Of Plumbing and Poetry: Why Architects Make Good College Presidents

Clemson U. (James F. Barker)

Clemson University’s president, James F. Barker, brings a little something extra to the table when his institution is contemplating new buildings or reviewing master plans—as an architect and a former architecture dean, he can read architectural drawings and speak with architects on their own terms. In an essay in our Architecture Issue, he wonders why more architects don’t become college presidents, since attending architecture school provides “one of the last Renaissance educations available.”

“At its best, it strikes just the right balance between art and science, the creative and the pragmatic,” he writes. “I often tell people I learned everything from plumbing to poetry in architecture school, and I use every bit of that knowledge as president of Clemson University.” (Another plus: He can do his own illustrations when he writes essays for newspapers.)