Clemson Renaissance Center - Need for the Center
College of Business and Behavioral Science / Greenville, SC
CU-ICAR / The University Center
For Clemson University’s College of Business & Behavioral Science?
Clemson University will become a top 20 public university. To assist the university in achieving this goal, the College of Business and Behavioral Science is transforming itself for the future. The integrating focus of the new CBBS is innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship, with a learning environment built on a higher level of engagement with the community around us that reaches to the global economy.
To be effective and meaningful, applied graduate education, executive education, and entrepreneurial leadership programs must be more than the highest quality educational programs; the people in the programs—students and faculty—must be engaged with the world. The burgeoning Greenville economy, strongly tied to the global economy, will be a living laboratory for a total immersion educational experience.
The Renaissance Center will be the key element in transforming the way we teach and learn. The transformed process will then become the new Clemson brand, our model for enhanced and new educational programs.
For Greenville, South Carolina?
Greenville aspires to be a recognized leader in the global knowledge economy. To attract and retain the brightest, most creative people, Greenville must build a culture of creativity and innovation and raise the level of intellectual discourse. Through the extraordinary efforts to design a vibrant Main Street in Greenville, much progress has been made to build the physical setting and the civic, cultural and entertainment activities associated with knowledge-based communities. But there is a missing piece: A strong university presence to attract bright, creative young adults to downtown Greenville – and a forum for engaging these students, their faculty, and the community in ways that foster entrepreneurship and innovation in a global economy. The Initiative proposed here will provide a focal point for knowledge economy activity in Greenville’s most visible city center.
How Will It Relate to CU-ICAR?
CU-ICAR is a major research and graduate education center that emphasizes automotive engineering and related topics. CU-ICAR will be the location of specialized PhD and master’s in engineering degree programs.
The Renaissance Center on Main Street will focus on business and behavioral science education that emphasizes entrepreneurial thinking; it will promote entrepreneurship, leadership and innovation in a global economy. Initially, there will be no degree programs located on Main Street.
By 2015, the Renaissance Center will be literally buzzing with a full range of professional masters programs, including some that will be designed specifically for the Main Street location. Faculty and students associated with the Main Street Initiative may be involved in CU-ICAR-related activities and vice- versa, but the two locations will have different missions, different faculties, and different students. CU-ICAR programs and activities will not be central to the Center’s activities and programs.
How Will It Relate to the University Center?
University Center Programs: The College of Business & Behavioral Science now offers MBA and MPA degree programs at the University Center, with the MPA offered cooperatively with the University of South Carolina.
These successful classroom-based programs will continue to thrive at University Center, in some cases providing students to engage in Main Street entrepreneurship activities. There are no plans to relocate these programs.