From left: USC Upstate Chancellor Bennie L. Harris, German Consul Suzanne Dickerson, Sparty, and Alex Lorenz, USC Upstate professor and Upstate German Day director.
The University of South Carolina Upstate held its annual celebration of Upstate German Day on Wednesday, March 29. More than 200 middle and high school students and their teachers from across the Upstate and South Carolina visited the university’s main campus to learn about the German language, culture, and economic ties to the region and state.
As part of the festivities held in the University Readiness Center, USC Upstate welcomed Suzanne Dickerson, honorary consul of the federal republic of Germany, and director of SC Fraunhofer USC Alliance with the S.C. Council on Competitiveness. Dickerson joined USC Upstate Chancellor Bennie L. Harris, Ph.D., in greeting the participants and on a tour of campus.
“It’s an honor for me to be here because I don’t usually get to see this many students who are studying German,” Dickerson said. “It’s hard for me to understand why not. When I think back to where I was in high school, studying German seemed like just something I could do. You know, it was an elective at my high school in California… I didn’t take it that seriously then, but I can tell you today that the things (I was able to accomplish in my career) are a direct result of me taking German in high school.”
Dickerson earned a bachelor’s degree in international business from Indiana University—Purdue University Indianapolis, and her master’s degree in Western European studies from Indiana University Bloomington.
After college, she worked for German automaker BMW for 12 years in the fields of corporate sustainability, innovation management, and long-term strategic and structural planning.
From 2008 to 2016, Dickerson was the director of international business development for Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research. She has served as a board member for the S.C. Manufacturers Alliance, S.C. Manufacturing Extension Partnership, and Palmetto Green.
“I am so pleased to be part of Upstate German Day,” Harris said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for middle and high school students to learn more about the German language, the culture of German-speaking countries, their geography, their history, their business, economics, international relations, careers, and literature.”
“I am proud of the deep and longstanding connection between our community and Germany,” Harris added. “There are now more than 136 businesses in Spartanburg that have German ties, including of course BMW, BASF, SEW-EURODRIVE, and Adidas.”
Harris highlighted an academic agreement between USC Upstate and the University of Applied Sciences at Landshut that allows students from both universities to pursue dual degrees in business, computer science and informatics. He noted that exports from South Carolina to Germany totaled more than $4 billion in 2018.
“It makes good sense to study German here in Spartanburg and, if your path leads you, at USC Upstate,” he said.
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