Former SC Governor Beasley to join USC Joseph F. Rice School of Law

Former United Nations World Food Program Executive Director and Nobel Peace Prize winner David Beasley meets legislators after speaking to the South Carolina General Assembly on Wednesday, May 2, 2023 in Columbia, S.C. Beasley was governor of South Carolina from 1995 to 1999. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO)– University of South Carolina officials have announced that former South Carolina Governor David Beasley will be joining the school as apart of the faculty.

Officials say Beasley will be joining USC’s Joseph F. Rice School of Law on March 1.

Beasley was the governor of South Carolina from 1995 until 1999 and is credited with reforming state government and revitalizing the state’s struggling economy.

He also served as the executive director of the U.N. World Food Programme from 2017 to 2023.

In 2020, he received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the organization for its efforts to combat hunger and conflict around the world and make peace.

“Little did I know the challenges and adventures I was being prepared for in law school. But the way the University of South Carolina Law School taught me to think and act with integrity was very important to it all,” Beasley stated.

At USC’s Rice School of Law he will hold the title of distinguished professor of practice and public service in the department of legal studies.

His work in public service began while he was an undergraduate when he was elected to serve in the S.C. House of Representatives at the age of 21.

The native of Lamar, South Carolina earned a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from USC in 1979 and graduated from the university’s School of Law in 1983.

“We are taught that ‘To whom much has been given, much will be required,’ I’m happy and proud to give back to the University of South Carolina and the state that has been so generous and nurturing to me,” Beasley said.