Clemson University
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Clemson University |
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| Established | 1889 |
| Type | Public |
| Endowment | $383.5M USD |
| President | James F. Barker |
| Staff | 1,105 |
| Undergraduates | 13,936 |
| Postgraduates | 3,174 |
| Location | Clemson, South Carolina, USA |
| Campus | Rural, 17,000 acres (City of Clemson, Pickens County, South Carolina) |
| Colors | Burnt Orange and Northwestern Purple |
| Mascot | Tiger  |
| Website | www.clemson.edu |
Clemson University is a public, coeducational, land-grant research university located in Clemson, South Carolina.
The University, founded in 1889, is ranked as the best public university in South Carolina in U.S. News & World Report's "National Universities" category,[1] as well as a top-30 institution in the "National Public University" category.[2] The University currently enrolls more than 17,000 students from across all 50 states and from more than 70 countries.[3]
Academically, the university is divided into five colleges: Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences; Architecture, Arts and Humanities; Business and Behavioral Sciences; Engineering and Science; and Health, Education and Human Development.[4]
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[edit] Location
Clemson University is located in upstate South Carolina just north of Interstate 85 and Anderson, South Carolina, sitting on the shores of Lake Hartwell. The University is located in Pickens County, just outside of the greater Greenville, South Carolina area and is less than 3 hours from Atlanta, Georgia, Charlotte, North Carolina and just about four hours away from Charleston, South Carolina. Clemson is situated in South Carolina's foothills, where excellent vistas of the rising Blue Ridge Mountains in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia abound.
The city of Clemson is served by the Clemson Area Transit bus system and also by Amtrak's Crescent line running through Clemson's train station (Code: CSN) right off of Highways 28, 76, and 123.
[edit] History
Former South Carolina farmer and politician Benjamin Tillman persuaded Thomas Green Clemson to will property to the State of South Carolina "to establish an agricultural college," which was founded as The Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina in 1889.[5]
The idea of Mr. Clemson imposing his will on the state was hotly contested in the South Carolina General Assembly. The college, however, opened its doors to 446 students as an all-male military college in 1893. The school remained this way until 1955, when it first became a coeducational, "civilian" institution. In 1964, the college changed its name to Clemson University in line with the expanded academic and research pursuits the school had undertaken.[6]
[edit] Today
Clemson's current president is James F. Barker, who earned his bachelor of architecture degree from Clemson in 1970 and then went on to earn his master of architecture and urban design degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 1973.
Barker has recently undertaken a major initiative to make Clemson a top twenty public university.[7] The initiative has led to increased faculty compensation, higher graduation rates, and higher incoming student SAT averages. The University recently moved up from 34th in 2006 to 30th for 2007 in U.S. News and World Report's most recent College Rankings.[8]
The University's Botanical Garden is the State Botanical Garden. Public transportation in the area is provided by Clemson Area Transit.
The university's newest academic endeavor is the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR).[9] ICAR is a 250 acre automotive and motorsports research campus located in nearby Greenville, South Carolina. ICAR will include a graduate school offering Master's and Doctoral degrees in automotive engineering, and offering programs focused on systems integration. The campus also includes an Information Technology Research Center being developed by BMW. BMW, Microsoft, IBM, Bosch and Michelin are all major corporate partners of the ICAR center. Private-sector companies that have committed so far to establishing offices and/or facilities on the campus include the Society of Automotive Engineers and The Timken Company. Plans for the campus also include a full-scale, four-vehicle capacity rolling-road model wind tunnel.
Clemson also recently established the Restoration Institute whose mission is to "advance knowledge in integrative approaches to the restoration of historic, ecological, and urban infrastructure resources." The institute will be located in North Charleston and subsume the Hunley Commission that is currently undertaking the stabilization of the Hunley, the world's first submarine to sink a ship.
In 2006, Clemson was awarded a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, to be established in 2007.[10]
[edit] Academics
In the endeavor to become a "Top 20" institution, Clemson is undergoing a process of enhancing its graduate programs while continuing to place the majority of its emphasis on the quality of the undergraduate experience. To this end, the Clemson National Scholars Program is the institutions top academic recruiting scholarship, offering a full tuition and fees scholarship plus a laptop, 5-week study abroad in the UK, plus other learning and travel opportunities as well as additional enhanced learning experiences. The NSP selection process is highly competitive, with only 15 or so offered each year out of 12,000+ applicants to Clemson.
Clemson is well-known and recognized for its architecture, engineering, and science programs.[11] As part of its push to enhance graduate-level education, several new Ph. D. programs have been created including a novel Ph.D. in Rhetorics and an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Environmental Design and Planning. Also noteworthy is a new master's degree in historic preservation, jointly offered in collaboration with Clemson and the College of Charleston.
The program in Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management is one of the oldest in the country and offers a Ph. D. in this specialty. Fran Mainella, the previous director of the National Park Service, has been retained as an instructor in the program.
Although Clemson's architecture, engineering and "hard science" programs are first rate, its humanities programs are not as strong as the top-20 universities with which Clemson wishes to complete. For instance, Clemson's psychology, sociology, anthropology, history and geography departments do not offer the same number of graduate courses or faculty as other schools that are recognized for these specialties. In addition, there is no Ph. D.-level coursework available in sociology, anthropology, geography or history. There are no taught courses in environmental psychology, cultural geography, or many specialties in sociology. Geography and anthropology are only offered as minors.[12]
[edit] Athletics
Clemson University fields a variety of club, intramural, and varsity sports teams. The University's 19 varsity men and women's sports teams compete in the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference of the NCAA's Division I as the Clemson Tigers.
[edit] Military Heritage
Even though Clemson became a coeducational civilian institution in 1955, the university still maintains an active military presence. The university is home to detachments for Army and Air Force ROTC. In addition to students from Clemson, these detachments also serve students from Anderson University, Southern Wesleyan University, and Tri-County Technical College. The following organizations are present among the two ROTC programs:[13]
- Company C-4 Pershing Rifles
- K-7 Scabbard and Blade
- Clemson Rangers
- Maj. Rudolph Anderson Jr. Squadron Arnold Air Society
- Maj. Dennis H. Satler Chapter Silver Wings
- Tiger Platoon
Clemson's AAS squadron was selected to be home of Arnold Air Society's National Headquarters for the 2005-2006 year, and again for the 2006-2007 year. This is the first time is AAS's history that any university has served as National HQ two years in a row.[14]
The C-4 Pershing Rifles have won the national drill meet five times: 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006.[14] Company C-4 also does color guard at home football games.
Clemson University was selected as the #1 medium-sized AFROTC detachment in the south east and in the nation for 2006 (the "High Flight" and "Right of Line" awards).
[edit] Notable alumni
- Jay Berger, professional tennis player, ranked as high as # 7 in the world.
- James F. Byrnes, U.S. Congressman, Senator, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (1941-1942), Secretary of State (1945-1947), Governor of South Carolina (1951-1955), and confidant of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. A dormitory on the eastern part of Clemson's campus is named after Byrnes.
- David Beasley, South Carolina governor (1995-1999). Beasley ran for the South Carolina State Assembly while a student at Clemson and transferred to the University of South Carolina upon taking office, from which he went on to graduate.
- Dwight Clark was drafted in the 10th round of the 1979 NFL draft after playing college football at Clemson. He was a Pro Bowl receiver most well-known for making "The Catch" from San Francisco QB Joe Montana in the 1982 playoffs against the Dallas Cowboys. Clark won two Super Bowl rings and later worked in the front office for the San Francisco 49ers and the Cleveland Browns. He also owned a restaurant in Carmel, California for a time. Clark was romantically linked to Shawn Weatherly.
- Robert H. Brooks, founder and chairman of Naturally Fresh Dressings, Sauces and Dips and president of Atlanta-based Hooters of America, Inc, The Brooks Center for the Performing Arts is named for his son Mark, who perished in the same plane crash as the late NASCAR driver Alan Kulwicki. Robert Brooks died in July 2006 at the age of 69.
- Nancy O'Dell, co-host of Access Hollywood since 1999 and co-host of the 2006 Miss America and Miss Universe pageants, graduated Summa Cum Laude from Clemson in 1990. Originally known as Nancy Humphries, she was Miss South Carolina in 1987 and won a swimsuit preliminary at the Miss America pageant. She also worked in television news in the Charleston, S.C. market.
- George H. Ross, executive vice president and senior counsel of the Trump Organization. He is perhaps best known as one of Donald Trump's two advisors on the NBC reality television program The Apprentice.
- Edward Sutt, inventor of the HurriQuake environment nail.[1]
- Strom Thurmond, The late United States Senator from South Carolina who was famous for being the longest serving Senator in U.S. history as well as an ardent segregation supporter during the 1950s and 1960s. (He later became known for retracting from those views as time passed).
- Shawn Weatherly graduated from Clemson in 1982 as an Elementary Education major. Weatherly was crowned Miss Universe in Seoul, Korea in 1980 after previously being crowned Miss USA and Miss South Carolina USA. She also was romantically linked to former Clemson football player Dwight Clark, who played for the San Francisco 49ers at the time. Weatherly appeared on the television program Baywatch as a regular cast member.
- David H. Wilkins graduated Clemson in 1968. Wilkins was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1981 and was elected Speaker Pro Tempore in 1992. After the elections of 1994, Wilkins was elected Speaker of the House; the first Republican Speaker in the South since Reconstruction. Wilkins had many legislative accomplishments during his tenure as Speaker, including welfare reform, property tax reform, tort reform and finding a compromise to remove the Confederate Flag from atop the statehouse dome. On April 27, 2005, President George W. Bush nominated him to be the U.S. Ambassador to Canada.
- Brian Dawkins FS from the philadelphia eagels.
[edit] Books
- McKale, Donald M. and Reel, Jerome V., Tradition : A history of the presidency of Clemson University (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1988) ISBN 0-86554-658-4
- Riley, Helene M., Clemson University - The College History Series (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2002) ISBN 0-7385-1470-5
- Schaffer, Alan, Visions: Clemson's yesteryears, 1880s-1960 (Louisville, KY: Harmony House Publishers, 1990) ISBN 0-916509-55-9
- Wagner, Lisa K., Yilmaz, Umit, Shelburne, Victor B., Walkvogel, Jerry A., and Haque, Mary Taylor, The nature of Clemson: A field guide to the natural history of Clemson University (Clemson, SC: Clemson University Digital Press, 2005) ISBN 0-9741516-6-6
[edit] External links
[edit] Official
- Clemson University The Official Website of Clemson University
- Clemson University Graduate School The Clemson University Graduate School
- Clemson Tigers Athletics Website Clemson University's Official Athletics Website
[edit] Independent
- Clemson TALK ClemsonTALK.com - General interest Clemson site
- The Clemson Wiki - Clemson-Specific Wiki
- Tigernet Forums Clemson Sports-oriented forums
- CUTigers.com Scout.com Clemson Sports Message Board
[edit] Student media
- The Tiger - Official Student Body Newspaper
- The Clemson Forum - Clemson's Progressive News and Opinion Source
- The Tiger Town Observer - Clemson's Conservative Journal of News and Opinion
- The Almond - Student-run Satirical News Site, Inspired by The Onion.
- WSBF - Clemson University Student Radio Station
[edit] Student clubs
- Clemson University Student Government - Clemson University Student Government
- CLEMSONLiVE - Clemson's student run entertainment program board
- Central Spirit - Clemson organization dedicated to supporting Tiger athletics
- CLUG - Clemson Linux User Group
- CUSO - Clemson University Symphony Orchestra
- Clemson SCC - Clemson Sports Car Club
- Clemson University Rowing Association - Clemson Crew
- Clemson University Rugby Football Club - Clemson Rugby
- Clemson FCA - Clemson Fellowship of Christian Athletes
- Clemson TKD - Clemson Tae Kwon Do
- Club Lax - Clemson Club Lacrosse
- Clemson Wesley Foundation - United Methodist Campus Ministry
- Clemson Weight Club - Clemson Powerlifting and Barbell Club - The Dungeon
- Clemson University Club Football - Clemson Club Football Team
- Clemson Improv - Mock Turtle Soup - Provides the campus with monthly comedy improv shows
[edit] Other
- CAT Bus Clemson Area Transit
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps or Yahoo! Maps
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
- Satellite image from Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth
[edit] References
- ^ U.S. News Rankings Top National Schools. Retrieved on November 1, 2006.
- ^ U.S. Top Public Universities. Retrieved on December 21, 2006.
- ^ Undergraduate Admissions -- Clemson University. Retrieved on September 6, 2006.
- ^ The University Today — Clemson University. Retrieved on September 6, 2006.
- ^ The Will of Thomas Green Clemson. Retrieved on September 6, 2006.
- ^ The History of Clemson University. Retrieved on September 6, 2006.
- ^ A "Road Map" for Academic Excellence. Retrieved on September 6, 2006.
- ^ U.S. News Rankings for Clemson University. Retrieved on September 6, 2006.
- ^ Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR). Retrieved on September 6, 2006.
- ^ Phi Beta Kappa. Retrieved on December 12, 2006.
- ^ 2006 survey by Design Intelligence which ranked Clemson's graduate architecture program 13th in the nation; Environmental Engineering and Science program ranked as 19th best in the nation by U.S. News and World Report in 2005.
- ^ Clemson's graduate catalog. Retrieved on January 4, 2007.
- ^ List of Student Organizations. Retrieved on September 6, 2006.
- ^ a b Student Achievements. Retrieved on September 6, 2006.
- Tradition: A History of the Presidency of Clemson University, edited by McKale, Donald M., ill. by Palmer, Kate Salley, Mercer University Press, Macon, Georgia, 1988, ISBN 0-86554-296-1.
- Riley, Helene M., Clemson University, Arcadia Publishing, an imprint of Tempus Publishing, Inc., 2 Cumberland Street, Charleston, S.C., 2002, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2002108889, ISBN 0-7385-1470-5.
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