Smiths' $500,000 gift will support Clemson academic programs

CLEMSON, SC – September 30, 2010 – Clemson University alumnus Doug Smith and his wife, Lynn Westmoreland Smith, have given the university $500,000 to endow a scholarship and to provide academic support in other areas.

Smith is making the gift nearly half a century after a scholarship helped him achieve his Clemson University education, Doug Smith hasn’t forgotten the generosity of those who provided it.

Today, in fact, he’s repaying that kindness many times over.

Half the gift will be used to fund the Smith-Westmoreland Scholarship Endowment, which will provide four years of support to academically gifted students from North and South Carolina. The scholarship is not restricted to a particular field of study.

Our economy is in difficult times, to say the least, and now is the time to help if you can, Smith said. Lynn and I believe the funding of the new scholarship will not only help an individual student but also help attract more top students to the university.

A significant portion of the gift is to the university’s Leadership Circle, an unrestricted fund that allows money to be directed where it is most needed. Clemson President James F. Barker will administer $150,000 from the gift; the dean of the College of Engineering and Science, $40,000.

Unrestricted funds are currently supporting many students completing their degrees at Clemson, said Lynn Smith. We want to support President Barker in the effort to move into the top 20 public universities. His leadership has taken us a long way, and we are happy to add to unrestricted funds for further development and for immediate financial aid.

The Smiths’ gift also includes support for two special, but quite different, programs. The Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) program offers mentoring and other resources to female students in the College of Engineering and Science. The Jungaleers Memorial Scholarship Endowment, a scholarship program for Jazz Ensemble members, was established by former members of the student-operated dance band, which flourished at Clemson for more than four decades.

Doug and Lynn have deep Clemson roots, and their generosity will enable others to establish their own Clemson connections, said Barker. This is an important time in the development of the university, and the Smiths are an important part of that process. We’re extremely grateful for their willingness to help us prepare for the future.

A native of Spartanburg, S.C. Doug Smith is chairman of Texas-based Lufkin Industries Inc., one of the world’s leading suppliers of oil field equipment for the energy industry as well as machinery for power generation and other industrial and marine applications. He was president of the company from 1993 to 2008, overseeing a work force of 2,300 employees on five continents.

Smith earned his mechanical engineering degree from Clemson in 1964. He also has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Kentucky and an MBA from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Business.

Following his Clemson graduation, Smith joined IBM as a product engineer. At Cameron Iron Works, a Texas company that provides equipment to the oil and gas industries, he rose to become vice president for manufacturing, a role which prepared him to lead Lufkin industries.

A native of Greensboro, N.C., Lynn Smith also attended Clemson, where she was the president of the Women’s Association in the fall of 1963. The Smiths married in 1964.

She earned a degree in zoology from University of Kentucky and later graduated from the Baylor College of Medicine as a physician’s assistant. She worked in nutritional research at the medical school and later as a clinician in several rural clinics in east Texas.

The Smiths have two daughters, Pam and Jill, and two grandsons. Jill and Matthew Wheelock are the parents of Douglas and Thomas Wheelock.

Our support for Clemson stems from our personal experience, our appreciation for the development of the school’s national standing and the current financial difficulties facing the university, Doug Smith said. Thomas Green Clemson believed that one person could make a difference. His endowment is the foundation on which Clemson University was built, and we hope our endowment will help Clemson continue to provide quality education in perpetuity.

The Smiths’ gift is part of The Will to Lead capital campaign, a multiyear effort to raise at least $600 million to support Clemson University students and faculty.