June 18, 2021

MORE Than Sports: How the SEC is Carving a Niche in Higher Ed

By: SEC Staff
SECU (Twitter: @TheSECU)

In 2011 the Southeastern Conference began a conscious effort to spotlight the academic accomplishments of its 14 member universities, apart from athletics. And over the past decade, we’ve worked to demonstrate how the SEC is MORE than sports.

Today we are showing how the SEC has created a unique space for itself when it comes to promoting the combined impact of its institutions or the individual accomplishments of its students, faculty and administrators there.

• In 2013 the inaugural SEC Symposium kicked off in Atlanta. Entitled Impact of the Southeast in the World’s Renewable Energy Future, it connected the SEC to its leading researchers for the first time.
• Five years later, in 2018, we were still supporting research, this time through an on-campus SEC Academic Conference designed to bring renowned innovation closer to home.
• When the SEC’s It Just Means More campaign launched in 2015, it did not take long for us to connect it to the breadth and depth of the Conference’s academic prowess and achievement.
• It Just Means More also came in handy as we looked for new ways to celebrate the SEC Faculty Achievement and Professor of the Year award winners … especially in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
• We also have support from our SEC Network, and that included sharing when all 14 of our universities received the Very High Research Activity designation from the Carnegie Commission.

Stick around as we continue to celebrate the SEC’s 10-year commitment to promoting the academic accomplishments of its members. Next week we will take a look at a few of the academic programs that have started since June 2011. Follow @TheSECU on Twitter for more.