Harris Pastides was named the University of South Carolina's 28th president on August 1, 2008, following a decade of service at Carolina as a professor, dean and vice president.  He was the first internal candidate to be elected as President of the University of South Carolina in over half a century.

Under Pastides' leadership as Vice President for Research and Health Sciences, research funding and sponsored programs at South Carolina increased 89 percent since 2002, reaching a record $206 million for fiscal year 2008. Pastides continues to take a leading role in the development of Innovista, the research innovation district he helped design and launch during his tenure.

With Focus Carolina, one of his first major initiatives as University president, Pastides has launched the most comprehensive strategic planning initiative in the University’s history. The effort is expected to result in transformational goals that will steer a course for the University’s long-term future.

Pastides has identified sustainability, innovation, the University’s role in development of a knowledge economy, more access to education for South Carolinians, and stronger cohesion among the University’s eight campuses among his major goals. To accomplish those goals, he has solicited ideas from the University community and all South Carolina citizens through Carolina’s Ideas, a Web-based virtual suggestion box that is yielding a bounty of good counsel.