Alumni Spotlight is a website series that highlights College of Hospitality, Retail, and Sport Management graduates.



To submit an outstanding graduate for recognition in Alumni Spotlight, or for any alumni-related questions, please contact Tina Weaver, Director of Alumni Relations, at 803-777-6721.

Southern Hospitality
Bonefish Grill executive serves it up for students and alumni

Cliff Arthur, ’86, believes in Southern hospitality. He is, after all, a native of Newberry, SC, and director of Bonefish Grill restaurants in the Carolinas.

But he elevates hospitality to a different level in the way he gives back to students in Carolina’s College of Hospitality, Retail, and Sport Management (HRSM)—and the University of South Carolina at large.

Arthur provides a welcoming atmosphere for Freshmen Send-Off events each summer in Charlotte, Raleigh, and Myrtle Beach. Freshmen-Send Offs offer incoming Carolina freshmen, their parents, and alumni an opportunity to enjoy good company and fine food while celebrating the newest members of the Gamecock family. The Carolina Alumni Association and its alumni clubs at each send-off venue coordinate the camaraderie-building events—more than 20 each summer— as freshmen prepare for Move-In Day in Columbia.

“Freshmen Send-Off events are a great introduction to the University of South Carolina family,” Arthur said. “Our participation as host site is not only good for the University; it’s good for business.”

Arthur has also contributed directly to alumni and students in HRSM by offering different Bonefish Grill sites for Reconnect events, bringing alumni together for “meet and greets” in Columbia, Charlotte, Myrtle Beach, and Savannah. One such Reconnect this past August, held at a Bonefish Grill in Columbia, provided a place for alumni to meet new HRSM Dean Brian J. Mihalik.

A few years ago Arthur and fellow HRSM alumni board member Rex Galloway initiated a travel scholarship called the Alumni Society Fund. It has allowed students to study fashion merchandise management in Italian locales including Rome, Venice, and Florence, while sports and entertainment managers of tomorrow have visited professional baseball teams in Japan. The college’s future managers in hotel, restaurant, and tourism have tapped the scholarship to experience luxury cruise ship operations.

“I like to give back to students who are pursuing the same path I did to make the hospitality industry bigger and better,” said Arthur, whose wife, Rosemary, is also a 1986 HRSM graduate. “Hotel and restaurant management and all hospitality and retail areas of study at the college are still a strong career option. Despite the difficult economy, the hospitality industry will remain viable and continue to grow.”

“I can’t think of anyone who has been more instrumental to the success of our alumni outreach efforts than Cliff Arthur,” said Tina Weaver, HRSM director of alumni relations. “We acknowledge and appreciate Cliff’s efforts to our college’s success, which includes creating more hands-on opportunities for our students and through his leadership as Alumni Society chair.”

used with permission from Carolinian—Spring 2010