Columbia Chamber’s Ike McLeese and Dr. Sorensen

Dr. Andrew Sorensen was selected by the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce (GCCC) as its Ambassador of the Year for 2005. The event is 35 years old, and it always recognizes an individual of outstanding character who represents the Riverbanks Region.

Sorensen brought with him three more members of his barbershop quartet, and they became the entertainment for the banquet hall crowd at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.

In May 2002, Sorensen was named the 27th president of USC after serving as president of the University of Alabama (1996–2002), provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of Florida (1990–1996), executive director of the AIDS Institute at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, and director of the School of Public Health at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (1986–1990). He has also served as a visiting faculty member at the Harvard University School of Medicine and the University of Cambridge School of Medicine.

City salesman Steve Camp and Dr. Sorensen compare notes Author or editor of seven books and more than 100 articles, Sorensen is professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at USC’s Arnold School of Public Health. He holds a bachelor’s degree in ethics and master’s and doctoral degrees in medical sociology from Yale University. He also earned a BA in history from the University of Illinois and a master of public health degree from the University of Michigan.

Sorensen is secretary–treasurer and past president of the Southern University Conference, past chair of the Southern Universities Research Association Council of Presidents, and a trustee of the Universities Research Association. He was a member of the Education Advisory Committee for President Bush’s Transition Team during 2000–01. He also was on DHHS Secretary Tommy Thompson’s Council on Public Health Preparedness from 2002 to 2005 and now serves on the National Institutes of Health National Science Advisory Board on Biosecurity.

His wife, Donna Ingemie Sorensen, holds a baccalaureate degree in chemistry from Wheaton College (MA) and master’s degrees in nutrition from Cornell University and in chemistry from Wesleyan University.

Shortly after arriving at USC, Mrs. Sorensen was appointed by SC Department of Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum to serve on the SC Department of Education Task Force on Nutrition and Health in Our Youth, an effort that examined the problem of childhood obesity. She is president of the board of the Girl Scout Council of the Congaree Area and serves on the boards of the SC Arts Foundation, the USC Board of Dance, McKissick Museum Advisory Council, and the Ex Libris Society Executive Committee. She also serves on the national board of Associated Marine Institutes.

As USC’s chief fund raiser, Sorensen has set new standards. USC’s research funding for 2003–4 was a record. The figures included $149.3 million for university research, outreach and training programs and $64.7 million in private giving. Support for academic program enhancements totaled $29.4 million. Gifts for faculty development, including chairs and professorships, reached $5.5 million. Support for scholarships was $8.9 million, and contributions to the Gamecock Club were $14.6 million.

The largest gift in USC’s history, Darla Moore’s $45 million to the Moore School of Business came after Sorensen took charge.

Sorensen’s efforts to establish a “seamless partnering of town and gown,” as I. S. Leevy Johnson put it during the GCCC ceremony, are most evident in the beginnings of the USC research campus going up between South Main and the Congaree River. Literally billions in buildings, Sorensen is the leader of what must be a 20–year plan.

Now all he has to do is stay the course and bring in a few national sports titles to USC.