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Stern Center History

Built in 1974 and renovated in 2005, the 57,000 square-foot Theodore S. Stern Student Center has served as the hub of campus life for fivve decades. 
 
The facility was named for former ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø President Theodore Sanders Stern. The Stern Student Center is the gathering place of the College and home to must-have campus services and resources. 
 

Visionary Ted Stern 

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø President Emeritus Theodore Sanders Stern, known for transforming the College from a small private college into a nationally recognized institution of higher learning, died at age 100 in January 2013. 
 
Stern served as president of the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø from 1968 to 1978. When he arrived at the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø there were 432 students enrolled and 28 faculty members.  With the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø facing a financial crisis, Stern worked with the South Carolina General Assembly to ensure the future of the College by turning it into a public institution. By the end of his presidency, the College enrollment had grown to over 5,300 students and 181 faculty members. 
 
He was also credited for admitting the first African American students to the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø. 
 
Under Stern’s leadership, the College acquired approximately 80 buildings and constructed many of its most important facilities, including the Robert Scott Small Building, Maybank Hall, Physicians Memorial Auditorium (now called Rita Auditorium), Buist Rivers Residence Hall, Rita Liddy Hollings Science Center, Grice Marine Lab, the Stern Center, and the Albert Simons Center for the Arts. 
 
Stern helped introduce the College’s first graduate programs and South Carolina’s Governor’s School. He is also responsible for transforming College Way and Green Street into pedestrian walkways and paving the College’s sidewalks with distinctive herringbone-patterned bricks. 
 
In 1974, the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø honored Stern by naming the student union building after him. 
 
The Ted Stern Cup, also named in his honor, is awarded annually to a graduating senior who exemplifies the character of the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø. The Stern Cup is one of the three highest awards that a student can achieve at the College. 
 
Along with transforming the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, Ted Stern also played a crucial role in shaping the City of ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø.  Through his leadership, he was instrumental in the development of the South Carolina Aquarium, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Place, and the Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina. 
 
As the first president of the board for the Spoleto Festival USA, Stern guided Spoleto through its early years to become one of the nation’s premier arts festivals. 
 
Stern grew up in New York City and was a top-notch swimmer who nearly competed in the Olympics. A 1934 graduate of John Hopkins University, Stern enlisted in the United States Navy after college and earned a Bronze Star, one of our nation’s most important military awards.