Columbia – Dr. John Stockwell, Executive Director of the Spartanburg Academic Movement, has been appointed to serve as the newest member of the South Carolina Education Oversight Committee (EOC). Stockwell was appointed as the business representative of Rita Allison, the Chair of the House Education and Public Works Committee. Stockwell fills the expired term of David Whittemore.

Stockwell has been working with the Spartanburg Academic Movement (SAM) since its inception in June 2013. SAM is a collective impact partnership in Spartanburg County that works to elevate the academic achievement of all children. Prior to joining SAM, Stockwell was Chancellor of the University of South Carolina Upstate for 17 years.

Stockwell earned his Ph.D. and Master’s degrees in theatre at Bowling Green State University, and his Bachelor’s degree from Cedarville College. He is also an alumnus of the Harvard University Institute for Educational Management.

A resident of Spartanburg, Stockwell currently serves as a trustee of the Spartanburg County Foundation. He served as Founding Chair of the Spartanburg Chapter of the Urban League of the Upstate and is a former chair of the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce.

A recipient of numerous awards and recognitions for community leadership, Stockwell has been honored with the Neville Holcombe Distinguished Citizenship Award, Salvation Army’s Talk of the Town Award, the Willis Society of Service Award, the South Carolina Quality Forum’s Milliken Medal of Quality Award, and two honorary doctorates.

"I am proud to be a South Carolinian because, at our best, we know how to commit ourselves to the strategies of continuous improvement,” stated Stockwell. “Nothing demonstrates this commitment more than the mission of the Education Oversight Committee, working in the most crucial and challenging arena of them all -- advancing the academic achievement of our young people."

Stockwell and his wife, Dr. Diane Vecchio, chair of the History Department at Furman University, have four grown children and five grandchildren.

The SC Education Oversight Committee is an independent, non-partisan group made up of 18 educators, business persons, and elected leaders. Created in 1998, the committee is dedicated to reporting facts, measuring change, and promoting progress within South Carolina’s education system.