Clemson U. Balances Growth With Focus

By PAUL FAIN

A public institution nurtures strengths, avoids trendy new programs

Colleges are fond of issuing proclamations filled with ambitious goals. So Clemson University was hardly charting new territory in 2001 when its Board of Trustees endorsed 27 goals to make it a top-20 public research university.

Less than two years later, Clemson achieved one of those benchmarks by exceeding $100-million per year in research sponsored by outside sources. Then something strange happened. Instead