Virtual Publication Party for Olin Sansbury | Joint Ventures

Olin Sansbury will be joining us for a Zoom publication party on November 17th at 6PM. His memoir, Joint Ventures: A Life Enriched by the Good Will of Others, reminds us that people and institutions create the breadth, depth, and richness of human experience. Olin will be discussing his inspiration for writing his memoir and answering your questions!

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Joint Ventures

by Olin Sansbury

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This memoir is both timeless and timely. Olin Sansbury's thoughtful reflections on his life remind us that people and institutions create the breadth, depth, and richness of human experience. He shows us that the process is not always easy. But Sansbury does not flinch from experiences that roughed him up and, perhaps with the passage of time, finds humor in events that frustrated or bemused the young man from a small Southern town. With grace and strength, he writes of the inevitable losses of loved ones, of battles large and small, of compromises that must be made and of others that cannot be made. His message, that human existence is a web of joint ventures and that the web is far-reaching and often surprising, is one we all need to hear and embrace, especially in this third decade of the 21^st Century.

Olin Sansbury's Joint Ventures is a thoughtful portrait of the institutional and political changes occurring across seven decades of South Carolina history. While the focus is predominately on a life well spent in higher education, Olin's perspective shifts frequently to themes more relevant to ever changing times, as he and South Carolina come of age intellectually and professionally. This work is more than simply another memoir, it's a reflective tale of an educated man living an exhaustive life in the most beguiling state in the country. -- Luther F. (Fred) Carter, president of Francis Marion University

Olin Sansbury is Chancellor Emeritus of the University of South Carolina at Spartanburg (now: Upstate). Originally from Darlington, SC, Sansbury holds an undergraduate degree in history from Wofford College and a Ph.D. in international studies from USC Columbia. Active as a college teacher and administrator for more than thirty years, he was involved with expansion of South Carolina’s public higher education system, serving as the first dean of students at Francis Marion University and as the first chancellor at USCS.

Before beginning his academic career, Sansbury spent thirty-seven months as a US Army officer, including a 13-month tour in Vietnam. He also had a brief stint in journalism, first as a reporter for the Florence (SC) Morning News and later as a newsman and editorial writer for the Florence television station WBTW. When he retired from USCS in1993, Sansbury received the Order of the Palmetto from Governor Carroll Campbell. The next year he joined the Greenville Symphony as executive director. During his tenure the orchestra hired Edvard Tchivzhel, its current maestro.

Sansbury lives in Tryon, NC, with his wife Mary Ann Claud, a novelist. He offers courses in Wofford’s Lifelong Learning Program and posts regularly on "Putting in My Shovel" blog.