[caption id="attachment_326" align="alignleft" width="199" caption="Gordon Haist"]<a href="http://www.beaufortislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Schools-Gordon-Haist_small.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-326" title="Schools-Gordon Haist_small" src="http://www.beaufortislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Schools-Gordon-Haist_small-199x300.jpg" alt="" width="199" height="300" /></a>[/caption]

The University of South Carolina awarded University of South Carolina Beaufort Professor Gordon Haist the Carolina Trustee Professorship.  Haist is one of three professors in the eight campus USC system to receive this honor at the spring commencement.  The award recognizes teaching excellence, outstanding research, and university service and is given upon the recommendation of the USC Board of Trustees. <!--more-->During his 36 years of service to USCB, Dr. Haist has held every academic leadership position on campus. He is currently Chair of the Faculty Senate and serves as the historian on the Courses and Curricula Committee.  According to Dr. Harvey Varnet, USCB Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, “With our recent growth and expanding academic environment, Dr. Haist has been a steady hand at the helm.  He is wise, careful, and thoughtful. And,  he is open to exploring institutional change, rather than clinging to ‘that’s the way we always did it’ as an explanation.”

Dr. Haist earned his undergraduate degree in philosophy at Indiana University and his doctorate at Southern Illinois University.  He joined USCB in 1974 as assistant professor and achieved the rank of full professor in 1981.  He led the development of the Liberal Studies degree program at USCB and is an active researcher, presenter and publisher in his field of philosophy.

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