# List of presidents of Clemson University

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

## Presidents

List of presidents :
| No. | President | Term | Notes |
| 1 | Henry Aubrey Strode | 1890–1893 | Previously head of the mathematics department at the University of Mississippi |
| 2 | Edwin Boone Craighead | 1893–1897 | Previously professor of Greek and French at Wofford College |
| — | 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. |
| 3 | Henry Simms Hartzog | 1897–1902 | Previously superintendent of the Johnston Institute |
| 4 | Patrick Hues Mell | 1902–1910 | Previously chair of the natural history department at Auburn University |
| 5 | Walter Merritt Riggs | 1910–1924 | Previously director of the engineering department at Clemson |
| — | 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. |
| 6 | Enoch Walter Sikes | 1925–1940 | Previously president of Coker College |
| 7 | Robert Franklin Poole | 1940–1958 | Graduate of Clemson University (1916). Previously chairman of graduate programs at North Carolina State University. |
| 8 | Robert Cook Edwards | 1958–1979 | Graduate of Clemson University (1933). Previously vice president for development at Clemson. |
| 9 | Bill Lee Atchley | 1979–1985 | Previously dean of engineering at West Virginia University |
| 10 | Walter Thompson Cox Jr. | 1985–1986 | Graduate of Clemson University (1939). Previously vice president for student affairs at Clemson. |
| 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 |
| 12 | Philip Hunter Prince | 1994–1995 | Graduate of Clemson University (1949) |
| 13 | Constantine W. Curris | 1995–1999 | Previously president of Murray State University and the University of Northern Iowa |
| 14 | James Frazier Barker | 1999–2013 | Graduate of Clemson University (1970). Previously dean of architecture at Mississippi State University and Clemson. |
| 15 | James P. Clements | 2013–present | Previously president of West Virginia University |