Clay Bolton, Ed.D.

Assistant Professor
Department of Sport and Entertainment Management
College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management

Education
Ed.D., Mississippi State University
M.A., Sport Management, Georgia Southern University
B.A., Political Science, Augusta State University

Biography
Dr. Clay Bolton is originally from the Aiken / Augusta area and considers himself a Georgialinian!  He earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from Augusta State University, a Master of Science in Sport Management from Georgia Southern University where he was a classmate of USC adjunct Dr. Laura Sawyer, and a Doctorate of Education from Mississippi State University. 

Dr. Bolton has worked in NCAA Rules Compliance at Georgia Southern, The University of Maryland, The University of Georgia, and Mississippi State University.  He also has worked in a variety of positions in Student Affairs at Mississippi State, Centenary College of Louisiana, and at the University of South Carolina.  Dr. Bolton has published in the student affairs field and one of his favorite research interests is in the area of experiential learning and Community Service for College Students.  Dr. Bolton has also overseen Carolina Productions at USC and was able to assist students with promoting and producing many entertainment shows from 2004-2008, including Grammy winning artists Zac Brown Band and Kanye West as well emerging artists such as Colbie Caillat. 

Dr. Bolton was in charge of the annual Student Leadership and Diversity Conference, each year bringing over 18 colleges and universities to campus to engage in leadership topics and attend workshops.  He has hosted multiple service trips and alternative break trips, one to the Penn Center and the Gullah Island of St. Helena in the Low Country of South Carolina.  Dr. Bolton was also a former adjunct faculty member in the College of Education at the University of South Carolina and has taught undergrad and grad courses at Mississippi State, Centenary, and USC.

Dr. Bolton left USC in the summer of 2008 to assist his ailing father in their family commercial real estate business in Aiken.  He continues to commute to and from Aiken daily and makes his home in nearby Forest Acres.  His wife Ann is the Compliance Administrator for nine offices in the Carolinas for UBS and the Boltons have two children, Fowler (11) and Wells (8), as well as an English Plot Hound, "Brady," and two cats, "Sam" and "Snowball." 

The Boltons are proud members of Trenholm Road United Methodist Church.  Ann's father, "Handsome Ransom Jackson," played in two Cotton Bowls for TCU and the University of Texas, and played 10 years in the Major Leagues for the Chicago Cubs and the Brooklyn Dodgers.

E-mail: boltonb@mailbox.sc.edu
Office: 2012 Carolina Coliseum
Phone: (803) 777-4690
Fax: (803) 777-8788

Courses Taught:
SPTE 380 – Sport and Entertainment Marketing