CHARLESTON MERCURY

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Page 10 February 24, 2011

Born: Lewisburg,Pennsylvania.Hobbies: Golf, Broadwaymusicals.Favorite Book: Built to Lastby Jim Collins and JerryPorras.Best Lowcountry Memory:Being recruited to theCollege of Charleston byBuddy Darby on the first teeof Cassique at the KiawahIsland Club.

BY PEG EASTMAN

Dr. P. George Bensonwill continue toserve as president of

the College of Charleston forat least four more years, fol-lowing a recent unanimousvote by their Board ofTrustees to offer him a three-year extension of his contract.Benson became the College’s21st president in 2007, andhis original five-year contracthad been set to expire in2012. Benson arrived inCharleston bearing an

impressive array of accom-plishments, the most recentbeing his highly successfultenure as Dean of theUniversity of Georgia’s TerryCollege of Business. AndTerry’s loss is Charleston’sgain.

Benson was well preparedto take the reins of the his-toric College of Charleston,for he had grown up inanother college town,Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, thehome of Bucknell University.His father was a popular sta-tistics professor, his mothertaught math at Bucknell, andhis grandfather had been thehead of Bucknell’s musicschool from 1908 to 1948.

One of Benson’s fondestchildhood memories is of sit-ting at the kitchen table ashis father’s students sharedtheir hopes and dreams forthe future. He played thegames young boys played andattended the local footballgames. Watching his entre-preneurial father operate his

own bookstore at Bucknelland a camp in NewHampshire made Bensonaspire to be president of hisown company one day.

Benson received a mathe-matics degree from Bucknellin 1968. As a result of themilitary draft, he was prohib-ited from accepting a RotaryInternational Fellowship inSweden. He did, however,find a job in the U.S. ArmySecurity Agency as a manage-ment analyst in the area ofpersonnel planning. After ayear with Army Security,Benson became a computerprogram design engineer withAT&T’s Bell TelephoneLaboratories, and from therehe did graduate studies at

New York University. Hewent on to earn a doctoratein decision sciences from theUniversity of Florida.Somewhere along the aca-demic way, he discovered thathe loved being in the class-room, and he changed hiscareer path.

The new professor joinedthe faculty at the Universityof Minnesota and taught sta-tistics and quality manage-ment and eventually becamethe director of theOperations ManagementCenter. He later becameDean of the Graduate Schoolof Management at Rutgers,the state university of NewJersey, where he spearheadedthe merger of three differentbusiness schools withinRutgers. He also establishedexecutive MBA programs inChina and Singapore andstarted off-campus/part-timeMBA programs in Princetonand Morristown. In 1996,Business News New Jerseynamed Dean Benson one ofthe “Top 100 Business Peoplein New Jersey.” The follow-ing year he was appointed asone of nine judges for theMalcolm Baldrige NationalQuality Award that is pre-sented annually by thePresident of the United Statesto organizations that demon-strate excellence in qualityand performance.

Benson went on to acceptthe position of Dean of theUniversity of Georgia’s TerryCollege of Business in 1998.During his eight plus years atTerry, he led the developmentof several innovative MBAand executive education pro-grams. Capstone studentswent out into the communityto gain leadership skills, andthe Atlanta business commu-nity became actively involvedin the effort. In all, Bensonand his development team

raised over $45 million forGeorgia’s business school.Terry has become a perennialtop 20 finisher on the U.S.News & World Report list ofthe nation’s best public busi-ness schools.

Since his arrival at theCollege in February 2007,the new president has “livedstrategically for the College,working 24-7,” as he put it.He has been so busy that, todate, he has not had theopportunity to visit many ofthe attractions that make theLowcountry a tourist Mecca.He has methodically done hisresearch and launchednumerous initiatives toimprove operations andfundraising, and he is justifi-ably proud of the progressover the past four years.

One of Benson’s firstorders of business was to ini-tiate a strategic planningprocess that involved theCollege’s faculty, staff, stu-dents, alumni, friends, legisla-tors and other importantconstituents across the stateand the nation. It took twoyears to develop a compre-hensive strategic plan thatincorporates core values,envisioned future goals and anew financial model aimed atintegrating the College intothe social and economic fab-ric of Charleston and theLowcountry. The plan wasapproved by the College’sboard in October 2009 andis now in the implementationphase. But Benson said theCollege is reevaluating thetiming for some of the plan’sgoals, given the continueddecline in state funding. TheCollege receives less thannine percent of its operatingbudget from the state.

Many more things haveoccurred under PresidentBenson’s leadership. In recentyears, the community haswitnessed the completion of

new campus facilities: thehandsome Carolina FirstArena on Meeting Street, thestate-of-the-art Cato Centeraddition to the AlbertSimons Center for the Arts,and the new School ofSciences and Mathematicsbuilding on Calhoun Streetwith its cutting-edge labora-tories and classrooms. ThePresident’s House has beenrenovated to make it moreaccommodating for hostingcampus functions and enter-taining donors. Senioradministrative staffing hasbeen streamlined, an MBAprogram has been instituted,a diversity initiative has beenlaunched and a performance-based merit review system forfaculty has been adopted.

In addition to his academ-ic oversight, Benson serves onthe board of directors ofNBSC and three other com-panies based in Georgia. Hispublications span severalfields; he is the co-author ofthe textbook Statistics forBusiness and Economics.

On a personal note, he ismarried to Jane Oas.Accomplished in her ownright, she has a master’sdegree in business adminis-tration from the University ofMinnesota, and while a stu-dent she was a Big Ten Sprintchampion and participated inthe 1972 and 1976 OlympicTrials. The Bensons havethree children. Jeff and Lauraare graduates of theUniversity of Georgia, andAlison is a 2010 graduate ofthe College of Charleston.

Peg Eastman recently pub-lished “Hidden History of OldCharleston” with Edward F.Good and has written severalother books about theCharleston scene.

Lowcountry Lives

P. George Benson — A Man of Vision

PHOTOGRAPH PROVIDEDGeorge Benson.

Sponsors Jadonna and Jon Robinson flaunt their face wear at theSecond Annual Charleston Mardi Gras Ball on Saturday, February 12.

Bill Roethger and Dorothy Williamson smile for the camera at the sec-ond annual Charleston Mardi Gras Ball on February 12.

Dean Popma joins festively-dressed Angela Kirk and John Bordeaux fordrinks before the start of ceremonies at the 2011 Krewe of CharlestonMardi Gras Ball.

Charleston School of Law students Ashton Vetas and Brittany Dunneenjoy the festivities at the February 12 Mardi Gras Masque at theCharleston Marriott.

Phyllis Sheffer and Robin Gossett look beautiful in ball gowns at theCharleston Mardi Gras Ball on Saturday, February 12.

OUT & ABOUTPHOTOGRAPHS BY G. CLAY WHITTAKER