A glance at the past, a glimpse into the future
When I first arrived on the Coastal Carolina University grounds, I had no idea that I would spend the rest of my career working at CCU. In the summer of 1974, it was a campus of three buildings (Singleton, the Atheneum, and the original Williams-Brice Building), with Kearns Hall being completed and occupied that fall. At that time, CCU had 1,400 students and was very much like a large extended family consisting of students, faculty and staff.
During the ensuing years, I had the opportunity to serve CCU in several capacities in addition to my teaching duties in accounting management and statistics. These included two years as assistant dean of academic affairs, five years as associate chancellor for business affairs and, on two separate occasions, as director of the interdisciplinary studies degree program. Those of us here then looked on in total amazement and awe as Coastal Carolina expanded from a tiny, two-year campus extension of USC-Columbia to a freestanding, four-year state university in 1993. I remained as a full-time member of the Coastal faculty until December 1997 when I retired, but stayed on in a part-time capacity to head interdisciplinary studies for two years at the request of the University.
I was happily retired from January 2000 until May 2007, whereupon I responded to entreaties from Coastal Carolina to return as vice president of finance and administration. There were urgent issues to be addressed at that time within this department. I am extremely happy to report that those issues were resolved within 12 months and that we spent the next three years putting systems into place to prevent similar problems from occurring in the future. I feel that I have served my University well and have helped to achieve the tasks laid before me when I was coaxed out of retirement. It is with pride in our accomplishments that I hand off the responsibility for finance and administration to Stacie Bowie as I plan with great anticipation my return to retirement.
Looking forward, I would like to repeat what I have recently heard several times. There will be three major universities in South Carolina in the future. Coastal Carolina will be one of them. The outlook is bright in terms of academics, athletics, student enrollment, research and new facilities.
Approximately $100 million in new facilities is or will be under construction in the near future at CCU, as we expand our degree programs at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Enrollment is expected to pass 12,000 students by Fall 2020, a mere nine years away. The following is a quick snapshot of some of the new and renovated facilities that will be constructed in the next few years:
1. Student Convocation/Student Recreation Center—Estimated cost of $35 million, with an expected completion date of Spring 2012.
2. Baseball/Softball Hitting Practice Facility—Estimated cost of $1.2 million, with an expected completion date of Spring 2011.
3. Parking Lot off University Boulevard (Behind Bill Baxley Hall)—Estimated cost of $1 million, with an expected completion date of Fall 2011.
4. Public Safety Facility—Estimated cost of $1.6 million, with an expected completion date of Summer 2012.
5. Bryan Information Commons—Estimated cost of $6 million, with an expected completion date of Summer 2012.
6. Central Heating and Cooling Plant—Estimated cost of $6.4 million, with an expected completion date of Summer 2012.
7. Parking Lot off University Boulevard (Behind Lackey Chapel)—Estimated cost of $2 million, with an expected completion date of Fall 2012.
8. Blanton Circle—Estimated cost of $500,000 to convert Blanton Circle to Blanton Park, with an expected completion date of Fall 2012.
9. Parking Lot off S.C. 544 (Fire Tower Lot) and Pedway—Estimated cost of $2 million, with an expected completion date of Fall 2012.
10. General Purpose Classroom/Office Building—Estimated cost of $12 million, with an expected completion date of Fall 2012.
11. Swain Building (Science Annex I)—Estimated cost of $15 million, with an expected completion date of Spring 2013.
12. Softball Facility Renovations—Estimated cost of $2 million, with an expected completion date of Summer 2013.
13. Lib Jackson Student Center Annex—Estimated cost of $12 million, with an expected completion date of Fall 2013.
14. Watson Stadium (Baseball) Renovations—Estimated cost of $8 million, with an expected completion date of Fall 2013.
15. Science Annex II—Estimated cost of $15 million, with an expected completion date of Fall 2014.
As I re-enter the ranks of the retired, I will look back with great fondness on these last few years at CCU and think of you often as you move Coastal from good to GREAT. We are on the MOVE!
Sincerely,
Will Garland
