SC State faculty member Mack named to Richland One Hall of Fame

Dr. Percy A. Mack of South Carolina State University will be inducted into the Richland One School District One’s Hall of Fame in April.

Mack, acting chair of the Department of Educational Leadership in South Carolina State University’s College of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences and Richland’s superintendent from 2008-14, is one of five new hall of dame members.

The inductees also include the late state Sen. John L. Scott Jr., an SC State alumnus, who will be inducted posthumously.

Programs and initiatives launched during his tenure as Richland One’s leader included the C.A. Johnson High School Health Sciences Magnet, the Paideia Model School at Meadowfield Elementary School, and the annual Principal for a Day community engagement initiative.

His honors and awards include being named Superintendent of the Year by the National Association of Black School Educators while he was superintendent of the Dayton, Ohio, public schools. He was also named the South Carolina School Improvement Council Advocate of the Year.

Mack has been a member of the SC State faculty since 2015. He also serves SC State as an assistant professor of education.

A native of Savannah, Georgia, Mack earned a bachelor of science degree from Savannah State University in 1971, a  Master of Education degree from the University of Georgia in 1972, a specialist in education degree from Georgia State University in 1988, and his Ph.D. from Georgia State University in 2000.

Scott was a 1971 graduate of Richland’s C.A. Johnson High School. He graduated in 1975 from what was SC State College, with a degree in accounting.

He served on Richland County Council and in the S.C. House of Representatives before he was elected to the state Senate in 2008.

Scott led the fight in securing funding for deteriorating buildings for K-12 education and worked to secure millions of dollars in funding for HBCUs.

He was a recipient of the Order of the Palmetto, the state’s highest civilian honor. He died on Aug. 13, 2023.

Along with Mack and Scott, the Hall of Fame class includes Robert T. Bockman, a longtime Richland One volunteer; Bernice G. Scott, who served as a member of the Richland County Council for more than 20 years; and Martha Scott Smith, a former Richland One teacher.