Beaufort chancellor honored with 2009 Martha Kime Piper Award

Dr. Jane T. Upshaw, chancellor of the University of South Carolina Beaufort, has been honored with the 2009 Martha Kime Piper Award.

Upshaw was recognized at the recent South Carolina Women in Higher Education annual conference at the university’s Columbia campus.

Upshaw is the first female chancellor of a senior campus of the University of South Carolina. Under her leadership, the Beaufort campus became a four-year degree-granting institution and doubled its academic programs. Upshaw led the drive for community support and funding for the new 200-acre campus at the Gateway to Hilton Head Island. Since becoming chancellor, she has continued to increase access to baccalaureate degrees in the Lowcountry and extend the university’s resources to the community through partnerships with local agencies and school districts.

The Martha Kime Piper Award is given in honor of the first woman president of a public higher education institution in South Carolina. South Carolina Women in Higher Education (SCWHE) present this, their highest award, annually to recognize a woman with an outstanding record of advancing and supporting women in higher education in South Carolina. SCWHE is a statewide organization that is part of the American Council on Education's Office of Women in Higher Education. Dr. Martha Kime Piper was the first female president of Winthrop College.