If the sentiments expressed by lawmakers from the South Carolina General Assembly who spoke at Friday’s event were any indication, those hopes may be realized in short order.
“We know the needs here at South Carolina State University,” said state Sen. Kent Williams (D-Marion), a 1987 SC State graduate. “We know the challenges you face here each and every day, but we want you to know that you have a voice in Columbia, South Carolina, in the South Carolina General Assembly.”
Friday’s event was to celebrate the addition of SC State’s first fully state-funded
academic building in nearly 30 years, the $54.7 million replacement for outmoded Turner Hall.
Adapting a phrase from Winston Churchill – “We shape our buildings, and afterward our buildings shape us” – Conyers described the promise the new academic building holds for faculty, staff and students at SC State.
“This new academic building will shape the next generation of doctors, lawyers, educators from South Carolina State University,” he said. “This new academic building will shape the next 23 generals from South Carolina State University. This new academic building will shape the next 15 university presidents from South Carolina State University to add to the leaders we provide for the nation.”
University officials estimate the new building to encompass 94,000 square feet of classroom, collaborative learning and office space. Conyers expects the project to take 1 ½-2 years to complete, with the current freshman class taking classes as seniors
there in 2026-2027.
The project is in the design phase in the hands of Evoke Studios, an architectural firm that also designed the SC State Engineering and Computer Science Complex, which sits across Geathers Street from the future building’s location. Evoke co-founder Teri Canada, described the firm’s
collaborative with the university’s leaders and academics. The building will house much of SC State’s core curriculum programs.
“What we heard was that we want an iconic building here,” Canada said. “We want it to be an open space for gathering, collaboration and really sort of bringing people together. We want to make sure this is a multifunctional, multidisciplinary space for everything that’s happening on campus.”
Many described Friday’s groundbreaking as a milestone for the campus, its students, its employees and its alumni.
One wing of Turner dates back 95 years. Other portions date back to the mid-1950s. Among those in the ceremony’s audience were three men who attended SC State in that period and witnessed Turner’s completion: Boston Johnson, Class of 1955; Leo Jackson, Class of 1957; and Charles Smalls, Class of 1959.
Also present was a leader in the Class of 2024, Student Government Association President Zaya Cephus, who represented SC State students on
