Vice President Joe Biden is visiting South Carolina to help dedicate a library being named for one of his former Senate colleagues.

The University of South Carolina announced Thursday that Biden is coming to Columbia on July 23 for the dedication of the library named for former U.S. Sen. Ernest F. “Fritz” Hollings.

Hollings represented South Carolina for nearly 50 years. Biden has credited Hollings with helping to persuade him to stay in the Senate after his wife and daughter died in an accident in 1972.

Hollings is expected on hand for the dedication of his namesake library, which was completed last month.

The university says the 50,000- square-foot facility houses the South Carolina Political Collections, which document the careers of many of the state's political leaders.

South Carolina State University trustees have rehired the president they recently ousted.

Multiple media outlets report the trustees voted 8-5 on Thursday to welcome back president George Cooper and expunge his firing from meeting minutes. The vote came three days after the board appointed Greenville lawyer Merl Code to serve as interim president of the state's historically black university.

The board voted 7-4 on June 15 not to renew Cooper's contract, which expired Wednesday. The former deputy administrator with the U.S. Agriculture Department was hired in July 2008.

A new board took the vote. Two members who wanted to fire Cooper were replaced Thursday as their terms expired.