Clemson Provost to speak at the S.C. Governor's School for Science and Mathematics 21st Commencement Ceremony

COLUMBIA, SC – May 27, 2010 – The S.C. Governor’s School forScience and Mathematics (GSSM) was pleased to announce that Dr. DorisHelms, Clemson University vice president for academic affairs andprovost, served as commencement speaker at the School’s 21stGraduation Ceremony Saturday, May 29, at the Center Theatre inHartsville. 

We are so pleased that Dr. Helms is able to address our graduates thisyear,“ said Dr. Murray Brockman, GSSM president. 

“Her positive, creative and unceasing insistence that our state and itsuniversities can be among the best fits perfectly with our vision ofGSSM.“

GSSM serves a high-achieving segment of the state’s high school juniorsand seniors who are passionate about science, mathematics and technologyand who are motivated to increase their knowledge in these subjects.One of only 16 public, residential high schools in the country thatspecialize in science and mathematics, GSSM offers an early collegeexperience to its students and allows them to earn college credits formany of their math and science courses.

Seventy-two percent of the school’s 60 graduating seniors will attendSouth Carolina colleges and universities in the fall. Notableout-of-state schools they will attend include Yale, Emory, Georgetown,Drexel, Brown and Wellesley.

Commencement speaker Helms serves as Clemson’s chief academic officerand chair of the university faculty. She’s a member of the GSSM Board ofTrustees and was awarded the school’s prestigious Charles H. TownesAward in 1994 for her work to raise the quality of science education inSouth Carolina.

Helms earned her bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University inPennsylvania and her doctorate from the University of Georgia. In 1973,she joined the Clemson faculty as an assistant professor of zoology.Since then she has progressed through the university’s faculty to serveas the department’s head of biology and associate dean of the Collegesof Sciences before becoming the vice president of academic affairs andprovost in 2002.

About GSSM
GSSM is a two-year, public, residential high school in Hartsville, S.C.,specializing in the advanced study of science and mathematics. GSSMcelebrated its 20th anniversary in 2008-09, having graduated more than1,100 alumni from every county in South Carolina. Many are now leadersin such critical fields as engineering, medicine, education, law,science, technology, research and business. Our residential programserves 128 high school juniors and seniors a year with a concentratedstudy of science and math, alongside rigorous courses in the humanities,to prepare graduates to excel as leaders in the state’s 21st-centuryeconomy. Newsweek and The Washington Post have ranked GSSM among the Top20 public elite high schools in the country.  Construction is underway on two new wings that will allow GSSM to more than double the sizeof its student body, expanding this unique learning program to even moreof the state’s promising young minds. www.scgssm.org