Dear Clemson Community,
As we approach the end of the semester and 2022, I wanted to take a few moments to reflect on everything we have accomplished and celebrated and to say thank you for another incredible year at Clemson. I am grateful for each and every one of you. From the hard work of our students, faculty and staff to the loyalty and support of our alumni and donors, your investment into Clemson continues to elevate our success and is a testament to our culture of being ALL IN.
This fall we packed the stands at Memorial Stadium as we cheered on our Clemson Tigers, who ended their regular season ranked as one of the top ten teams in the country. On Saturday, the Tigers claimed the title of ACC Champions, and are excited to head to the Orange Bowl on December 30th. Our new video board was ready in time for our first kickoff, we dedicated a permanent seat to honor all of our Prisoners of War and service members declared Missing in Action, and we honored an outstanding faculty, staff, and student at each game. Tomorrow, we are breaking ground at the Women’s Sport Complex which will house our new gymnastics and lacrosse teams, and our women’s rowing team.
We dedicated the Snow Family Outdoor Fitness and Wellness Complex, announced a $10 Million Cornerstone gift from the Richardson family which includes a $4 Million scholarship challenge to the Clemson Nation, and celebrated the creation of the John Witherspoon Gilpin, MD ’82 Distinguished Professorship in Bioengineering. We also celebrated the largest single grant awarded to Clemson – a historic $70 million grant from the United States Department of Agriculture to lead the field in climate-smart agriculture. And on Saturday, we announced a historic gift from Jim and Candace Brown to IPTAY which will support our student-athletes and the Clemson student experience for years to come.
In October, the Board of Trustees approved our new strategic plan called Clemson Elevate. We are grateful for your involvement as we continue to shape this plan and are looking forward to our official launch of Clemson Elevate in the Spring of 2023.
We also celebrated with our students during this semester’s Ring Ceremony where I had the honor of presenting Clemson rings to nearly 2,000 students during two Ring Ceremonies. And we had an incredible week of gratitude where we dedicated two new leaves in our Fort Hill Legacy Society Bronze Leaf Dedication Ceremony.
There are so many wonderful things that have happened this semester and I am thankful for the enthusiasm of our students, dedication of our faculty and staff, and for our loyal and generous alumni and donors. We wouldn’t be where we are today without the amazing support of each of you.
I also wanted to extend an invitation to all of our students, faculty and staff to please join us at our annual holiday reception on Thursday, Dec. 8 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Madren Conference Center Grand Ballroom. I would love for you to join us for food, door prizes and holiday fun. You have all worked hard this semester, and we look forward to celebrating with you.
I hope you have a wonderful rest of the year, and you are able to recharge and make memories with your family and friends this holiday season. I look forward to seeing what the new year brings.
Go Tigers!!
Jim Clements