Dear Clemson:

Today, I was invited to present Clemson's budget requests to the Higher Education Subcommittee of the South Carolina House Ways and Means Committee. I would like to share those comments with you.  Please see below.
 
Sincerely,
James F. Barker, FAIA
President

Remarks to House Ways & Means Budget Subcommittee on Higher Education

January 23, 2008
 
I’m happy to have the opportunity to meet with you today to discuss Clemson University’s plans and priorities for 2008. But let me start by thanking you for the support you gave us in 2007. Because of your commitment to higher education and to Clemson, we have continued to make significant strides toward our goal of giving South Carolina a top-tier research university. We are now ranked 27th among all national public universities according to U.S. News and World Report, 33rd among all universities -- public and private -- on Kiplinger’s list of the best values in higher education, and the #1 place to work in academia by readers of The Scientist magazine.

But what’s more important is what’s behind the rankings – which is the substantive improvement in academic quality, contributions to economic development, and student success and satisfaction that we are seeing at Clemson.

As a result of those improvements, demand for a Clemson degree is higher than ever. Last year, we set a record with more than 14,000 applications for 2,800 freshman class slots, and we are on track to break the record this year. We enrolled a third of the state’s Palmetto Fellows, and nearly half of our freshmen ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school class. Retention and graduation rates are at an all-time high, and our student satisfaction scores on the National Survey on Student Engagement exceed both our peers and the national average. And let me dispel a myth that we hear from time to time: The quality of the Clemson student body is not improving because we are taking more out-of-state students. It is primarily because of the increasing quality of applicants from South Carolina. You should take pride in this achievement, because it is largely due to the LIFE Scholarship program created by the General Assembly to reward academic merit and keep our best students in state. It is working.

The General Assembly also created programs to invest in the three research universities to drive economic development: Those initiatives are also working. The Carroll Campbell Graduate Engineering Center at CU-ICAR is now open for business, and the first technology neighborhood is near completion. We completed the transfer to land and facilities from the City of North Charleston, the Hunley Commission and the Friends of the Hunley to create a permanent home for the Clemson University Restoration Institute, and a master plan for its development is under way. We expect to break ground this year on an innovation center at the Clemson University Advanced Materials Center, formerly known as the Clemson Research Park.

In terms of its commitment to economic development, Clemson is a very different university than it was when I first met with this group as president. In 2001, we didn’t generate any start-up companies. Last year we had four. In 2001 we had 10 licenses for intellectual property that were generating revenue. Last year we had 35. During that same time period, Ph.D. enrollment has nearly doubled, and research awards have grown from $93 million to $141 million. But one thing remains constant: Today, as always, the most important contribution we make to the economy of South Carolina is a Clemson graduate.

To continue our progress in keeping our best students in state, building a knowledge-based economy and serving the people of South Carolina, we need your support. The competition is not sitting still and waiting for South Carolina to catch up. States such as Kentucky and Tennessee are investing heavily in research universities to recharge their economies.    In fact, the Governor of Kentucky was elected on a strong higher education platform.

In South Carolina, that kind of leadership will have to come from the General Assembly. We were disappointed to see that the Governor’s executive budget calls for $17.7 million in total budget cuts to Clemson’s academic, research and public service programs. It ignores substantial cost increases that are beyond our control, such as utilities, health insurance and fringe benefits.

Clemson is committed to providing the best possible educational experience for our students, to meeting the workforce needs of our state, and to creating more high-paying jobs for South Carolina. To achieve those goals, we ask for your support of the following funding priorities.

Our highest priority is financial stability through increased base funding. Our state funding levels continue to lag our counterparts in North Carolina and Georgia. Our current per-student state funding is roughly 32% of the University of North Carolina’s and 48% of Georgia Tech’s. In fact, if we were funded at 100% of the Commission on Higher Education’s MR&R formula, we would still be 60% below UNC and about 40% below Georgia Tech. Increased base funding will help narrow that gap.

Our second request is for faculty and staff to be included in compensation increases for state employees, since a university is only as good as its people. State funding for cost-of-living increases and health care costs are critical if we are to recruit and retain outstanding teachers, researchers and the support staff they need in order to be successful.

Our third request is for the following specific initiatives to foster economic development and support Clemson’s academic goals to continue our mission as a land-grant university.

$4.8 million for the Academic Road Map. This is the third year of this request.  This is largely an investment in basic, human intellectual infrastructure. The job of replacing a third of our faculty in a five-year time span has begun, plus we need to add 100 or more faculty members.  Hiring nationally competitive faculty members requires additional investments in startup and operating support, graduate assistantships and other expenses.  

$4.2 million for the Cluster Faculty Initiative. Cluster hiring allows us to recruit established teams of researchers rather than individual faculty members, which cuts years off of the traditional start-up period. This allows us to see a faster return on the investment through federal grants, patents and spin-off companies. These teams will be hired in key emphasis areas that align with the state’s economic development needs, such as advanced materials, bioengineering and life sciences.

$4 million for Information Technology infrastructure. Annual investments are needed in critical IT infrastructure that supports everything from classroom instruction … to student services such as the libraries and registration …. to business and financial operations.  This request is for the basic, yet sophisticated, computing needs of a high-tech university.

$1.5 million for the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research, or CU-ICAR, to provide funding and support for the CU-ICAR Partnership Office, which serves as the business development and operational hub of that campus.
 
$3 million for the Clemson University Restoration Institute. The Institute’s mission is to create, develop and foster restoration industries and environmentally sustainable technologies while developing a knowledge-based export-oriented industry cluster in the Lowcountry, positioning South Carolina as the premier home of restoration knowledge and expertise.

$1.5 million for the South Carolina Light Rail. The SC Light Rail will provide a premier network as a collaborative project to interconnect universities, research institutions, and research partners to enhance collaboration in support of instruction, research and public service.

$1 million for Campus Safety. This will fund strategic enhancements to our Fire, EMS and Police departments, enhanced 911 capability and other security improvements.

We also ask for one-time funding for three strategic Capital Improvement investments

$25 million for an Information Technology Center to allow faculty, students and researchers to take advantage of new information technology resources in a centralized campus location.

$30 million for the Hunter Chemistry Building to construct a 90,000 square-foot research wing to support the department’s goal to provide nationally recognized research and teaching programs.

$10 million for Air Quality & Deferred Maintenance to upgrade air quality and exhaust systems and improve building safety and utility infrastructure across the Clemson campus.

In addition to Clemson-specific priorities, I would like to make sure that the Committee is aware of our support for the following collaborative initiatives:

• Continued funding for the Endowed Chairs Program at $30 million
• Funding for the Statewide Higher Education Electronic Library
• Funding for the One Voice, One Plan Nursing Initiative
• Funding for the EPSCOR program

With these strategic investments, we can meet the very high expectations of our students, their parents, and the people who hire them. We can bring new jobs to South Carolina by attracting and creating companies driven by innovation. And we can give our state a top-tier research university so that our young people don’t have to choose between academic quality and a LIFE Scholarship.

I appreciate your time and your attention, and I am glad to answer any questions you may have.