Chairman Courson, Senator Matthews and Senator Verdin,
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to be here today.
I bring you greetings from the faculty, students, staff and alumni of Clemson University. It is a privilege and a pleasure to represent them here today. I also want to thank you for your hospitality last week as hundreds of alumni and supporters decended on the State House for Clemson Day. We were thrilled with the turnout and the enthusiasm. It’s unusual to see that much orange in Columbia when there’s not an athletic event taking place, and we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
I’m pleased to let you know that the state of Clemson University is very strong.
- The university continues to be recognized as one of the nation’s best public universities – ranked #25 in terms of quality by U.S. News and World Report, and #34 among the best values in public education by Kiplinger’s. These rankings prove that it’s possible to be good and affordable.
- This kind of national recognition enhances not only the value of a Clemson degree, but also the reputation of South Carolina among industries looking for a place with a strong business climate and a capable, well-educated workforce in which to locate.
- Before I begin my formal remarks, I’d like to offer a portion of my time to our outgoing undergraduate student body president, McKee Thomason and ask that he introduce himself and offer any thoughts he would like to share.
It’s always a pleasure to meet with this subcommittee because it gives me an opportunity talk about Clemson’s achievements and how they are benefitting our students and the state.
Since we last met, Governor Haley has proposed funding higher education based on performance. We endorse that concept and have been applying these accountability metrics for our last 10-year plan and our current 10-year plan. We believe Clemson will be very successful in meeting these performance-based, highly accountable metrics.
First, let’s talk about graduation rates: With six-year graduation rates now surpassing 80 percent, Clemson has moved into the ranks of the most successful national universities – and #1 among public institutions in South Carolina. We’re also ranked among the nation’s top producers of African American engineers by Diverse Issues in Higher Education magazine, and we were one of only 18 schools honored by the American Football Coaches Association for having graduation success rates above 90 percent for that sport.
The second metric is accessibility for in-state students and under-represented populations: Clemson is strategically and thoughtfully growing freshman and transfer undergraduate enrollment to increase access to a Clemson degree – while taking care to maintain the academic quality, course selection, campus life and engagement opportunities students and parents expect from a top-ranked university.
After another record year for applications, we enrolled our largest – and brightest — class ever, with 3,450 freshmen boasting an average SAT of 1246. We also enrolled more than 600 students in the very successful Bridge to Clemson transfer partnership with Tri-County Technical College.
The third metric is job placement for our graduates. SmartMoney Magazine – a publication of the Wall Street Journal — has ranked Clemson number 7 on its list of 50 of the nation’s top colleges and universities whose graduates get the best return on their tuition dollars. We ranked higher than all Ivy League schools and higher than many public universities typically found at the top of national quality rankings.
We’re also providing students with relevant, hands-on work experience that makes them more marketable after graduation. Clemson ranked fourth in the nation on U.S. News & World Report’s list of the top 10 schools with the highest percentage of students who hold internships or co-op positions as an undergraduate student. Based on data from the 2010-2011 academic year, the report shows that 67 percent of Clemson’s graduating seniors held an internship or co-op position before graduation.
The fourth metric is support for economic development: In 2012, we commissioned a study of Clemson’s statewide economic impact last year as a part of our observance of the 150th anniversary of the Morrill Act – which created the land-grant system of colleges and universities. In 2010 – the most recent year of the decade studied — Clemson was responsible for nearly 25,000 jobs and $1.8 Billion in total economic output statewide.
The Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research in Greenville now has 15 faculty members … nearly 200 graduate students . . . 34 research partners … and 17 campus partners.
Two new facilities opened in 2012 — The Center for Emerging Technologies is designed to launch entrepreneurs and start-ups companies, and the new BMW-certified component testing lab, which will allow suppliers to test their products here in South Carolina versus sending those products to Munich.
Work also is progressing rapidly on development of the Clemson University Restoration Institute in North Charleston. At the core of CURI’s 27-acre research and innovation campus sits what will be the world’s most-advanced wind-turbine drivetrain testing facility. This unique testing facility will accelerate product testing to support growth of the global wind energy industry. Let me take a moment to say thank you for funding $3 million as part of last year’s budget for the grid simulator – a very integral part of this project.
The facility, scheduled to be completed this year, will offer testing capacity three times greater than any other now operating. Virtually all of the major wind industry companies worldwide are represented on the facility’s advisory board.
This past summer the family of Anita Zucker donated $5 million to help build the Zucker Family Graduate Education Center on the CURI site – which will provide an academic anchor for the energy, restoration and conservation education and research programs.
Both CU-ICAR and CURI owe their existence to innovative funding initiatives created by the General Assembly. Your investments in endowed chairs and research university infrastructure are paying substantial dividends. When the state has invested in Clemson, we have delivered.
Our E&G funding requests will support economic development and programs that will make our graduate more competitive in the marketplace.
We respectfully request that you consider the following priorities for recurring funding:
$3 million for the Clemson University Center for Energy Systems at CURI, to fund faculty, research scientists, and graduate and undergraduate students to build a world class program in energy systems. Let’s leverage the facilities and technology already in development and make South Carolina a magnet for industries and federal agencies needing to develop, prototype, test and certify innovations for energy systems and electrical grid simulation.
$5 million for the Clemson University Center for Workforce Development to fund an expanding partnership between Clemson University, the technical colleges, Pre-K-12 partners, state and federal agencies, national research centers, and industry to develop South Carolina’s next generation workforce to support advanced manufacturing.
$2 million for Undergraduate Student Engagement programs – such as Creative Inquiry, Internships, cooperative education and undergraduate research. These programs engage students in real-world, hands-on learning and problem-solving – and they build the professional skills that ensure our students are ready for the marketplace.
I have a President’s Advisory Board – which consists of business, industry, education and community leaders. I spoke with them about this program and their response to me was, “These programs are right on target. You just need to increase participation – by a lot.” That’s exactly what this funding will do.
Even with a #4 national ranking for internships, we need to do better. In fall 2012, we had more than 700 students apply for about 70 positions available through our university professional internship program. This is a clear and obvious case of a program that’s working and needs to be expanded. These funds will allow us to do that.
A recent national survey shows why this is so important. The survey by the Chronicle of Higher Education and the Marketplace said that despite high unemployment, employers are having a hard time finding qualified candidates for jobs; and that while they still value a college degree, they said recent grads often don’t have the skills they’re looking for — such as communication, problem-solving and ability to adapt.
Their solution? More internships.
We also have two requests for one-time capital funding.
$10 million for a Freshman Engineering & Science Hall – which will establish a new home for freshmen engineering students within the Watt Family Innovation Center to help us meet the state’s growing need for engineers – which is a core responsibility as the state’s science-and technology – oriented research university. This facility will also provide exposure for freshmen to all engineering disciplines and provide academic advising and career counseling.
Over the past four years, we have increased undergraduate engineering enrollment by more than 50 percent – and we need to continue that trend in order to meet the science, engineering and technology workforce needs. Governor Haley was recently quoted as saying the first question she gets when she is recruiting high-tech industries is, “Do you have enough engineers?” We need to be sure she can answer, “Absolutely.”
Also, we request $25 million for a new facility to house and consolidate undergraduate programs in the College of Business & Behavioral Sciences Building. These programs are currently housed in Sirrine Hall, which was constructed in 1938 and has not been renovated in 35 years. The proposed new facility would accommodate increasing enrollment, reduction in class sizes and space for programs to meet job market demands for these graduates.
While new funding for the Endowed Chairs program has not recently been considered, I want to continue to stress the importance of this program and its continued focus to provide the intellectual capital industries are looking for and that has been proven successful by CU-ICAR and CURI.
Also, we remain hopeful that if the opportunity presents itself, you will consider a capital bond bill for higher education.
I also want to conclude today by discussing a piece of legislation that Clemson has introduced, the Clemson University Enterprise Act, which is now under review by the Special Finance SubCommittee. The bill has generated some media coverage across the state recently, and I want to take a few minutes to address why this bill is so important to Clemson and to South Carolina.
This bill, if passed, give us tools that can streamline many of the time-consuming, duplicating processes we face, while maintaining full accountability to the state.
While the bill is not a budgetary request, there is a direct connection to funding because this legislation will allow us to operate more efficiently and reduce cost of many of our business operations.
The legislation would create a new division within Clemson – an enterprise division— for units that need to operate more like businesses or activities where we interact with the private sector. Examples would be CU-ICAR, athletics or student housing. It would NOT include our core undergraduate education mission.
Simply put, the enterprise act is about reducing the cost of government and being more responsive to opportunities to create jobs and generate revenue. It’s good business.
Today, we are being asked to do more than ever for South Carolina: We’re educating more South Carolinians, creating more jobs; generating more of our own resources and working more closely with the private sector to help our industries thrive in a global economy.
We gladly accept these challenges. We want to do more for South Carolina, because that’s why we exist. At the same time, we know that resources are scarce and demands on state funding are increasing. So we must make every dollar count.
We must continue to find ways to do more with less. We must be more successful in generating revenues through research, private-sector partnerships or private donors. And we need to be more responsive to the needs of industry – and that means WE have to move at THEIR pace.
This is not a new idea for the state or for higher education. The enterprise division is modeled after MUSC’s very successful hospital authority, which the legislative approved over a decade ago. However, there is one important difference: Rather than establish a separate authority, this bill would create a new division within Clemson University – and that difference was intended to address any concerns about accountability and transparency.
Because these operations continue to reside under the Clemson umbrella, they remain subject to the S.C. Freedom of Information Act; their transactions will continue to be posted on our spending transparency website; the salaries of any enterprise employees earning over $50,000 will still be publicly available; capital projects will continue to require a competitive bid process; and every action taken by the Board of Trustees regarding enterprise activities will be done in a public session and entered into the public record – as is the case now.
We believe Clemson has earned the right to be trusted with a higher level of autonomy and regulatory flexibility. When we were given increased flexibility at CU-ICAR, we delivered in record time.
We’ve also demonstrated that Clemson is efficient and a good steward of state resources. Our administrative costs per student are about half of what they are at Georgia Tech. Since 2008 we’ve cut our administrative staff by near 12 percent.
And according to metrics established by Bain & Co. Financial Services, we’re actually financially more sound than we were before the recession.
We’ve proven we can be efficient and make good business decisions, and we can be even more efficient and successful with the management tools that this new university-state partnership will provide.
I would like to conclude my remarks by saying that it has been a privilege and an honor to serve my alma mater as president for nearly 14 years. After considerable reflection, I have decided that the time is right for a transition to the next phase of my Clemson career – as a faculty member in the School of Architecture. Therefore, today I have announced plans to retire as president as soon as the Board of Trustees has completed a search for the 15th president of Clemson University.
There is never a perfect time for a transition in leadership, but certainly a very good time is when a university is in high demand, able to attract great faculty, staff and students, enjoys strong support from alumni and friends, is financially healthy, and has a strategic plan that is firmly supported by its governing board. That is where Clemson finds itself today, and I am certain there will be no shortage of outstanding candidates who will be attracted to what I consider to be the best job in the world. I know that the next president will come to appreciate your service and support of Clemson as much as I do. It has been a pleasure to work with the this committee, the Senate and all members of the General Assembly. I’m happy to respond to any questions.
