The earliest reference to "faculty" is found in the Minutes of the Board of Trustees on February 1, 1893. On that day the Trustees passed a resolution in which the faculty were "requested to elect a chairman to preside over their deliberations..." From 1897-1900 the faculty met on a weekly basis during the academic year. The meetings were convened by the President to handle matters related to the discipline of cadets and other items of business of the five departments: agriculture, chemistry, textile, academic and military. At these meetings the President also appointed committees of faculty to oversee specific functions, e.g. commencement exercises, examinations, curriculum and special events. By 1910 these meetings occurred on a monthly basis with the Director of the Academic Department presiding as chair. The chairmen from 1910-1956 were C.M. Furman, W.S. Morrison, T.G. Poats, D.W. Daniel and Samuel M. Martin.

In September 1955, in response to the findings of the Cresap, McCormick and Paget Report released in June of that year, F.M. Kinard, Dean of Clemson College, appointed a committee of faculty to formulate plans for organizing all teaching faculty and to advise and assist in matters pertaining to educational interests. The committee proposed a "Constitution and Bylaws" which was adopted by the faculty in January 1956 and approved by the Trustees in April of that year. This provided for an "executive committee," called the Faculty Senate, to be elected from members of the academic faculty.

The Faculty Senate, with its four standing committees of Welfair, Admissions and Scholarships, Policies and Committee on committees, formulated and reviewed policies that affected academic activities, faculty welfare, admissions, scholarship and "other matters that promoted the best interests of the college." The constitution and Bylaws called for representatives to be elected by the schools and officers to be elected by the general faculty. John D. Lane was elected as the first president.

In Octover 1956 the Board of Trustees approved a similar organization known as the Research Faculty. Its Constitution and Bylaws were passed January 1957. The Research Faculty consisted of the "professional research staff," or - more specifically - those certified by the Dean as "being actively engaged in research on an officially approved research project." The functions of the Research Faculty were to make recommendations to the administration concerning research policies, practices and procedures that affected the welfare of the faculty and general public.

In 1970, these two bodies, the Faculty Senate and the Research Faculty, were unified under a single constitution and bylaws. At that time, the Faculty Senate emerged as the sole representatives assembly of the faculty.

In 1982, another reorganization occurred when the College faculties and University Curriculum Committee were incorporated into the formal faculty organization. In that year, a unitary constitutional format was adopted to replace the previous constitution and bylaws structure.