Benedict College

Founded in 1870 by a woman, Bathsheba A. Benedict, Benedict College is a private co-educational liberal arts institution with 1,800 students enrolled in its 27 baccalaureate degree programs during the 2025-2026 academic year. Benedict College, originally Benedict Institute, was founded 148 years ago under the auspices of the American Baptist Home Mission Society. As Benedict’s first philanthropist, Mrs. Benedict of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, provided $13,000 towards the purchase of an 80-acre plantation near Columbia, South Carolina as the site for a new school for the recently freed people of African descent. Benedict Institute, operating in a former slave master’s mansion, was established, in the words of its founder to prepare men and women to be a 'power for good in society.' The College is a major economic contributor to the region and South Carolina, with a local annual economic impact of $106.7 million. Dr. Roslyn Clark Artis has earned for the second time in history, the distinct honor of serving as the first-female President of a collegiate institution in the United States. On June 30, 2017, Dr. Artis was unanimously appointed by the Board of Trustees as the 14th President of Benedict College. She is the first-female President in the 147-year history of the college which was founded by a woman, Mrs. Bathsheba Benedict, in 1870. In her short time at the helm of Benedict College, Dr. Artis has made a tremendous impact, coining the phrase #TheBESTofBC!