South Carolina Baptists enjoy a close affiliation with three healthy and growing universities, each distinct, but each firmly grounded in the mission of offering a Christ-centered higher education for all their students.
They came into being at different times in history — Anderson University tracing its roots to a pre-Civil War women’s seminary; Charleston Southern University, the youngest of the three schools, coming into existence only 60 years ago; and North Greenville University, founded as a high school at the end of the 19th century by a local Baptist association that understood the importance of educating the children of rural northern Greenville County.
Each school has evolved along the way — two of them transitioning from junior college to four-year-college status in the latter part of the 20th century — to become full-fledged universities offering myriad academic options and post-graduate degrees. In the last decade, all three schools have put into place academic offerings to provide home-grown training for tomorrow’s pastors, religious scholars and worship leaders. As the higher-education landscape has changed, particularly in religious instruction and ministry preparation, South Carolina’s three Baptist universities have risen to the challenge.
Today, all three universities’ student populations are bursting at the seams, and their drawing boards are filled with plans to accommodate future growth.
More than 60 years ago, South Carolina Baptists in the Charleston area began discussing the need for a Baptist college in the Lowcountry. Area Baptists raised $1 million and worked with the Charleston mayor to secure the land for the university.
Today, Charleston Southern University, formerly known as Baptist College at Charleston, is located in the center of the greater Charleston area and is the only Christian higher education institution in the Lowcountry.
CSU’s affiliation with the South Carolina Baptist Convention directly benefits students, as the $1.546 million received from the SCBC annually is used for student scholarships.
“Our Baptist students are grateful for the scholarship funds from the South Carolina Baptist Convention churches,” said president Jairy C. Hunter Jr. “Their generous gifts assist our students in fulfilling God’s call on their lives.”
“Since its founding, CSU’s health as a Christian institution has been tied to South Carolina Baptist churches’ engagement and support,” said Michael Bryant, executive vice president. “Whatever successes we have experienced have come from God’s favor and the sacrifices of many pastors and churches who understood the importance of Christian higher education.”
Charleston Southern partners with the SCBC and the Southern Baptist Convention in hosting events on campus including LifeWay’s MFuge and participating in projects such as NAMB’s GenSend and the IMB’s Christmas in China. CSU students participate in Student Leadership University, Operation Christmas Child (packing 1,662 boxes last year), and the university’s Student Leadership Corps is designed to develop young Christian leaders.
Charleston Southern is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. The commission’s recent reaccreditation visit report contained no recommendations for corrections and recommended reaccreditation.
CSU’s mission is to promote academic excellence in a Christian environment. The university offers classes on campus and online. CSU seeks to develop students with a well-rounded liberal arts education grounded in a biblical worldview. The university’s 3,600 students pursue traditional liberal arts degrees and professional degrees in nursing, education, science, business, computer science, music, criminal justice, mathematics, graphic design, Christian studies, and pre-engineering through 48 undergraduate majors and 10 graduate programs.
The School of Christian Studies offers majors in Christian studies, Christian studies with an emphasis in biblical languages, student ministry, and Christian missions and church planting. Minors are available in Christian leadership, Christian missions and church planting, Christian studies, Christian worldview and apologetics, and women’s ministry. The master of arts in Christian studies is a totally online 36-hour degree and can be completed in as little as two and a half years.
In addition, the Horton School of Music offers a music and worship leadership major that focuses on music, worship and Christian studies.
The School of Christian Studies leads initiatives to promote the spiritual renewal of the church in the Charleston region and beyond. The Center for Church Renewal offers an annual conference and sponsors churchandgospel.com, a podcast, and hosts Epic Bible Study Teacher Training, a free quarterly event for churches teaching LifeWay’s Explore the Bible literature.
The campus ministries staff focuses on three foundations essential to fulfilling the Great Commission: teaching, discipling and living life on mission. Campus minister Jon Davis says, “We don’t believe our students are the church of tomorrow; we believe they are the church of today.”
Elevate, a weekly worship gathering, ministers to all students, faculty and staff. The campus ministries staff trains students to serve through monthly service with local and national organizations and ministry partners. In addition, biweekly chapel services provide the university family with a corporate worship experience.
Last year, 44 students accepted Christ, and 68 rededicated their lives. Almost 100 students are currently preparing for church-related vocations, and 56 served in summer missions. Thirty weekly discipleship groups meet on and off campus to disciple residents and commuters.
The Whitfield Center for Christian Leadership hosts events to equip Christians to lead businesses, government, churches and homes from the foundation of a distinctively biblical worldview, integrating faith into every area of life and culture.
Well on the way to meeting the university’s strategic plan of enrolling 4,000 students by 2020, CSU is expanding campus facilities and programs to meet the needs of the student body. Plans are underway to add family nurse practitioner and physician assistant programs. Construction has begun for a health sciences building to house new and current programs, and the undergraduate athletic training program is transitioning to a master of athletic training. The creation of The Graduate School has streamlined services, and master’s programs added recently include human resource management, computer science, organizational leadership and nursing leadership and healthcare administration.
A recent 4,000-square-foot expansion and renovation of the dining hall more than doubled seating capacity. The university is raising funds for an 8,000-square-foot athletic performance center, to include the 5,000-square-foot Angie and Sam Kelly Strength and Conditioning Center and a 3,000-square-foot meeting space for the football program.
Also, fundraising is underway for the Singleton Baseball Complex, to include a 3,500-square-foot building housing locker and training rooms, office space and an enrichment center, a memorial plaza and a stadium courtyard. The enrichment center will be named for baseball team member Chris Singleton’s mother, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, who was killed June 17, 2015, in the tragic Emanuel AME Church shooting.
With 16 NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic programs for both men and women, CSU competes in the Big South Conference. Since 2014, Charleston Southern has won conference championships in football, softball, men’s basketball, women’s tennis and men’s golf.
Charleston Southern is nationally recognized as one of America’s Best Christian Colleges, U.S. News and World Report’s Best Online Program, a College of Distinction, America’s 100 Best College Buys, a member of The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, and a Military Friendly School.
Charleston Southern alumni are prepared to think critically, communicate skillfully and collaborate effectively. CSU graduates are employed around the world in education, government, churches, media, corporate and nonprofit organizations.