Michael Amiridis, chancellor of the University of Illinois-Chicago since 2015, is the president-elect of the University of South Carolina. His term as the 30th university president begins July 1, 2022.
Prior to leading the University of Illinois-Chicago, Amiridis spent more than two decades at our Columbia campus as a faculty member and administrator, serving from 2009 to 2015 as the university's executive vice president for academic affairs and provost.
As a researcher, Amiridis earned the National Science Foundation's award for early-career scientists and engineers in 1999, was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2012, and was elected a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2015.
Amiridis replaces interim President Harris Pastides, who has served as interim president since May 2021.
Ero Aggelopoulou-Amiridis will become the first lady of the University of South Carolina when her husband, Michael, begins his presidency in July. She earned both her master’s degree in art history and her Ph.D. in philosophy from USC, in addition to her bachelor’s degree in math from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.