Alumnus to deliver Constitution Day address

Erskine College graduate Patrick G. Dennis will deliver this year’s Constitution Day address Thursday, Sept. 14, at 11 a.m. in Memorial Hall. Convocation credit will be offered to students who attend.

Dennis, who was named the first Chief of Staff and Legal Counsel to newly elected Speaker of the House James H. “Jay” Lucas in 2015, graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in history in 1998 and went on to the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he earned the Juris Doctor degree.

Upon graduating from law school, he served as clerk to the Honorable J. Derham Cole, Circuit Court Judge for the Seventh Judicial Circuit. He joined the staff of the South Carolina House of Representatives as Assistant Chief Counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, and in 2006 he was named Chief Counsel to the House Judiciary Committee.

In addition to his responsibilities as Chief counsel to the Judiciary Committee, Dennis also serves as Counsel to the Judicial Merit Selection Commission and as Counsel to the House Ethics Committee.

All institutions of higher education receiving federal funds must provide educational programming celebrating the history, meaning, and importance of the United States Constitution on or near Sept. 17, the day the Constitution was signed in Philadelphia in 1787.