Clemson awards 700 degrees in summer ceremony

Published: August 7, 2010

CLEMSON — The heat of summer didn’t keep graduates and their families away from Littlejohn Coliseum Saturday as 700 students became Clemson University alumni.

Of the degrees conferred, 330 were bachelor’s, 315 master’s and 55 were Ph.Ds.

The graduates received words of support from James Oliver Sweeny, who received an honorary Doctorate of Humanities during the ceremony.

“There are similarities between when I graduated from Clemson in 1939 and your graduation today in 2010,” Sweeny said. “In 1939 the country was coming out of the Great Depression and today the country is hopefully coming out of a great recession. In 1939 we faced the prospect of going to war and in 2010 our country is fighting two foreign wars.

“Take heart, we toughed it out and so will you,” Sweeny added.

Sweeny earned his Clemson degree in electrical engineering in 1939. In 1941 he was called into active duty with the Army Signal Corps and served on active duty until 1945. He worked for General Electric Corp. for nearly 40 years. During his tenure with G.E. he worked in test program administration, market research, product planning and marketing management. He retired in 1976.

Since retiring, Sweeny has been an active volunteer with the Clemson Alumni Association. He is a charter member of the Presidents Club and was chairman of the Class of ’39 Golden Anniversary committee. He led the volunteer efforts that created unrestricted universitywide scholarships for each college, the introduction of the Faculty Award for Excellence and an endowment for the South Carolina Botanical Garden. As chairman of the Class of ’39 Heritage Gardens Committee, Sweeny guided the completion of the Class of ’39 Caboose Garden, the realization of the Golden Tiger-Cadet Life Garden and the construction of the J.B. Montgomery Amphitheater.

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