Alumni Make It Happen

Under the leadership of President Jim Barker, Clemson University has established a 10-year plan to make Clemson one of the nation's top-20 public institutions. Our goal is to improve academic quality and effectively fulfill Clemson's mission. Achieving top-20 status has specific outcomes and benefits.

• Clemson students will receive a higher quality undergraduate experience.
• More of the state's brightest students will remain in state.
• The Clemson degree will gain value for all alumni.
• We can engage more faculty and staff in addressing the real-world problems facing communities, families and industries in South Carolina.
• A strong, highly regarded research university can be a powerful economic machine, fostering economic development and ensuring continued prosperity.

How Do We Get There?

We have created an academic "road map," a strategy for academic excellence that calls for investments in three key areas.

People and Programs -- Identify academic areas that have the potential to become top-10 programs, core research initiatives that can generate substantial external funding, "niche" areas within departments that can allow for focused growth or development, and collaborative activities that can increase public service, improve general education or fulfill other goals.

Infrastructure -- Continue to develop the Libraries, information technology and operating budgets.

Facilities -- Address research space limitations, air-quality issues and facilities that can improve the quality of student life, including athletics.

Funding the Road Map

To become one of the nation's top public institutions, Clemson must develop the resources needed to turn its visions, goals and plans into outcomes. Implementing the road map will require a four-part funding model.

• Modest Growth in State Appropriations -- For the past five years, state appropriations have increased annually by 2 to 3 percent. In 2001, however, budget cuts and unfunded mandates left Clemson $8 million below the previous year's funding level.
• Tuition -- Clemson Trustees took bold action, approving an unprecedented tuition increase of $1,500 per year, an increase that not only funded the first year of the road map but also protected the University against shortfalls in 2002-2003.
• External Support -- Rather than place the entire financial burden on the state and students, the Clemson plan calls for substantial increases in external support from private gifts, grants and sponsored programs.
• Internal Efficiencies -- With limited resources, a critical component of the plan is reallocating funds from existing budgets to higher priorities. This combination of internal reallocations, enhanced tuition revenues, increased external support and stable state funding can provide the means to turn goals into reality.