A house RESOLUTION

 

to declare Wednesday, February 28, 2024, as "Clemson Day" in the State of South Carolina.

 

Whereas, Clemson University was founded in 1889 through a bequest to the State of South Carolina from Thomas Green Clemson, a Philadelphia-born, European-educated engineer, musician, and artist, who married John C. Calhoun's daughter, Anna, and settled at her family estate in South Carolina; and

 

Whereas, Clemson's campus is the entire State of South Carolina, with the university having a presence in every county in South Carolina, agriculture research centers from the Piedmont to the Coast, youth programs that serve more than a hundred thousand young people per year, and enterprise campuses devoted to innovation and economic development in Anderson, Greenville, Greenwood, and North Charleston to support both existing and emerging industry clusters ranging from agribusiness and manufacturing to aviation and advanced materials; and

 

Whereas, Clemson University is a Tier 1 Research Institution by the Carnegie Foundation, which puts it in a class with the top 115 universities in the nation in terms of research; and

 

Whereas, Clemson University continues to be a highly ranked public university in America and has also earned top-rankings for graduation rates, value, efficiency, and return on investment while maintaining an outstanding student experience; and

 

Whereas, Clemson University enrolls more than twenty-five thousand undergraduate and graduate students and has more than one hundred eighty-two thousand alumni, nearly one hundred thousand three of whom live in South Carolina; and

 

Whereas, Clemson University is part of a national system of land-grant universities and the United States Department of Agriculture, providing statewide research, extension, and regulatory programs (Public Service Activities) to enhance economic growth in South Carolina's agribusiness and forestry industries through a continuous flow of knowledge to farmers, foresters, and land managers; and

 

Whereas, for more than one hundred thirty years, Clemson University has continued to fulfill the covenant between its founder and the people of South Carolina as a "high seminary of learning" and improve the economy of the State through its historical land-grant responsibilities of teaching, research, and extended public service.  Now, therefore,

 

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

 

That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, by this resolution, declare Wednesday, February 28, 2024, as "Clemson Day" in the State of South Carolina.

 

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to James P. Clements, Ph.D., President of Clemson University.

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