As I completed five years of service as president of Clemson University late last year, I paused to reflect on how Clemson has changed. As I compared Clemson in the decade of the 1990s to Clemson at the start of 2005, it became apparent that the state of Clemson University today can best be described as one of transformation.

That's a powerful word, "transformation," and not one that we should use lightly. After all, earlier this year we celebrated the 50th anniversary of coeducation at Clemson and marked the 43rd anniversary of Clemson's desegregation. Those certainly were periods of enormous transformation as Clemson evolved from a college that served only some of South Carolina's young people to a university that welcomed all who were qualified to study here regardless of race or gender.

The transformation that is taking place today may be less obvious to the outside world, but it promises to have just as much impact on the future of Clemson -- and the future of South Carolina -- as the monumental changes of the '50s and '60s. What we are witnessing today is the transformation of Clemson from a respected state university to a nationally ranked, highly selective research university that is helping to shape its state's economic future.

Consider these facts.

In the mid-1990s, the Board of Trustees adopted an official set of benchmarks -- 10 institutions by which Clemson would measure itself as an academic institution. At the same time, there were a few cynics who laughed at the notion that Clemson could hope to be compared to the likes of Michigan State, Georgia Tech and Purdue. In fact, at that time we were ranked ahead of only one of the 10 institutions - Mississippi State.

Today, we are ranked ahead of Mississippi State ... and Auburn ... and N.C. State ... and Iowa State. We are tied with Virginia Tech and just a step away from catching Michigan State. We have moved from the bottom of our peer group to the middle, and the top of the pack is within our sights.

Clemson's U.S.News & World Report ranking has risen by 42 places since 1997. No public university currently ranked in the top 40 has improved more than Clemson during this time.

Nowhere is this transformation more obvious than in our student body. In the mid-1990s, many of South Carolina's top students considered Clemson a "safety school" - a place to apply in case you couldn't get into N.C. State or Georgia Tech. Today, I hear parents talking about their children and saying things like, "He wants to go to Clemson, but I don't know - he's only got a 1310 on the SAT." 1310! And they're right to be worried. This year, applications have run more than 20 percent above last year, and yet the average SAT of the applicant pool is about 15 points higher. Clemson is now the school of choice among the state's, region's and nation's best students.

At the end of the 1990s, Clemson's annual research support was about $50 million a year. It's now more than twice that amount -- a growth rate ranking among the nation's highest. But it's more than numbers. A decade ago, we could not envision a research initiative that would generate more than $100 million in public and private financial commitments within a year, but that's what the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research has done.

Clemson-ICAR is the clearest example of the impact Clemson's transformation into a top-tier research university can have on the state and its people. But it's not the only one. In advanced materials, in biotechnology, in wireless communications, in the restoration of the natural and man-made environment, and many other areas, Clemson is being asked to transform South Carolina's economy and its future.

In 2005, we're taking more giant steps toward our goal of becoming one of the nation's top public universities.

During the next five years, the pace of change is likely to increase dramatically. I don't need a crystal ball to know that by 2010 we will hire more than 200 new faculty; we will be offering research opportunities to all of our undergraduates; we will have a thriving and unique automotive engineering academic program in Greenville and a major academic and research presence in Charleston in architecture and restoration; and we will be closing in on the top 20.

We have many opportunities in the coming years. To borrow a phrase from the title of a book by business guru Jim Collins -- we have the opportunity to witness firsthand the transformation of a university -- from "good to great."