Dr. James Clements, President Clemson University

James P. Clements became Clemson University’s 15th president on Dec. 31, 2013 after serving as president of West Virginia University. Since his arrival, the value of the Tiger Paw has never been higher, driven by the University’s elevated academic reputation and the exposure from Clemson University’s athletic success on the national stage.

Under his leadership, Clemson has raised the bar in academics, admissions, enrollment, retention rates, graduation rates, research and fundraising. Through championing Clemson’s bold, strategic plan, Clemson Elevate, Clements is also continuing to elevate the student experience, doubling research and transforming lives across the state of South Carolina and beyond. Clements has also led the way Fiercely Forward in helping to raise nearly $3 billion in private funds during his career, including more than $2 billion since he arrived at Clemson.

Clements is a nationally recognized leader in higher education who has served as president of a university in three different athletic conferences, Big East Conference, Big 12 Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference, where he served as the 2016-17 Chair of the ACC Council of Presidents. He currently serves on the board of directors for the ACC and as one of eleven members on the College Football Playoff Board of Managers.

He also currently serves on the executive committee for the Council on Competitiveness, the Special Olympics International Board, the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce Board, and the Council of Presidents for the Commission on Higher Education. Clements previously served as the Chair of the Board for the Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities, on the Council of Presidents for the Association of Governing Boards, and on the Board of Directors of the American Council on Education.

During the nearly five years Clements served as the president of West Virginia University, WVU set significant records in private fundraising, research funding, academic rankings, applications, enrollment, diversity, retention rates and graduation rates.

He was a leader in West Virginia – chairing the boards of the West Virginia United Health System, the WVU Hospitals and the WVU Research Corporation.

The grandson of a coal miner and a firefighter, and son to parents who taught him and his three older siblings that education was the key to a better life, Clements is a first generation college graduate. This was a driving reason he pursued a life and career in higher education – to give others the same opportunity he was given by getting a formal education.

He has published and presented more than 75 papers in the fields of higher education, leadership, strategic planning, project management, computer science and information technology. He also served as principal investigator or co-investigator on more than $15 million in research grants.

Prior to his service at WVU, Clements served as provost and vice president for academic affairs, vice president for Economic Development & Community Outreach and as the Robert W. Deutsch Distinguished Professor of Information Technology at Towson University, the second largest university in the University System of Maryland, where he was a four-time winner of the Faculty Member-of-the-Year Award, given by Towson students. He was a member of the Colonial Academic Alliance as part of the Colonial Athletic Association.

Clements has a deep and abiding commitment to contributing to the development of others. One way he has exemplified this is through the creation of the President’s Leadership Institute (PLI) at Clemson. PLI is a nine-month leadership development program, now in its tenth year, that brings faculty and staff together to develop their personal and professional leadership skills. Each year, PLI consists of 25 highly-qualified participants, and as of the 2025-26 cohort, there have been 220 graduates of the program. Of note, within 3 years of completing PLI, nearly 70% of graduates have gone on to accept elevated leadership positions.

Clements’ Successful Project Management book is now in its seventh edition and is published in multiple languages and used in numerous countries.

Clements was born in Arlington, Va., but spent the majority of his life in Maryland before relocating to West Virginia and then Clemson. He and his wife, Beth, have been married for 34 years and have four children, Tyler, Hannah, Maggie and Grace; two sons-in-law, Tanner Coombs and Max Kinser; a daughter-in-law, Margot Murray Clements; three grandsons, Cannon, Ronan and Tee; and three granddaughters, Eliza, Eva and Caroline.
 

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