New Dean of The College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
The new Dean for the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences strives to build a relationship with the public.
Dr. Forrest Anderson is the Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Science and his goal is to improve the college’s relationship with the community. Dr. Anderson is working on achieving this goal with a new program called Aiken in The Ally, where the facility delivers lectures during lunch in downtown Aiken.
“I really want for our facility to be public facing so that the rest of the community can see the good work that they’re doing here,” comments Dr. Anderson.
Dr. Anderson was attracted to USC Aiken because of the university’s commitment to being a public liberal arts institution along with the region and students it serves.
He exclaims, “I think the facility that work in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences they really care about their students, and they really want to help you think about you know who you are and what you’re called to do as a student.”
He believes if he’s going to make any changes to the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences they will be coming from the students and facility.
Regarding his position at USC Aiken Dr. Anderson stated, “I’m the advocate for the facility in this college. I’m an advocate for the students in the college and we’re looking for ways, not only to have students major in our disciplines, which is you know everything from English, History Sociology right. But we’re trying to appeal to people, across the campus to take our classes and do things maybe outside of their intended majors so that they can have a broader perspective of the world.”
Dr. Anderson feels that people have been welcoming to him at USC Aiken.
He alludes to enjoying the atmosphere stating, “I think there is a hunger to do right by our students that’s pretty compelling and feels pretty good to be around.”
Before joining USC Aiken’s facility, Dr. Anderson worked as an English Professor for Catawba College, a small liberal arts institution in Salisbury, NC. He moved on to working in administration as the Assistant Provost for Student Academic Success to help students feel connected to campus and continue at Catawba College. He progressed into facility development and worked on the college curriculum before becoming the Vice Provost.
As an undergraduate, Dr. Anderson attended the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill where he majored in Journalism and Political Science. Before pursuing his master’s degree, he worked in Television news and online writing. Dr. Anderson received his master’s in fine arts and creative Writing at the University of South Carolina. Following his master’s degree, he obtained his doctorate in English from Florida State University.
He announced, “I think what I would like for students to know is that the facility of the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, you know, could’ve taught at any university in the country but they chose to be here. Because they care about the students at this college so students should always feel empowered to approach facility to hang out after class to let facility know what they need to be successful, right. That’s why we’re here, that’s our number one priority.”
