A partnership for life-changing opportunities

Wells Fargo gives additional $300,000 to Clemson University to support
Emerging Scholars and Call Me MISTER

With the support of corporate partners, especially Wells Fargo, Clemson University is inspiring students who have dreamed of a college education and who greatly benefit from additional support and resources to reach their goals in life.

Emerging Scholars and Call Me MISTER have been the leading diversity initiatives at Clemson to provide these students with the knowledge, desire and resources to pursue higher education.

The strong partnership between Wells Fargo and Clemson has allowed Call Me MISTER (Mentors Instructing Students Toward Effective Role Models) and Emerging Scholars to continue to significantly impact education throughout South Carolina, provide life-changing opportunities and encourage students to pursue greater dreams.

“Wells Fargo’s longstanding financial support for Call Me MISTER and the Emerging Scholars Program has provided a sustainability track for two of Clemson’s most venerable programs. This allows them to continue advancing toward achieving our inclusion and equity goals as a land grant university,” said Lee Gill, chief inclusion and equity officer and special assistant to the president for inclusion and equity.

The impact at Clemson continues to grow as a result of gifts from Wells Fargo. In 2015, there were six Emerging Scholars enrolled at Clemson. Four years later, the university will have 50 Emerging Scholars.

Over the past 19 years, 272 male South Carolinians have become CALL ME MISTER graduates – 52 of those graduated from Clemson.

Since 1981, Wells Fargo has given more than $4 million to the University. Among its many contributions to Clemson, the company has established the Wells Fargo Student Scholarship Endowment within the College of Business, awarding more than 100 scholarships to date. The company’s dollar-for-dollar employee matching program has also provided substantial support. With 350 Clemson alumni working for Wells Fargo, the program has generated more than $760,000.

Clemson recently celebrated another gift from Wells Fargo: an additional $300,000 gift benefitting Emerging Scholars and Call Me MISTER; $175,000 will support Call Me MISTER and $125,000 will benefit Emerging Scholars.

Clemson University and Wells Fargo are committed to education – and its life-changing and transformational power. Their partnership is instrumental for breaking the cycle of poverty that begins with a lack of education.

“Clemson University is grateful for Wells Fargo’s philanthropic support. Their dedication to education is making a powerful impact on Clemson students, and their partnership with Clemson is providing life-changing opportunities to generations of students across South Carolina,” said Brian O’Rourke, vice president for Development and Alumni Relations.

Call Me MISTER was established to increase the number of diverse teachers in South Carolina. The program provides tuition assistance for its students in teacher education at participating colleges. It also provides a social, cultural and academic support system that helps assure the graduates’ success.

The program has a ripple effect, providing higher education opportunities to these young men who may not otherwise have pursued this dream, but it is also providing young students with relatable role models. The impact is significant. Call Me MISTER is fostering teachers who are passionate about inspiring, motivating and developing character in their young students. The powerful and positive influence of Call Me MISTER is felt well beyond South Carolina, serving as a model for nine other states.

The Emerging Scholars Program aims to establish a college-going culture among selected program participants through academic enrichment, developing leadership skills and increasing college preparedness. The program consistently steers high school students from South Carolina’s Interstate 95 Corridor — a chain of predominantly rural, underserved communities running from the North Carolina border down through South Carolina to its southern tip at the Georgia border — into attending college. With the right motivation and support, these students have the potential to become, in many cases, the first in their families to attend college.