“W” is for Wilkinson, Robert Shaw (1865-1932). College president. A native of Charleston, Wilkins graduated from Oberlin College in 1891. He joined the faculty at State University of Kentucky where he taught Latin, Greek, and political science. In 1896 he became the first faculty member hired by the newly stablished South Carolina Colored Normal, Industrial, Agricultural, and Mechanical College (later South Carolina State University). He was professor of physics and chemistry until 1911 when he was named the second president of South Carolina State. During the two decades that Wilkinson led the institution, the college made the transition from essentially a primary and secondary school to a genuine college. Following the passage of the Smith-Lever Agricultural Extension Act in 1914, Robert Shaw Wilkinson helped create and supervise a cooperative extension program for the state’s Black farm families.
“W” is for Wilkinson, Robert Shaw (1865-1932)
