Luke A. Rankin

December 2017 Commencement Speaker

Luke A. Rankin has served Horry County in the South Carolina State Senate since 1992. He serves on the following Senate committees: banking and insurance, education, ethics, transportation, and judiciary; he is chairman of the judiciary committee. As a statesman, he has focused on obtaining funding for Horry County roads. As the first Senate appointee to the State Infrastructure Bank Board, he helped secure funding for construction of new roads and highways in the county, including the Conway Bypass, the Carolina Bays Parkway and Grissom Parkway, as well as the widening of S.C. 544 and S.C. 707. In 2017, he helped push through a roads package that resulted in the addition of $4 billion toward highway infrastructure.

The Conway native earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of South Carolina in 1984 and a juris doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1987.

Rankin was awarded the honorary degree Doctor of Public Service from Coastal Carolina University during the December 2017 commencement.