Tuesday will be my two-week anniversary as Clemson’s president. What a great 14 days it has been!
In the blur of post-holiday activity, Beth and I have met thousands of new friends who welcomed us to the Clemson community and the Clemson family. Thank you for that warm welcome.
Now that classes have started, our family is settling in and the focus is squarely on academics. Two of our four children are still at West Virginia University, but Grace is enrolled at Edwards Middle School and Hannah has transferred to Clemson.
Thank you to all the faculty and staff members who helped Hannah and her classmates get registered, housed, fed and ready to have a successful semester.
I’m very happy to add “Clemson Dad” to my resume! But I’m truly proud to be joining the Clemson faculty as Professor, School of Computing, College of Engineering and Science. My paperwork went through the tenure review process and was approved by Dr. Nadim Aziz and President Jim Barker in December.
Duty calls me to Columbia tomorrow, however, and I will be sorry to miss the first Faculty Senate and Staff Senate meetings of 2014, as well as the ceremony presenting the Class of 1939 Award for Excellence to the very deserving John Ballato. Congratulations, John!!
I met recently with Faculty Senate President Kelly Smith, past-president Jeremy King and Professor Fran McGuire. Among other things, we discussed the Provost search, which will get under way in the very near future.
This will be a very important appointment for the entire campus community. Please send me your thoughts on what we should look for in Clemson’s next academic leader. We will keep you posted on the process through regular updates in Inside Clemson.
Since I’m a computer scientist and a hands-on gadget guy, I’ll be using technology to communicate with the campus in some different ways. I’m tweeting @ClemsonPrez, and I hope you’ll follow me. I plan to share longer messages on this blog. And to reach me directly please feel free to email me at president@clemson.edu.
Thank you for all you do for Clemson. Have a great semester!
Jim Clements
