3. Focus, focus, focus.

The “One Clemson” Decade was ushered in with a self-study for reaffirmation of accreditation – which created a process for broad-based discussion of vision, mission and goals. A series of daylong planning summits and individual meetings with faculty of each of 61 academic departments — a communications effort called a “ministry of listening” by a self-study peer review team — identified strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. An academic plan that would come to be known as the “Road Map” called for more strategic enrollment management, investments in faculty resources, a major cyberinfrastructure overhaul, eight emphasis areas, and capital improvements. Clemson’s planning and focus on goals helped it earn two commendations during reaffirmation of accreditation.

In a page-one Chronicle of Higher Education article (July 25, 2008), “Clemson University Balances Growth with Focus: A public institution nurtures strengths, avoids trendy new programs,” reporter Paul Fain described Clemson’s commitment to focus, planning and discipline as “rare, and maybe even provocative, given higher education’s fever for unchecked growth.”