South Carolina Celebrates the 10th Anniversary of "The Dodie"
Facilities are one of the life-bloods for a successful college athletics department. In its commitment to a championship experience for all its student-athletes, South Carolina has improved facilities for every sport over the last decade, but one facility stands alone in its importance for the future of all of the Gamecocks, in and out of the competitive arena – the Dodie Anderson Academic Enrichment Center. February 3 marks the 10th anniversary of the opening of the building which serves all student-athletes.
“The Dodie Anderson Academic Enrichment Center shows the importance and tremendous pride that we take in the academic successes of our student-athletes,” said Athletics Director Ray Tanner. “When our student-athletes come to ‘The Dodie’, they understand that it is a place where serious academic work is done. ‘The Dodie’ has the latest technologies and has great space for students and staff. I am proud of the impact the Dodie Anderson Academic Enrichment Center has on our student-athletes and our athletics department.”
Affectionately known as “The Dodie,” the 40,000 square foot facility provides student-athletes with tutors, learning specialists, and psychologists, as well as many other resources such as more than 100 computer stations, private study rooms, as well as larger spaces for the Gamecocks to meet and work on group projects.
In the 10 years since it’s opening, South Carolina has had:
- 2,733 SEC Academic Honor Roll Recipients
- 146 Academic All-Americans
- 26 straight semesters of a departmental GPA of 3.0 or above
- Four straight wins in academic GPA over Clemson in Palmetto Series
Additionally, Michael Roth (baseball) was the recipient of the 2012 H. Boyd McWhorter SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
“The Dodie was a significant tool provided by the athletics department to ensure that we could get everything we needed as student athletes,” Roth said. “It gave us a place to eat, study, and interact with other athletes in a world class environment.”
“Our success comes from their success. If we fail, then they fail.”
– Chaz Cutton (Football, 2009-2013)
The Dodie has also become a central hub for the Gamecocks inside the Athletics Village with the dining hall where nutritionists and chefs provide meals and all of the necessary means to make sure each student-athlete is fueled properly. The facility, and what happens inside it, are an integral part of South Carolina’s commitment to its student-athletes.
“The Dodie has made a tremendous impact on our students,” said Maria Hickman, Executive Associate Athletics Director for Academics. “You have to give credit to (former) Athletics Director Eric Hyman and his vision for the Athletics Village to have the Dodie be the first building built. That showed the importance of academics at the University of South Carolina. It created a space to serve all of our student-athletes together in a single place that was focused on academics. Our staff inside the Dodie is what drives the students to keep coming in. It’s a place they feel safe and they can be who they are.
“There is still a wow factor today when parents and students come on campus and see the Dodie. Every recruit on their official visit comes to the Dodie and meets with an academic advisor. We’re talking about majors and showing them all the resources we have. There are computer labs on every floor, and there are laptops they can check out, there are tutors available and learning specialists as well. We can do a lot of screening and testing, and we do a lot with student development there. There’s really no reason why our student-athletes should fail here. That’s what parents are looking for. The Dodie provides that parent away from home.”
Named in honor of Dodie Anderson of Greer, S.C., who generously provided $5 million for the $13.5 million facility, the facility reflects the ideal that academics and athletics are not mutually exclusive, and the Dodie continues to provide the Gamecocks with all they need to be successful academically. Just as any athletics facility honors the champions and legends of its sport, the Dodie honors the Gamecocks who achieve in the classroom.
“It was a tremendous help. Without that facility and having staff like Maria (Hickman) and Katie (Etheridge) that were there, I don’t think I would have graduated from college,” said former football student-athlete Chaz Sutton (2009-2013), who is now working as an operations manager for a stevedoring company in New Orleans, and he has also written a children’s book. “Just having them as a resource, in addition to everything that was there, you’re set up to be successful.
“The main thing that helped me was always having people there when we needed them. Our success comes from their success. If we fail, then they fail. That’s how they looked at it. They wanted everyone to win with their classes, and they pushed us to do that. The building was really nice but having those people there in one place was a tremendous help to us.”
The South Carolina Athletics program ranks second in the SEC in the latest Graduation Success Rate, which measures the number of scholarship student-athletes that graduate within a six-year period of their initial full-time enrollment. South Carolina’s athletic teams had a 94 percent GSR score, which is second in the SEC behind only Vanderbilt (97), and second in the state of South Carolina, behind only Wofford (97). Of the over 350 schools in NCAA Division I, South Carolina’s score tied for 46th overall. South Carolina’s Football GSR score (93) also ranked second among SEC schools.
Nineteen Gamecock sports posted a multi-year NCAA APR score of 950 or better for the second consecutive year. Seven teams (men’s and women’s golf, women’s swimming and diving, women’s tennis, cross country and men’s indoor and outdoor track) had perfect single-year 1,000 scores. The APR is a point system based on scholarship student-athletes’ eligibility and retention for a pre-determined four-year time period.
