Clemson Trustees Consider Budget, Academic, Facility Issues

CLEMSON, SC – April 18, 2009 – Clemson University’s trustees learned of state funding proposals for the school’s general education and public service activities budgets as they tended to the business of the university at their quarterly meetings on campus.

Reports from the president and the governmental affairs director reflected the economic challenges the university is facing this year and how the administration has managed the budget climate so far.

“Clemson University is one of the nation’s top universities with one of the lowest levels of state support,” said President James F. Barker as he recounted the steps the university has taken – including furloughs, halting some construction projects and establishing task force studies – to handle the series of state fund reductions this year.

The trustees also heard through individual reports from representatives of the faculty, staff and undergraduate and graduate students, the pledged commitment of these constituencies to persevere and work with the board and administration during these tough times.

Interest from potential students who want to attend Clemson University also is high. Provost Doris Helms reported receipt of more than 16,150 applications for fall admission, the largest number of applications in university history. Graduate School applications also are up over last year.

Action taken by the trustees related to academic issues included:

• a cost-saving measure to combine two departments – finance and accountancy and legal studies – in the College of Business and Behavioral Science.
• approval of online delivery of the non-thesis option of the master’s degree in biological sciences.
• approval to offer the nursing bachelor’s degree at the University Center in Greenville, with new admission criteria. The program allows for individuals who hold a college degree in other fields to enter nursing.
• approval of a new graduate certificate in clinical and health services research to be offered through the University Center in Greenville.
• approval of a new Biomedical Institute at the Greenville Hospital System campus, which will be a fully functional translational research entity acting as a bridge between biomedical science and its clinical application.

In facility business matters, the trustees:

• renewed the lease for Regulatory and Public Service units to use office and laboratory space in the Center for Applied Technology in Pendleton for two years beyond the Feb. 2010 expiration.
• renewed the lease of office and lab space in the Advanced Materials Research Laboratory (AMRL) to South Carolina Research Authority.
• renewed the lease for office space for the governmental affairs staff in Columbia.
• approved an upgrade to the HVAC system in Manning Residence Hall, with work scheduled for summer 2010.
• approved a request from Pickens County for an easement on Clemson University property to install and maintain a sewer line along Eighteen Mile Creek.