USC to Present Seven Alumni Awards

Each year, the University of South Carolina celebrates exemplary alumni and friends with six key awards. Bestowed by the Alumni Association, the awards reflect the values that define the Gamecock community: service, integrity, character and leadership. In addition, every two years the president of the Alumni Association’s Board of Governors names a recipient of the Bethea Volunteer Service Award.

In advance of Homecoming events Nov. 6-8, here are this year's recipients:

Walter Edgar

Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award
’67 M.A., history
’69 Ph.D., history

For 40 years, Walter Edgar taught students in University of South Carolina classrooms. But the now-retired professor also canvassed the state, speaking at local historical societies and museums about the Palmetto State’s complex past. He has produced more than a dozen books about South Carolina and Southern history, including "The South Carolina Encyclopedia" and "Partisans and Redcoats: The Southern Conflict that Turned the Tide of the American Revolution. "

Elizabeth Scott Moïse

Bethea Volunteer Service Award
’74 education, secondary english
’89 law

Elizabeth Scott Moïse came to the University of South Carolina in 1970 thinking she wouldn’t graduate. It wasn’t until a French instructor told her she had what it takes to go far in life that the Sumter native believed she could. So, she did — teaching before earning a law degree and embarking on a decades-long legal career in South Carolina. She is a longtime civil defense attorney, and for 30 years she’s taught advanced legal writing at the Joseph F. Rice School of Law.

Jim Stuckey

Distinguished Alumni Award
’89 journalism

As vice president and general counsel of Dominion Energy South Carolina, Jim Stuckey oversees a 95-person team. But the Bishopville, South Carolina, native’s career with the energy provider predates the 2018 merger with SCANA. Since he arrived as an HR attorney in 2013, his responsibilities have touched everything from litigation to real estate, contract and environmental law. He previously served as chief legal counsel to Gov. Jim Hodges, playing key roles in launching the South Carolina Education Lottery and in the compromise that removed the Confederate flag from the State House dome.

Tayloe Harding

Honorary Life Membership Award
Dean, School of Music

Tayloe Harding came to USC in 2005 with a vision. The newly hired School of Music dean knew that plenty of schools could produce great musicians. USC needed to distinguish itself by building a culture centered on music leadership. Now the longest-serving dean on campus, he has also held interim appointments as Honors College dean, College of Social Work dean, and provost. Beyond USC, Harding has led numerous national music organizations.

Jade-Li English

Outstanding Black Alumni Award
journalism and mass communications

Growing up, Jade-Li English had ties to USC. She went to high school in Columbia, and her father was Gamecocks basketball legend Alex English, but she blazed her own trail at USC as a student-athlete and a journalism and mass communications major. English knows firsthand that switching gears can lead to big gains. She moved to Los Angeles after USC to pursue acting and modeling and had some success, but later moved back across the country to work in New York for Roc Nation, first as a receptionist,

James W. “Jay” Alverson Jr. 

Outstanding Veteran Alumni Award
’98 speech communications

When Jay Alverson was at USC, he majored in speech communications (now called theatre, speech, and dance). And the founding director of the South Carolina Military Hall of Fame certainly used his education during his career in military intelligence.  Following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Alverson was part of an elite special operations group that entered Afghanistan from Uzbekistan to gather intelligence about the terrain and look for evidence of weapons caches and large-scale movements of people. Alverson now works as a Title IX investigator for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

Herman Phillips

Outstanding Young Alumni Award
’18 film and media studies

Growing up, Herman Phillips loved the movies and set himself on a path to becoming a filmmaker. He attended USC as a film and media studies major and landed a production internship in Los Angeles right after his freshman year.  That summer, Phillips connected with a mentor who opened the door for him to return to L.A. and work on HBO’s Insecure. From there, more doors opened. One producer even suggested that Phillips drop out of college to work full time in L.A. But Phillips wanted to finish his degree, including a thesis for the South Carolina Honors College. Two years after graduating, Phillips founded Cinapse, a software platform that assists with the complexities of production scheduling. Now Cinapse’s GM, Phillips says around 20 percent of productions globally have been made using the software since 2025.