Luther Fredrick Carter

      Since 1999, Luther Fredrick Carter has served as the president of Francis Marion University, a public liberal arts institution located in northeastern South Carolina. The University offers curricula in 49 academic disciplines and programs to 3800 undergraduate and 400 graduate students. Dr. Carter recently completed a sabbatical year (2003) serving as the chief of staff to South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford. Previously, he served as the executive director of the South Carolina Budget and Control Board, the state’s central management agency, from 1991-1999, as the senior executive assistant to South Carolina Governor Carroll Campbell from 1987-1991, and as a faculty member and the chairman of the political science department at the College of Charleston from 1981-1987.

            Dr. Carter has authored five books and numerous articles and chapters. Presently, he serves on the S.C. Bar Association’s Commission for an Independent Judiciary, the Board of Trustees of Carolinas Hospital System, and he chairs the South Carolina Commission for International Cooperation and Agreements. He is the recipient of the South Carolina Order of the Palmetto, the Public Official of the Year Award from the S.C. Regional Councils of Government, and honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Charleston, Lander University and the Citadel. He received the 1999 Distinguished State Executive Award from the National Governors’ Association, and President Bush appointed him to the Presidential Commission on White House Fellowships in 2001 where he served until 2004.

In 2002, the American Association of University Professors selected him as the national recipient of the Ralph Brown Award “for significant contributions to the principles of shared governance in American higher education.” The South Carolina Chamber of Commerce recognized him as the recipient of its 2003 State Public Servant of the Year Award, and in 2004 the International Federation of German-American Clubs presented him the prestigious General Lucius Clay Medal for “sustained efforts to develop a strong and lasting friendship between the German and American people.” Most recently, the Humanities Council of South Carolina awarded him its annual Governor’s Award in the Humanities (2004) and the Pee Dee Boys and Girls Clubs honored him with their annual Champion of Youth Award (2005).

            Dr. Carter received his BA degree from the University of Central Florida in 1972 and was awarded its distinguished alumnus award in 1999.  He earned his MPA (1976) and PhD (1979) degrees from the University of South Carolina and was recognized by the University’s College of Arts and Sciences as its distinguished graduate alumnus in 2006.   He is a retired Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.

            He and his wife, Folly, have two children- Luke, 10, and Bryan, 30, an economist with T. Rowe Price.