Stacey D. Mills is the executive director of the Greenville Campus for the University of South Carolina Upstate. In this role he participates as a member of the Chancellor’s Extended Cabinet, provides service for university functions beyond Greenville, and collaborates with the Vice Provost along with other university leaders to plan and implement a variety of services and programs to ensure continued growth and success of USC Upstate in Greenville.
A 2003 USC Upstate graduate, Mills served as president of the Student Government Association and was a member of the internationally renowned Gospel Choir. Today, he serves as role model for students who attend the institution that has been intertwined with his life for the past 26 years.
“My life has been shaped by this institution –first as a student, and now I’m here everyday coming to work. USC Upstate changed my life and that of my family’s and I’m able to see that happen in other people’s families every day,” said Mills. “That gives me great joy.”
Just as Mills’ roots run deep at the University, so too does his connections and involvement with the Greenville community. He has served as senior pastor to Mountain View Baptist Church in downtown Greenville for the past 21 years and his community roles include the City of Greenville Comprehensive Development Plan Advisory Committee, Boy Scouts of America Blue Ridge Council Board of Directors, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., and alumnus of Leadership Greenville Class 40, the Riley Institute’s Diversity Leaders Initiative, and Leadership Spartanburg.
Presently, Mills serves as the chairman of the Urban League of the Upstate Board of Directors, which works to provide economic empowerment, educational opportunities and the guarantee of civil rights for the underserved in America. He was recently elected to the South Region Trustee for the National Board of Trustees for the Urban League. In this three-year national appointment, Mills will be the representative who helps facilitate interaction among the Urban Leagues located in the South region of the U.S. and the national organization.
Mills feels honored to be in a leadership positon that offers second chances to people who are struggling in life or may be rebounding from something tragic. He points to high school students who struggle for direction can be helped to avoid the possibility of taking up with a gang and going down a path that leads to violence or an adult who is facing financial difficulties can receive counseling that allows them to keep their home.
According to Mills, providing quality of life to residents in Greenville means that all citizens have access to healthcare, education and public transportation as this impacts people’s ability to grow from one station in the life to the next.
He is contributing to these effort with his service to the Piedmont Health Foundation Board of Directors, which helps to improve health in Greenville County by identifying critical issues, catalyzing community action, and supporting organization’s health related programs. By tackling the root causes of community health issues and aiming for changes to the larger system, the Piedmont Health Foundation focuses its efforts on improving health in a broad way to create sustainable change.
Recently appointed to the Greenville Health Authority Board of Trustees, Mills joins 13 other board members who are responsible for overseeing the lease agreement between the Greenville Health Authority Board of Trustees and GHS Board of Directors, assessing community need, and administering the “Healthy Greenville” and “Healthy Greenville, Too!,” which are grant initiatives to improve the health of the Upstate community.
In an effort to learn more about the healthcare industry, Mills is participating as a Greenville Health System Medical Scholar this fall where he is learning about the changing healthcare environment and how GHS is helping to transform healthcare.
Mills lives in Greenville with his wife Jacqueline Burton who also graduated from USC Upstate. She is in her 18th year of teaching science at Eastside High School. The couple has three children -- son Harrison is cadet at West Point, daughter Kiersten is a freshman at Spelman College, and 12-year old Zion attends Sevier Middle School.
