By admin 
For the first time in its 225-year history, the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees will be led by a woman.
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Rose Buyck Newton, a finance professional who has served on the USC Board of Trustees since 2018, was elected Friday as the board’s new chairwoman.
The Bluffton resident said she was honored to join the state’s growing sorority of education leaders and looked forward to carrying on the university’s mission of education, research and service.
“We have a lot of women doing a lot of great things in the state,” said Newton, nodding to the female chairs of Clemson University, Coastal Carolina University, the College of Charleston and state Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver. “I’m just glad to be a part of that team, moving higher ed forward in the state of South Carolina.”
Newton, who had served as the board’s vice chair since 2022, succeeds Thad Westbrook, a USC-trained attorney whose four-year chairmanship was marked by record enrollment, fundraising and state investment.
She’ll be replaced as vice chair by Reid Sherard, a Greenville attorney who joined the board in 2023.
Unlike her controversial election as vice chair four years ago, Newton’s selection Friday was unanimous.
A third-generation banker who chairs the board at the Bank of Clarendon in Manning, Newton holds a bachelor’s degree from Converse College and a master’s of business administration from the University of South Carolina.
In addition to serving on USC’s board, she also serves on the boards of the S.C. Bankers Association Bankers School, the Novant Health Coastal Carolina Medical Center and the Business Partnership Foundation at USC’s Darla Moore School of Business.
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A 2026 recipient of the Moore School’s Distinguished Service Award, Newton comes from a family with a long history of service to the university and the state.
Her uncle, Mark W. Buyck Jr, served for 28 years on the USC Board of Trustees; her husband, Weston Newton, is a member of the S.C. House of Representatives and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee; and her daughter, Reedy, is a former USC student government president.
In fact, Newton and her daughter were the first mother-daughter to serve on the USC board at the same time. Her two other children, William and Eliza Rose, currently attend Carolina.
Upon assuming the chair at Friday’s meeting, Newton thanked her predecessor for his “steady, sturdy, unwavering leadership” and said Westbrook had made the university a better place in his four years as chairman.
She then addressed the board, saying it had important work ahead.
“Higher education continues to face significant challenges and unprecedented opportunities,” Newton told her fellow trustees. “As a board, our responsibility is to provide thoughtful governance, maintain a clear focus on our mission and ensure the university remains financially strong and well-positioned for future generations of South Carolinians.”
Westbrook, who will remain on the board, encouraged Newton and other newly elected officers to “be ambitious” and to continue supporting President Amiridis’ vision for the university.
“We have tremendous momentum,” he said, forecasting that USC’s best days were yet to come.
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