Clemson University, founded in 1889, is a public research university located in Clemson, South Carolina. The university is led by a president, who is selected by the board of trustees. The president acts as the school's chief executive officer, reporting to the board, and is tasked with providing leadership to the faculty and students, and represents the institution in public.^[1]

The institution's first president was Henry Aubrey Strode, appointed in 1890,^[2] and its 15th and current is James P. Clements, who assumed office in 2013.^[a][3] All of Clemson's presidents have been white men. Robert Cook Edwards had the longest tenure at 21 years,^[4] and Walter T. Cox Jr. had the shortest at eight months.^[5] There have been two interim presidents, and five presidents who have been alumni of the university.^[2] As of 2022^[update], the salary of the president was $987,530.^[6]

The first official residence for the president was completed in 1893, with president Craighead as its first resident. Walter Riggs, already a professor at the university, chose to remain in his house upon becoming president. Following his death, presidents Sikes and Poole also lived in the Riggs house. The current president's house was completed in 1959 for R. C. Edwards. The office of the president is housed in Sikes Hall.^[7]

Presidents

List of presidents

No.	President		Term	Notes	Ref.
1		Henry Aubrey Strode	1890–1893	Previously head of the mathematics department at the University of Mississippi	[2]
2		Edwin Boone Craighead	1893–1897	Previously professor of Greek and French at Wofford College	[2]
—		Mark Bernard Hardin	1897, 1899, 1902	Served as interim president between administrations in 1897 and 1902, and during Hartzog's illness in 1899. Chair of the chemistry department at Clemson.	[8]
3		Henry Simms Hartzog	1897–1902	Previously superintendent of the Johnston Institute	[2]
4		Patrick Hues Mell	1902–1910	Previously chair of the natural history department at Auburn University	[2]
5		Walter Merritt Riggs	1910–1924	Previously director of the engineering department at Clemson	[2]
—		Samuel Broadus Earle	1919, 1924–1925	Served as interim president in 1919 while Riggs served as a director on the army overseas educational commission in France, and in 1924–1925 following Riggs' death. Director of the engineering department at Clemson.	[9]
6		Enoch Walter Sikes	1925–1940	Previously president of Coker College	[2]
7		Robert Franklin Poole	1940–1958	Graduate of Clemson University (1916). Previously chairman of graduate programs at North Carolina State University.	[2]
8		Robert Cook Edwards	1958–1979	Graduate of Clemson University (1933). Previously vice president for development at Clemson.	[2]
9		Bill Lee Atchley	1979–1985	Previously dean of engineering at West Virginia University	[2]
10		Walter Thompson Cox Jr.	1985–1986	Graduate of Clemson University (1939). Previously vice president for student affairs at Clemson.	[2]
11		A. Max Lennon	1986–1994	Previously vice president of agricultural administration and executive dean for agriculture, home economics, and natural resources at Ohio State University	[2]
12		Philip Hunter Prince	1994–1995	Graduate of Clemson University (1949)	[2]
13		Constantine W. Curris	1995–1999	Previously president of Murray State University and the University of Northern Iowa	[2]
14		James Frazier Barker	1999–2013	Graduate of Clemson University (1970). Previously dean of architecture at Mississippi State University and Clemson.	[2]
15		James P. Clements	2013–present	Previously president of West Virginia University	[3]

Timeline of presidencies