Carolyn Stewart 

Department Head for Corporate and Community Education Health Care

Associate in Arts, TCTC, 1999

Associate Degree in Nursing, TCTC, 2003

Electrocardiology (ECG) certificate, TCTC, 1994

Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree (magna cum laude) and Master of Science in Nursing Degree (Informatics, honors), both from South University

Carolyn Stewart is the second person in her family to graduate from high school and the first to attempt to go to college. 

Her four college degrees - two associate degrees from TCTC, along with bachelor’s and master’s degrees from South University, are prominently displayed, along with her ECG certificate, on her office wall at Tri-County Technical College. Many times when talking with prospective students about careers in health care, the degrees serve as an introduction to a conversation about how these varied career paths are possible.        

“When talking to potential students about taking the EKG and other health care classes, I show them my wall where my diplomas are hung. After hearing my story, they realize our stories are similar,” said Stewart.

“I started here at TCTC and I also was terrified. You have to start small in the beginning. I’ve been there.  I want them to get where I am now.” Speaking from personal experience, Stewart adds, “I emphasize that once you get the first certificate or degree under your belt, you know you can do this.”

Stewart always wanted to go to college but there was no road map for her.  She married early and stayed home to raise her children. She was in her late 20’s when she found herself a divorced mother of four children and decided to change her life.  She knew it would be through education.  “I wanted my kids to have a better life, and education is the only way,” she said.  She decided to apply at Tri-County.

“I am a first-generation college student, and I wanted to pursue a career,” she said. Tri-County fit her lifestyle because it was convenient, flexible and affordable.” Nonetheless, she emphasized, “I had been out of high school for 10 years, so it was a scary leap of faith when I enrolled at TCTC.”

Her first achievement was an EKG certificate. 

Next she earned an associate in arts degree with plans to transfer and study to become a geneticist.  “After my first degree, I didn’t want to stop,” she said.  Overwhelmed as a single parent, she decided to switch gears and to enter the associate degree nursing program.  “It was the right choice,” said Stewart.  

She already was working in the hospital in the ER as an EKG tech.  She graduated from TCTC debt free, thanks to an Abney Foundation scholarship and an AnMed endowed scholarship.  She was a member of TCTC’s Alpha Zeta Beta chapter of Phi Theta Kappa and was a Sigma Theta Tau nominee. 

“After I earned my associate in arts, I worked as a TCTC adjunct teaching ECG as well as medical terminology classes,” she said. “I had so much support from Arts and Sciences Division faculty, like Ron Rash, Frank Breazeale, and Dr. Sharon Miller.  I was their work study. They were all so good to me. They were very encouraging and included me in their team.”

After graduating she worked at AnMed as a neuro-ICU nurse from 2000 to 2007 and as an R.N. for the Greenville Health System (2010 to 2018). She has been a volunteer for Motorcycle Awareness Alliance for 18 years.

She earned a BSN (magna cum laude) and an MSN (Informatics with honors) through South University‘s bridge program), which she completed in 2018 -- all while working full time.

She joined TCTC as health care program director for Corporate and Community Education in 2018. Working at her alma mater was like “coming home,” she said. “It’s where I started and where I belong.  I’ve come full circle. I love helping students who are like me.  I want them to see the path to success.”