USCA professor wins Professor of the Year for S.C.

Dr. Chad Leverette, a USC Aiken chemistry professor, was chatting with Executive Vice Chancellor Dr. Suzanne Ozment and his department chair, Dr. Monty Fetterolf on Friday afternoon - unaware that they had gotten him to Ozment's office on a subterfuge.

A few minutes later, Chancellor Dr. Tom Hallman walked in, accompanied by Commissioner on Higher Education Chairman Ken Wingate, who surprised Leverette with the news that he has been named the Governor's Professor of the Year for South Carolina.

"I'm speechless," Leverette said. "To be honored for something I love to do is the ultimate compliment. Thanks to the people in this room, (USCA) has been a great place to be."

The Governor's Professor of the Year Award was established in 1988. According to the S.C. Higher Education Foundation, the program "honors faculty who excel in teaching, scholarship and service. These individuals represent the best at their institutions who transform the lives and careers of their students."

Each South Carolina university and college nominates a two-year or four-year professor annually, with each division recognizing a winner. Leverette was named a finalist for the second straight year. In a tie vote, a selection committee chose Leverette and USC Beaufort Spanish professor Dr. Juanita Vellena-Alverez.

They are not sharing the award, Wingate said, but are both winners. Each professor will receive $5,000 and will be recognized at a Commission on Higher Education meeting and luncheon Nov. 4.

"This is a big award," said Wingate. "The winner represents the highest level of achievement. The reviews Chad has received from his students in recent years and his enthusiasm for his subject set him apart."

Each year a USCA committee selects a faculty representative for the award.

"It's a special compliment for Dr. Leverette to be selected again (as the nominee)," Ozment said. "It has happened in the past but only rarely."

Just last month, Leverette was the principal investigator in obtaining a three-year, $264,821 grant from the National Science Foundation. The award will provide funds to purchase a Raman microscope, the only one of its kind at any South Carolina university or college. The microscope will be used for spectroscopy and imaging applications of novel materials and biological samples.

The university now has such equipment in large part because of Leverette's efforts, said Hallman. That he has accomplished so much in such a short time at USCA is remarkable and rewarding, the chancellor said.

After receiving a Ph.D. at the University of Georgia, Leverette worked in private industry for four years. It was his experience with chemistry professors at Erskine College that make an opportunity at USCA so appealing.

"I had the best foundation at a small school," Leverette said. "I had so much one-on-one attention and thought that (being a professor) was a great way to spend my life. I feel I'm paying it forward."

He has enjoyed his work at USCA and is grateful for the Savannah River National Lab, which has funded his own lab for the past six years. He has helped provide opportunities for his students at national and international conferences.

Four years ago, Michelle "Mickie" Killian, the mother of four children, arrived at USCA as a chemistry major, just hoping to make it through school. She graduated summa cum laude and, with recommendation letters from Leverette and other professors, was named the outstanding senior graduate. She has continued work as a research assistant and will move out of state in 2011 to attend graduate school.

In his letter, Leverette had described Killian as a model student, among the best he has ever taught.

"This is what we hopefully do as professors," Leverette said Friday. "We love being with students and then we find an exceptional student like Mickie. She's going to all the great things and maybe will send us money in the future," he said with a smile.

Following a national search seven years ago, Fetterolf said the university was fortunate to find Leverette and offer him a chance to come close to home.

"We have just been amazed at the energy he has brought to teaching and research and his commitment to recruiting students to come here for chemistry," Fetterolf said.

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.