South Magazine Fall 2023
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SIX DECADES OF SOUTH<br />
1990s<br />
1990<br />
CREATING THE<br />
COMMONS<br />
<strong>South</strong> buys the<br />
Kingswood Shopping<br />
Center, diagonally<br />
from campus at<br />
Old Shell Road and<br />
University Boulevard.<br />
It becomes University<br />
Commons, housing<br />
the College of<br />
Education and<br />
Professional Studies<br />
and the Department<br />
of Psychology.<br />
1994<br />
A NEW ERA Founding President Dr. Frederick Whiddon<br />
retires. Both a pragmatist and a visionary, Whiddon in<br />
35 years builds from scratch a major university. Stressing<br />
academic excellence, he strongly prefers hiring faculty<br />
members with doctoral degrees. He hands over to his<br />
successor a teaching, research and healthcare leader<br />
with nine schools and colleges and a hospital system. A<br />
year later, the University launches its first nine online<br />
classes, in education, business and nursing. Today, entire<br />
undergraduate and graduate programs are available online.<br />
YOUNGEST GRAD<br />
Ten-year-old<br />
Michael Kearney<br />
receives a degree<br />
in anthropology,<br />
becoming the world’s<br />
youngest-ever<br />
university graduate.<br />
Later pursuits include<br />
winning $1 million on<br />
the web-based game<br />
show “Gold Rush”<br />
and performing with<br />
an improvisational<br />
comedy troupe.<br />
24 SOUTH MAGAZINE
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