Trustees move Clemson 2020 plan forward

Published: October 19, 2012

CLEMSON — In fall quarterly meetings on campus this week, Clemson University trustees addressed elements of the school’s Roadmap 2020 plan with approvals of facility construction and renovation concepts and reviews of the university financial status and compensation plans.

Friday the trustees approved:

• the concept stage of a 260,000-square-foot core campus construction project for new student housing and dining facilities. The total project includes approximately 700 beds, dining facilities, a convenience store, offices and shared seminar and meeting space for faculty and students. The new construction will be adjacent to Johnstone Residence Hall, Harcombe Dining Hall and the University Union, most of which will be demolished by 2020. Construction is set to begin in 2014. The total project cost is estimated to be $98.4 million.
• the concept stage of renovations to Lehotsky Hall, a 32-year-old academic building. Renovations will include a new HVAC system, structural reinforcements, a fully automated sprinkler system, electrical and plumbing improvements, building envelope upgrades and ADA-accessible features. The total project cost is projected to be $15 million.
• the concept stage of renovations to the John B. Pitner Center at the Pee Dee Research and Education Center in Florence. This center houses the advanced plant-technology program, which provides critical research for an agriculture-based biotechnology industry in South Carolina. This project involves renovated laboratory space and upgraded mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. The total project cost is estimated to be $8 million.

In an admissions report, Provost Dori Helms said the university received 18,500 applications, 52 percent of Clemson freshmen were in the top 10 percent of their high school classes and the average SAT score was 1246. She said 38 percent of freshmen enrolled in the College of Engineering and Science and more than 1,160 students transferred to Clemson, including 369 Bridge students from Tri-County Technical College. The graduate school received 6,566 applications, an increase from the previous year.

The trustees approved a program modification in wildlife and fisheries biology and name changes in curriculum and instruction from Secondary Education to English Education, Mathematics Education, Science Education and Social Science Education; and Reading to Literacy.

The board also approved:

• a new Center for the Study of Advertising and Communication,
• reimbursement resolutions for the Greenville One project and the Clemson Architecture Center in Charleston and
• a memorandum of understanding between the USDA and Clemson for the university to use the Cotton Quality Research Station property.

In an earlier meeting, the research and economic development committee learned that Clemson’s externally funded research expenditures surpassed $100 million for the second time in consecutive years. Sponsored expenditures in 2011-2012 totaled $101.5 million.

Vice President for Research Gerald Sonnenfeld announced that new awards to Clemson totaled more than $99 million in 2011-2012, an increase of nearly $4 million from the previous year. The federal government funds 88 percent of these awards.

“Expenditures are the nationally accepted standard for calculating externally funded research activity in a given year,” he said. “Awards are an unreliable measure, because grants can be multiyear, or they can be pass-through funding for research that actually takes place at a partner university. Expenditures give you a much better understanding of actual sponsored research activity during a 12-month period.”

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