S C T E CHN I CA L CO L L E G E S Y S T EM ’ S
F I R S T 5 0 Y EAR S
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The 1970s
A
M O D E L F O R T H E N A T I O N E M E R G E S
“Is technical education as good as before,” wrote the
Green-
ville News
. The TEC system that had been the lodestone for at-
tracting new industry to the state was losing its power. Rubbing
salt in the wound, the
Greenville News
quoted a letter a Rockwell
International executive wrote to the development board: “South
Carolina cannot provide the large technological base needed by
a sophisticated industry like Rockwell.”
“So kiss goodbye an aerospace-electronics manufacturing
plant that might have employed some 3,000 Upstate workers,”
said the
Greenville News
. If only the op-ed writers had had a
crystal ball. They would have seen a day when an ultra-modern
aircraft, the Dreamliner, would soar into the blue Palmetto sky.
Dreams, you see, do come true. Barry Russell became Dr.
Barry Russell, and during his tenure as system president from
2006 to 2010 plans fell into place for bringing a company known
as Boeing to South Carolina. It took time, and it took the 1970s
achievements to pave the way. As the 1970s closed, the system
was making dreams come true for people from all walks of life,
and those dreams would reach into the future. And not just in
South Carolina. South Carolina’s model for technical colleges
sprinkled stardust across other states.
As for South Carolina, it had pulled itself out of the cotton
field and out from behind looms. The state had come a long way
from the 1950s when people fled the state. Even so, some ex-
pressed concern that time and fast-paced technological changes
had tarnished the technical education system’s innovative luster.
“Not so,” said system leaders. “Just see what the 1980s will bring.”
A $10 million upgrade, “Design for the 80s,” would restore the
sheen. And that pesky issue of educational turf wars wasn’t going
away. In 1979, Tom “Black Cat” Barton went to bat for a four-
year degree at Greenville Technical College. He had adversaries,
of course. Still a richer spectrum of education options seemed
imminent. A more diverse industrial base already offered a myr-
iad of jobs, high-paying jobs.
To be a South Carolinian was to be excited about the future.
