James F. Barker, FAIA
Biographical Information
As an architect, James F. Barker is rarity among major university presidents and he has often wondered why. He believes architecture is the perfect background for the challenges of university leadership because it strikes the right balance between art and science, the creative and the practical.
“I often tell people I learned everything from plumbing to poetry in architecture school, and I use every bit of that knowledge as president of Clemson University,” Barker has said.
A 1970 Clemson graduate, Barker had been a practicing architect, a teacher and a dean at Mississippi State before returning to his alma mater in 1986 as Dean of Architecture. He then led the design of the reorganization that created the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities.
His accomplished leadership of the College was recognized when the Board of Trustees named him president of Clemson in 1999. He came into office with a vision and a mandate from the Board to lead Clemson into the top ranks of American public universities — an institution that attracts outstanding faculty and students, provides an unmatched educational experience, and helps drive innovation and economic development for the state of South Carolina.
During the decade of his presidency, the university has harnessed the competitive, determined spirit of the Clemson family to help improve the quality of a Clemson education and the value of a Clemson degree. It has more than doubled research efforts, launched major new economic development initiatives, and climbed from 39 to 22 among public universities in the US News Guide to Colleges, which also recognized Clemson its 2009 guide as an “Up and Coming” institution. According to the National Survey of Student Engagement, 91 percent of Clemson seniors today would choose Clemson again.
Under Barker’s leadership since Clemson has also:
- been granted a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, America’s oldest and most prestigious undergraduate honor society in the arts and sciences.
- significantly strengthened its cyberinfrastructure and IT capabilities, and connected to national high-speed research networks.
- been ranked as high as 61 on the TOP500 list of supercomputing sites.
- been recognized for value and affordability by Kiplinger’s and Smart Money magazine and twice ranked #1 among the “Best Places to Work in Academia” by The Scientist magazine.
- created an Academic Success Center to help students learn and succeed. South Carolina scholarship retention rates have risen from 44 percent in 2001 to 68 percent in 2009, and graduation rates have improved from 71 to 79 percent in 2009.
- developed an innovative “Creative Inquiry” program to bolster undergraduate research.
- created the Bridge to Clemson program to help students make the transition from the state’s technical/community colleges to Clemson.
- set new records for students applications (at both the undergraduate and graduate levels), private giving, external research support, and study-abroad participation.
Working with state leaders and private industry partners in the SC Centers of Economic Excellence program, Barker has steered Clemson into a greater economic development role. New facilities and programs include the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) in Greenville, the Advanced Materials Center in Anderson County and the Restoration Institute in Charleston.
Barker is a respected voice in higher education, not only in South Carolina but nationwide. He currently chairs the Division I Committee of the NCAA Board of Directors and has chaired the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) and led the ACC Council of Presidents during the league’s expansion to 12 schools.
For his higher education leadership, Barker has received the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s highest civilian honor, and The Cliff’s Business Person-of-the-Year Award from Greenville Magazine. He has also been awarded honorary doctorates from the Medical University of South Carolina, South Carolina State University, and Mars Hill College.
Even as Clemson’s President, Barker remains committed to the classroom. Each spring, he is part of a team that teaches an undergraduate course exploring “a sense of place” in architecture, literature, and history.
A native of Kingsport, Tennessee, Barker received his bachelor of arts degree from Clemson in 1970 on a partial track scholarship. He earned his master of architecture & urban design degree in 1973 at Washington University in Saint Louis, which also recognized him with its Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2005. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and the Institute for Urban Design.
In his spare time, what there is of it, he runs, walks and maintains the daily fitness regimen of a life-long athlete. He is widely acclaimed for his pen-and-ink drawings of campus buildings and other scenes, and has recently taken up watercolor painting.
Jim Barker and his wife Marcia have two sons, Britt and Jacob, a daughter-in-law Rita Bolt Barker, and one grandchild.
