School of Natural Resources Records
Series
Identifier: Series-0216
This series contains the files of the School of Natural Resources which cover the period from 1955-2000, and are organized into two sub-series: Subject Files and File Management System. The Subject Files sub-series is arranged alphabetically by folder title and then chronologically within each folder. The second sub-series, File Management System, is divided into two different filing numeral management groups. Materials in this series include annual reports, clippings, correspondence, meeting minutes, memoranda, newsletters, organizational charts, publications, reports, and research proposals. Blueprints and photographs can also be found in this series.
Majority of the files in the first sub-series, Subject Files, pertain to the College of Forest and Recreation. Information regarding the Belle W. Baruch Foundation and the Belle W. Baruch Forest Science Institute are also kept in this sub-series. Moreover, numerous memoranda of understanding with various entities, such as foreign countries, the United States government and the Belle W. Baruch Foundation, can be found in here. In addition, materials relating to the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the governmental restructuring of the South Carolina Forestry Commission, the McIntire-Stennis research programs, Partners in Economic Progress and biotechnology are filed in this sub-series. Finally, there are files containing facts on the College of Forestry and Recreation Resources, the Department of Forestry, and the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management.
The second sub-series, File Management System, is divided into two groups because they do not correspond with each other and are arranged by different numbering systems. No instruction manuals exist for either set. In the first group, a five- or six-digit number was assigned to the material when received by staff members. A label was placed on the back of the material in the upper left corner. Information on the label included the receiving and posting dates, the names of the individuals who received it and from whom, the names of the persons to whom the materials were routed, and the subjects of the material. There are listings for the first group of folders but they do not correspond with all of the labels. In the second group, the same numbering system used for the first group continued to be used briefly but the organization switched over to a new numbering system. In the new numbering system, staff members assigned a 94 along with a three- or four-digit number to the received material. A label was placed on the back of the material in the upper left corner. Information on the label included the names of the persons who sent the material, received it, and got a copy of it, as well as the subjects of the material, and the receiving and posting dates. Materials in both groups include correspondence, memoranda, meeting minutes, newsletters, and reports. Information relating to the Agri-Biotech Initiative, the Nature Conservancy of South Carolina and the South Carolina Forestry Commission can be found in this sub-series. In addition, correspondence from George B. Hartzog, Jr. in regard to the Hartzog Lecture Series are filed here as well.
Prominent correspondents found in this series include Milton B. Wise, Vice President and Vice Provost for Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Benton H. Box, Dean of the College of Forest and Recreation Resources.
When Max Lennon became President of Clemson University in March 1986, the Board of Trustees gave him a mandate to move Clemson forward in greater research efforts and increased private funding to turn the university into a major research institution. In the early 1990s continuing reductions in state funding of Clemson and other universities and colleges in South Carolina lead to Lennon’s final course action of strategic planning: restructuring the organization of the university. On February 4, 1994, the Board of Trustees unanimously voted to support President Lennon’s establishment of a new strategic planning steering committee, comprising of four task forces with eighty members (two more task forces were added in May 1994). At a meeting on September 30, 1994, final task force reports were presented and fully endorsed by the Board of Trustees, and they charged Phi Prince, who had been named to serve as president following Max Lennon’s resignation on July 15, 1994, with reviewing the recommendations and creating his own proposals for restructuring. President Prince presented a more radical restructuring plan than those recommended by the strategic planning steering committee at a special meeting of the Board of Trustees on November 1, 1994 in Greenville, South Carolina. The Board of Trustees fully endorsed this plan which combined nine colleges into four and reduced the number of vice presidents from seven to four, effective July 1, 1995.
One of the new four colleges was the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources and Dr. Thomas E. Skelton served as its interim dean from November 1994 to 1996. In January 1995 Dr. Skelton and the three other deans of the new colleges presented their proposals for departmental restructuring to President Prince and Provost Charles Jennett. The new College of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources comprised of the School of Animal, Biomedical and Biological Sciences; School of Plant, Statistical and Ecological Sciences; School of Applied Science and Agribusiness; and the School of Natural and Recreation Resources. Later, after an extensive study of respective consolidations and input from faculty and staff, Dr. Skelton and two other deans requested name changes for their colleges at a meeting of the Board of Trustees on April 7, 1995. The board members unanimously approved of the name changes and the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources became known as the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences.
In August 1995 the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences announced the names of the school directors and department chairs. B. Allen Dunn was selected to serve as the Director of the School of Natural Resources and Recreation Resources (1995-2001). On October 9, 1995 the name of the School of Natural Resources and Recreation Resources was changed to the School of Natural Resources. At a meeting on January 30, 1998 the Board of Trustees unanimously approved a consolidation proposal from Dr. William B. Wehrenberg, who served as Dean of the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences from 1996 to 2001. The proposed consolidation would decrease administrative costs and enable resources saved to be redirected into the classroom and student services. In 1999, Constantine W. Curris resigned as president and Clemson University named its fourteenth president, James F. Barker, Dean of the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities. President Barker had goals to make Clemson into a top-20 public university. The Board of Trustees unofficially endorsed Barker’s goals, pending further review and study. In 2000-2001 Barker initiated a series of “Summits on Priorities” to review and recommend changes for five areas of university operations and appointed committees to conduct a self-study to prepare for SACS reaccreditation in 2002. Also, during this time Dr. Wehrenberg left in 2001 and Dr. Calvin Schoulties became the Interim Dean of the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences, and the School of Natural Resources seized operations.
Sources:
Clemson University 2002 SACS Self-Study;
Series 336, President James F. Barker Presidential Records;
Inside Clemson;
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees;
Clemson University Telephone Directory; and
Tradition: A History of the Presidency of Clemson University, 2nd edition.
Agencies Administered:
Department of Aquaculture, Fisheries and Wildlife (1995-2001); Department of Forest Resources (1995-2001);
Faculty of Soils (1995-1998); Archbold Tropical Research Center (1995-1996); Geographic Information Systems (1995-1999); Department of Environmental Toxicology ( ? -2001)
7.84 Cubic Feet
English
The files originated in the School of Natural Resources.
Files were not retained from the following accession numbers because they were historically irrelevant or duplicated in other series. However, some publications were transferred to other series because they originated in those offices.
Accession No. 97-1 Building Plans, Photographs, Reports, 1963-1977
Accession No. 97-151 Budget, PSA Reports, Permanent Improvements, 1970-1997
Accession No. 98-71 Files, 1980-1995
Accession No. 99-115 Projects, Budget Reports, Correspondence, 1992-1996
Samples of research proposals and research programs, as well as a few files relating to the McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry Research programs, were retained.
Archivist Laurie Varenhorst processed the series and prepared the finding aid for encoding in 2011-2012.
Part of the Clemson University Libraries Special Collections and Archives Repository