Coastal Carolina University Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Edgar Dyer has received the state's Palmetto Patriot Award for community service.

The award was presented by Lt. Gov. André Bauer at the Chanticleer football game on Saturday. The award is the highest honor the lieutenant governor can bestow on an individual who has shown outstanding commitment to public service within the state and the community.

Dyer has been a member of the University's political science faculty since 1976, and he served as university counsel from 1993 to 2009. He was the first recipient of the HTC Teacher-Scholar Lecturer Award and has also received the Distinguished Teaching Award, the Student Development Award, and he is an honorary inductee of the George F. "Buddy" Sasser Athletic Hall of Fame at CCU.

He has a variety of scholarly publications in the areas of land use law, state and local government, academic freedom, and African-American history. He has also served as interim dean of the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts, interim athletic director, and executive director of the Coastal Educational Foundation.

In addition to his involvement on campus, Dyer has taken an active part in civic affairs, from chairing the Grass Roots Initiative for Planning and Progress (GRIPP) in the 1990s to his current service on the Horry County Planning Commission.

Dyer earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Guilford College, a master's degree in public administration from the University of South Carolina, and a juris doctor degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law.