medallion and chain designate the wearer as the temporary embodiment of the institution’s power and authority. Dr. Harris Pastides will receive the medallion, along with a presidential hood, when he is officially installed during the ceremony.

The gift of the medallion accompanied the gift of the mace in 1967; the linked silver chain of office was commissioned in 1991 by the Presidential Candidate Search Committee and was worn by Presidents John Palms and Andrew Sorensen.

Andrew A. Sorensen, 2002-2008
John M. Palms, 1991 – 2002
James B. Holderman, 1977 – 1990
William H. Patterson, 1974 – 1977
Thomas F. Jones, 1962 – 1974
Robert L. Sumwalt, 1957 – 1962
Donald S. Russell, 1952 – 1957
Norman M. Smith, 1945 – 1952
J. Rion McKissick, 1936 – 1944
Leonard T. Baker, 1931 – 1936
Davison M. Douglas, 1927 – 1931
William Melton, 1922 – 1926
William Spenser Currell, 1914 – 1922
Samuel Chiles Mitchell, 1909 – 1913
Benjamin Sloan, 1903 -1909
Franklin C. Woodward, 1897 – 1902
James Woodrow, 1891 – 1897
John M. McBryde, 1882 – 1883
William Porcher Miles, 1880 – 1882
Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, 1857 – 1861
Charles F. McCay, 1855 – 1857
James Henley Thornwell, 1851 – 1855
William Campbell Preston, 1845 – 1851
Robert Henry, 1841 – 1845
Robert W. Barnwell, 1835 – 1841
Thomas Cooper, 1821 – 1834
Jonathan Maxcy, 1804 – 1820

*** Gaps in the presidential timeline indicate periods when the university was closed, under interim leadership or its chief executive was known by a different title.