Pelham Foundation gift to Clemson brings total to $1 million

CLEMSON, SC – December 14, 2011 – A $337,500 gift to Clemson University will open the world to some ofthe university’s most creative students. This most recent gift fromalumnus William H. “Bill” Pelham through the Jean T. and Heyward G.Pelham Foundation brings its total donations to the school to more than$1 million since 2007.  

This gift provides $37,500 to support the Architecture + Health graduate program; $200,000 to name a studio and seminar room in theexpanded Lee Hall; and $100,000 to bolster the Pelham Foundation’sprevious support of the School of Design + Building’s program in Genoa, Italy.Pelham’s previous gifts also provide scholarships and fellowships thatenable students to spend a semester studying at the Charles E. DanielCenter in Genoa.
 
Pelham, president of Pelham Architects of Greenville, said a gift that encourages international study andtravel is appropriate from the foundation started by his parents.
 
“Theywere huge believers in travel being part of education, so it seemsnatural for their foundation to support this,” he said. “We did a lot oftraveling as a family, from Miami to Canada.”
 
However, thefamily’s international travel did not start until Pelham was a studentin Clemson’s architecture program. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1977and a master’s in architecture in 1981. In 1978, Pelham spent asemester in Genoa, and his parents visited him during their first tripabroad.
 
“International travel is good for any studentregardless of experience level. It’s confidence-building and gives younew insight into your own culture,” Pelham said. “It’s a broadeningexperience that you can’t get any other way.”
 
The Daniel Center, owned by the Clemson Advancement Foundation (CAF), also provides opportunities for students in art; construction science and management; and the School of Planning, Development, Preservation and Landscape Architecture,in addition to the architecture students it has served since 1972.Along with centers in Charleston and Barcelona, Spain, it is central tothe “fluid campus” concept, which encourages design students to study incities known for great architecture, landscapes and art to gain agreater understanding of those elements in other cultures.
 
TheJean T. and Heyward G. Pelham Foundation first gave $500,000 for anendowment to support travel to Genoa, then funded travel outright at$22,000 annually for four years. The foundation also supportedassistantships to Architecture + Health, the nation’s premier graduateprogram for research and study of architecture and design in healthcare.

This gift is part of Clemson’s The Will to Lead capital campaign to raise $600 million to support students and facultywith scholarships, professorships, facilities, technology and enhancedopportunities for learning and research.