Clemson University

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Clemson University
Established 1889
Type Public
Endowment $331.1 million[1]
President Jim Barker[2]
Provost Doris R. "Dori" Helms
Academic staff 1,264
Admin. staff 2,950
Undergraduates 15,346 (Fall 2009)[3]
Postgraduates 3,765 (Fall 2009)[3]
Location Clemson, SC, United States
34°40′42″N 82°50′21″W / 34.678284°N 82.839174°W / 34.678284; -82.839174Coordinates: 34°40′42″N 82°50′21″W / 34.678284°N 82.839174°W / 34.678284; -82.839174
Campus Rural
17,000 acres (26.56 sq mi)
Colors Clemson Orange and Regalia [4]          
Athletics NCAA Division I ACC
19 varsity teams
Nickname Tigers
Mascot The Tiger
Website www.clemson.edu

Clemson University (pronounced /ˈklɛmsən/[5]) is a public, coeducational, land-grant, research university located in Clemson, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1889, the University is academically 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.[6]

The University currently enrolls more than 17,000 students from across all 50 states and 89 countries.[7]

Contents

[edit] Location

Clemson University is located in upstate South Carolina off of Interstate 85. The University is located just outside of the greater Anderson, South Carolina area and is approximately two hours away from Atlanta, Georgia, Charlotte, North Carolina and Columbia, 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.

Clemson University operates a research park in Pendleton, SC and has recently completed its Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (I-CAR) center in Greenville, SC. The University has agricultural extension offices in every county in South Carolina as a public service in its furtherance of its founding goals as an agricultural institution.

The city of Clemson is served by the Clemson Area Transit bus system, as well as the Amtrak's Crescent line running through Clemson's train station right off Highways 28, US 76, and US 123. Oconee County Airport is located adjacent to the university's campus and is the closest public-use airport to the campus (as well as the home of the Clemson Flying Club and Dixie Skydivers), with Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport offering commercial airline service only forty-five minutes away.

[edit] History

Fort Hill was the home of John C. Calhoun and later Thomas Green Clemson and is located at the center of Clemson's campus

Thomas Green Clemson, the University's founder, came to the Foothills of South Carolina in 1838, when he married Anna Maria Calhoun, daughter of South Carolina statesman and slaveowner, John C. Calhoun. When Thomas Clemson died on April 6, 1888, he left most of his estate in his will to be used to establish a college that would teach scientific agriculture and the mechanical arts to South Carolinians. Clemson's decision was largely influenced by Gov. Benjamin Tillman. Tillman strongly lobbied the state legislature to create Clemson as an agricultural institution for the state and in the end, the resolution to accept Clemson's gift and create the institution passed by only one vote.

In November 1889, Governor Richardson signed the bill, thus establishing the Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina. As a result, federal funds for agricultural education were transferred from South Carolina College to Clemson. See Hatch Act of 1887 and Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act.

Clemson Agricultural College formally opened in July 1893 with an initial enrollment of 446. From its beginning, the college was an all-white male military school. Clemson remained this way until 1955 when it changed to "civilian" status for students and became a coeducational institution. In 1963, Clemson admitted its first African-American student, future Charlotte, North Carolina mayor Harvey Gantt.[8] In 1964, the college was renamed Clemson University as the state legislature formally recognized the school's expanded academic offerings and research pursuits.[9]

[edit] Academics

Enrollment (Fall 2007)[1]
College Total Enrollment
College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Life Sciences 2,911
College of Arts, Architecture, and Humanities 2,431
College of Business and Behavioral Sciences 4,357
College of Engineering and Science 4,581
College of Health, Education, and Human Development 3,156
Calhoun Honors College[2]
  1. ^ As found at [3].
  2. ^ Not a degree granting college.

[edit] Admissions

The Carnegie Foundation classifies it as more selective,[10] since Clemson admitted less than 55% of those who applied to be freshmen in 2006.[11][12] When admitting Freshmen, the university places emphasis on the rigor of high school study and scores on standardized tests, SAT or ACT. Clemson also considers class rank, extracurricular activities, and an optional personal statement. The average incoming freshman had a combined SAT score of 1194 and a high school weighted GPA of 3.9 in 2006.[13] In 2008, admission to Clemson was the most competitive in University history. Clemson had over 15,000 applications for their freshman class of approximately 2,800 students. It was especially competitive for out-of-state students in that Clemson is a state supported institution. Of those 15,000+ applications, over 10,000 were from outside of South Carolina; however, a little over 1,000 freshmen from other states were given admissions.[14]

[edit] Calhoun Honors College and National Scholars Program

Clemson is home to The Calhoun Honors College, which is designed to offer academic diversity to gifted undergraduates and to provide for an atmosphere of a "higher seminary of learning" that Thomas Green Clemson outlined in his will within the large University.

Admission to the college is by application to freshman as well as to any student beyond freshman year but with over four semesters worth of undergrad studies remaining.[15] Admission to the college is based on a combination of standardized test scores, high school class rank, and leadership and extracurricular activities. A GPA of at least 3.5 is required for applicants to the college after their freshman year. Members of the honors college are permitted to live in the typically honors-only dorm, Holmes Hall, and are granted a variety of other benefits including complementary copies of the New York Times and free tickets to on-campus cultural events.

The Clemson National Scholars Program is the institution's top academic recruiting scholarship, offering a full tuition and fees scholarship plus study abroad in Europe, along with other learning and travel opportunities. The NSP selection process is highly competitive, with approximately 15 scholarships offered out of over 12,000 applicants to Clemson each year.

[edit] Top-20 initiative and research

Cooper Library and the Reflection Pool - in addition to its aesthetic appeal, the 1,960,000 gallon reflecting pool also serves as a heat exchange for the cooling systems of several academic buildings.[16]

The University has undertaken an endeavor to become a "Top 20" public institution, undergoing a process of enhancing its graduate programs while continuing to emphasize the quality of the undergraduate experience. The initiative has led to increased faculty compensation, higher graduation rates, and higher incoming student SAT averages.[citation needed] The University has steadily moved up the rankings for public universities from 34,[17] to 30,[18] to 27,[19] to 22[19] in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 respectively: according to the U.S. News and World Report. The University is currently ranked 61st best National University by U.S. News and World Report.[19] As part of its push to enhance graduate-level education, several new Ph.D. programs have been created including interdisciplinary doctoral programs in Rhetoric and Planning, Design, and the Built Environment (formerly Environmental Design and Planning). Also noteworthy is a new master's degree in historic preservation, jointly offered in collaboration with the College of Charleston.

The Clemson University reflection pond.

The university's currently most ambitious academic and research endeavor is the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR).[20] ICAR is a 250 acre (1 km²) 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, Timken 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 Timken. 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.

[edit] Rankings

Publication Rank Category
U.S. News & World Report # 61 National Universities
(out of 262 institutions) [19]
U.S. News & World Report # 22 Public Institutions (out of 164)

[edit] Student life

[edit] Athletics

Clemson offers club, intramural, and varsity sports. 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. The most prominent athletics facilities on campus are Memorial Stadium, Littlejohn Coliseum, Doug Kingsmore Stadium, Historic Riggs Field, and Fike Recreation Center. Clemson has won 4 national championships including football (1981), 2 in men's soccer (1984 & 1987), and men's golf (2003).

[edit] Two-dollar bills

It has been a Clemson tradition dating from September 24, 1977 for Clemson fans to spend two-dollar bills on away game trips. This began when Clemson played Georgia Tech "for the last time" as Tech refused to travel to Clemson. Of the seventeen games played between Tech and Clemson between 1953 and 1977, only once, in 1974, did the Yellow Jackets deign to come to Death Valley. To show the Atlanta business community how much money Clemson fans contributed to the local economy which would not be coming to town anymore, Tiger fans spent vast quantities of two-dollar bills, many of them stamped with Tiger Paws. This was the start of Clemson's two-dollar bill tradition, which was very popular in the 1980s and 1990s, but has waned since then.[21][22]

[edit] Fight Song

The fight song is the classic jazz tune Tiger Rag recorded by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, also known as Hold That Tiger, which was introduced in 1942 by Clemson cadet and band member Robert Dean Ross (Class of 1948), who brought the sheet music to campus, purchased at an Atlanta music store. Also popular is Eye of the Tiger, a number one hit of 1982 by the band Survivor.

[edit] Fraternity and Sorority Life

The newly renovated Fraternity Quad.

Clemson's Greek system is somewhat different from other large universities in the southern United States in that there are no Greek houses on campus. There are residence halls designated for fraternities and sororities, but there are no traditional Greek houses on Clemson's campus. The Fraternity Quad on campus (consisting of 6 fraternity & sorority halls) has recently undergone a major renovation and is certified by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. The remaining sorority's on-campus housing is located on the other end of campus in what is commonly referred to as "the horseshoe" in Smith and Barnett Halls. Clemson is about to undertake a major central campus reconstruction program that will include all-new sorority housing. Currently, there are 20 NIC Fraternities, 11 NPC Sororities, and 8 NPHC Chapters, which make up approximately 23% of the undergraduate student body.[23]

[edit] Military heritage

Clemson's rich military history is very conspicuous on campus.

Although 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 as well as a host school for the Marine Corps PLC program adjacent to the Semper Fi Society. In addition to students from Clemson, these organizations also serve students from Anderson University, Southern Wesleyan University, and Tri-County Technical College. The following organizations are present among the military personnel at Clemson:[24]

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.[25]

The C-4 Pershing Rifles have won the national society's drill meet seven times: 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2009.[26] Company C-4 also performs colorguards, 21 gun-salutes, exhibition drill performances, and POW/MIA ceremonies. Company C-4 is well known for their colorguard performance at Clemson home football games. In addition to the C-4 drill company Clemson is the former home of the 4th Regimental Headquarters (4RHQ), the National Headquarters for the Junior ROTC level of Pershing Rifles (BlackJacks) and the Co-ed Auxiliary for Pershing Rifles (CAPeRs).

Clemson University's Air Force ROTC Detachment 770 "Flyin' Tigers" was selected as the #1 "medium-sized" Air Force ROTC detachment in the nation for 2006 (the "High Flight" and "Right of Line" awards), #1 Detachment in the "Southeast" in 2006 ("medium-sized") and 2007 ("large-sized"), and #1 in the state of South Carolina (out of 3 - University of South Carolina and The Citadel) three consecutive years (2005, 2006, and 2007).

Clemson University has also developed a group of Marines and Marine Officer Candidates within an organization called the Semper Fi Society. The society is not associated with ROTC, but can lead to a commission into the United States Marine Corps via the Platoon Leaders Course program.

[edit] Recreation

Students tend to socialize off campus in downtown Clemson. Downtown Clemson is located adjacent to the University's campus, and students on campus are within walking distance to restaurants, bars, cafes, and shopping. Greenville is about 45 minutes away and is a popular destination for many students on the weekends. Some popular bars downtown for students are TD's, Wingin' It, 356, Esso Club, Backstreets, and Tiger Town Tavern (TTT).

The local music scene is expanding too, with some acts brought in by Tiger Paw Productions, local venues and also WSBF. WSBF FM Clemson is the student run radio station at Clemson University on the frequency 88.1. Aside from streaming on the air and online, they also put on a variety of concerts and events throughout the semester.[4]

Lake Hartwell, Keowee, Issaqueena, and Jocassee, as well as the near-by Blue Ridge Mountains of South Carolina and North Carolina offer students many outdoor recreational activities like boating, rowing, rafting, kayaking, skiing, rock climbing, mountain biking, hiking and backpacking.

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ As of June 30, 2009. "U.S. and Canadian Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2009 Endowment Market Value and Percentage Change in Endowment Market Value from FY 2008 to FY 2009" (PDF). 2009 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments. National Association of College and University Business Officers. http://www.nacubo.org/Documents/research/2009_NCSE_Public_Tables_Endowment_Market_Values.pdf. Retrieved March 12, 2010. 
  2. ^ Clemson University (2010). "Welcome". http://www.clemson.edu/administration/president/index.html. Retrieved January 22, 2010. 
  3. ^ a b http://www.clemson.edu/oirweb1/FB/factbook/CUfactbook.cgi?conf_file_name=CHTS_LevelA&tabbness=2&colapp=4
  4. ^ "Clemson Color Palette". http://www.clemson.edu/campus-life/campus-services/creative-services/visual-guide/colors.html. 
  5. ^ The pronunciation of Clemson varies. The consonant written ‹s› may be either /z/ or /s/, in which case many insert a [p] between the two syllables. Due to the pin-pen merger, many locals use [ɪ] as the first vowel.
  6. ^ "The University Today — Clemson University". Archived from the original on April 28, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070428142440/http://www.clemson.edu/welcome/quickly/univers/univer.htm. Retrieved June 20, 2007. 
  7. ^ "Facts & Figures - Clemson University". Archived from the original on February 16, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080216223438/http://www.clemson.edu/about/enrollment.html. Retrieved May 22, 2008. 
  8. ^ Gender and Race at Clemson University
  9. ^ "The History of Clemson University". http://www.clemson.edu/about/history.html. Retrieved June 20, 2007. 
  10. ^ "Carnegie Classifications of Clemson University". http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/classifications/sub.asp?key=748&subkey=16150&start=782. Retrieved June 20, 2007. 
  11. ^ "U.S. News Rankings Top National Schools". http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/t1natudoc_brief.php. Retrieved August 17, 2007. 
  12. ^ Clemson Freshman Admissions Data
  13. ^ University Common Data Set for 2006
  14. ^ {http://www.clemson.edu/newsroom/articles/2008/april/RecordApplications2008.php5}
  15. ^ "Calhoun Honors College: Incoming Freshmen". http://virtual.clemson.edu/groups/CUHONORS/futurestudents/incoming.html. Retrieved August 29, 2007. 
  16. ^ http://www.clemsonwiki.com/wiki/Reflection_pond
  17. ^ U.S. News & World Report. 2005-08-28. pp. 111–115. 
  18. ^ U.S. News & World Report. 2006-08-29. pp. 80–84. 
  19. ^ a b c d U.S. News & World Report. 2007-08-27. 
  20. ^ "Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR)". http://www.clemson.edu/autoresearch/. Retrieved June 20, 2007. 
  21. ^ http://www.clemsonwiki.com/wiki/1977
  22. ^ Blackman, Sam, Bradley, Bob, and Kriese, Chuck, "Clemson: Where The Tigers Play", Sports Publishing, L.L.C., Champaign, Illinois, 2001, ISBN 1-58261-369-9, page 144.
  23. ^ "Clemson Greek Life". Archived from the original on May 27, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070527134650/http://union.clemson.edu/student_activities/greek_life/index.asp. Retrieved June 20, 2007. 
  24. ^ "List of Student Organizations". http://dcit.clemson.edu/resources/student_organizations/all.php. Retrieved June 20, 2007. 
  25. ^ "Student Achievements". http://business.clemson.edu/news/bragging/news_brag_students.htm. Retrieved June 20, 2007. 
  26. ^ "Student Achievements". http://business.clemson.edu/news/bragging/news_brag_students.htm. Retrieved June 20, 2007. 

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