Pelham Foundation gift to Clemson brings total to $1 million

Published: December 14, 2011

CLEMSON — A $337,500 gift to Clemson University will open the world to some of the university’s most creative students. This most recent gift directed by alumnus William H. “Bill” Pelham, AIA, through the Jean T. and Heyward G. Pelham Foundation brings the foundation's total donations to the school to more than $1 million since 2007.  

This gift provides $37,500 to support the Architecture + Health graduate program; $200,000 to name a studio and seminar room in the expanded Lee Hall; and $100,000 to bolster the Pelham Foundation’s previous support of the School of Design + Building’s program in Genoa, Italy; Barcelona, Spain; and Charleston. Pelham’s previous gifts also provide scholarships and fellowships that enable students to spend a semester studying at off-campus locations.
 
Pelham, president of Pelham Architects of Greenville, said a gift that encourages international study and travel is appropriate from the foundation started by his parents.
 
“They were huge believers in travel being part of education, so it seems natural for their foundation to support this,” he said. “We did a lot of traveling as a family, up and down the East Coast.”
 
However, the family’s international travel did not start until Pelham was a student in Clemson’s architecture program. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1977 and a master’s in architecture in 1981. In 1978, Pelham spent a semester in Genoa, and his parents visited him during their first trip abroad.
 
“International travel is good for any student regardless of experience level. It’s confidence-building and gives you new insight into your own culture,” Pelham said. “It’s a broadening experience that you can’t get any other way.”
 
The Charles E. Daniel Center for Urban Research and Building Studies in Genoa, owned by the Clemson Advancement Foundation for Design + Building, also provides opportunities for students in art; construction science and management; and from the School of Planning, Development, Preservation and Landscape Architecture, in addition to the architecture students it has served since 1972. The center, along with centers in Charleston and Barcelona, Spain, is central to the “fluid campus” concept, which encourages design students to study in cities known for great architecture, landscapes and art.
 
The Jean T. and Heyward G. Pelham Foundation first gave $500,000 for an endowment to support travel to all three-off-campus study locations, then funded travel outright at $22,500 annually for four years. The foundation also supported assistantships to Architecture + Health, the nation’s premier graduate program for research and study of architecture and design in health care.

This gift is part of Clemson's The Will to Lead capital campaign to raise $600 million to support students and faculty with scholarships, professorships, facilities, technology and enhanced opportunities for learning and research.

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