About the Don Rosick Graduate Student Grant-In-Aid Fund
The Archaeological Society of South Carolina sponsors a Graduate Student Grant-in-Aid program to provide assistance to deserving graduate students furthering the cause of South Carolina archaeology. The Executive Committee appoints a qualified person as Chair of the current year’s Grant-in-Aid Committee. It is the Chair’s duty to appoint a review committee of two other qualified individuals to review student applications. The results of the committee’s selection are presented to the Executive Committee for approval. The amount available to grant under this project will vary by year.

The current chairs of the Grant-in-Aid program is:

Keith Stephenson DKSTEPHE@mailbox.sc.edu

ASSC Committee Members:

Jessica Cooper

Program History
It has been over twenty years since the ASSC Graduate Student Grant-in-Aid Program funded its first award in 1992. The Grant-in-Aid Program was established to assist graduate students in their thesis or dissertation research. Funds ranging from several hundred to one thousand dollars are available on a competitive basis to graduate students, both at USC and out-of-state universities, who are working on theses or dissertations that pertain to the archaeology of South Carolina. This includes both the historic and prehistoric time periods for terrestrial and underwater archaeology. The ASSC considers graduate students to be the best investments possible of research funding because they are devoting much of their time and limited personal resources to advancing our knowledge of South Carolina’s history and prehistory.

Albert C. Goodyear initiated the ASSC Grant-in-Aid Program in the fall of 1991 by soliciting donations for redistribution to graduate students the following year. Al continued as the Grant-in-Aid Program Chair from 1991-1993 and was succeeded by Chris Judge who served as Chair from 1993-1998. Following Chris’s tenure D. Keith Stephenson served as the program Chair between 1998 and 2005, followed by Andrew Agha, who served as the Chair until 2010. As the Grant-in-Aid Program Co-Chairs since that time, we are proud to announce that the ASSC has awarded a collective amount of $27, 074.32 to twenty-eight students.

Published or in-progress research includes Master’s theses and Ph.D. dissertations, as well as articles in books and journals. Each graduate student recipient is listed by year of Grant along with the title to their Master’s thesis or Ph.D. dissertation and published article in the Grant Recipients section.

About Don Rosick
Don Rosick was a longtime avocational archaeologist and former board member of the society. Over the year’s Don’s generosity has contributed to our collective knowledge and encouraged future archaeologists. He represented the mission of the Society, with an eagerness to learn, and the desire to support the learning of others. Don passed away in 2022. Due to his tremendous contributions to the Grant-in-Aid fund over the past decade, the board in 2023 decided to rename the award in his honor thanks to his tremendous contributions to the society. We will miss you greatly, Don.