Tech Topics - Summer 2008 - (Page 19) TheHill ROB FELT Wayne and Anne Clough pose for a farewell photograph with current and former Tech students at the Kessler Campanile. Clough said, “I have been blessed to work with a terrific Georgia Tech student body. Every day when I come to work — even those days when things are not going quite right — it makes my day to meet with great Georgia Tech students.” TECHTOPICS | SUMMER 2008 “ “The more I looked at it the more I thought, ‘This is a pretty good fit.’ My wife said, ‘Yes, I like the idea.’ It seemed like the timing was right. I have probably another good run of some kind and this is really a noble cause,” Clough said. “This is America’s treasure and we’ve got to make it work for future generations. It’s something I could give myself to. People love the Smithsonian.” Clough will be the Smithsonian’s 12th chief executive. The New York Times reported that he “faces the task of restoring stability to an institution that is struggling with a $2.5 billion shortfall, crumbling buildings and the repercussions of last year’s scandal.” Lawrence M. Small, former head of the Smithsonian, resigned after controversy concerning questionable spending of the Institution’s money, according to The Washington Post. At a March 15 press conference at the Smithsonian announcing his appointment, Clough was asked how he plans to restore public trust in the Smithsonian. “I don’t think the public trust has gone away,” Clough answered. “There is tremendous residual goodwill for the Smithsonian. I think what we need to do is repair some bridges. We need to communicate, be transparent, reinvigorate the excitement about the Smithsonian that should be there.” Clough told TECH TOPICS that after a tenure of nearly 14 years he realized it was time for a change — time for someone else to assume the presidency of Georgia Tech. “This job needs someone who is thinking five or 10 years out and I really was not thinking that far out,” Clough said, adding that he and Anne have and developed Technology Square in “had a good run here. It looked like we Midtown Atlanta, where the College of were coming to a good juncture where I Management, Georgia Tech Research thought the state budget was going to Institute and Georgia Tech Foundation be good, the campaign (still in the silent are located. phase) is in good shape and we have a During Clough’s administration, really good leadership team in place. We the Institute has consistently ranked have the right pieces in place for me to among the nation’s top 10 universities, step away.” research expenditures have increased to Schuster called Clough “a $473 million from $212 million, legendary force at Georgia Tech.” enrollment has increased to 18,000 from “His leadership and vision have 13,000 and satellite campuses have been been responsible for the unprecedented established in France, and revolutionary Ireland, Singapore, advance in Georgia China and Savannah, Tech’s programs and It looked like Ga. stature during his Clough has been tenure,” Schuster we were coming recognized for his said. to a good teaching and research, Alumni juncture. We including a total of Association nine national awards President Joe Irwin, have the right from the American IM 80, said Clough pieces in place Society of Civil is “the most capable for me to step Engineers, most and accomplished away. recently the 2004 president in the Outstanding Projects history of Georgia and Leadership Tech.” lifetime award for contributions to A native of Douglas, Ga., Clough education. Clough is one of a handful of received his bachelor’s and master’s civil engineers to have been twice degrees in civil engineering from Tech awarded civil engineering’s oldest in 1964 and 1965 and his doctorate in recognition, the Norman Medal, in 1982 civil engineering from the University of and in 1996. California at Berkeley in 1969. In 1990, he was elected to the Clough was named Tech’s 10th National Academy of Engineering. He president in 1994, and he has led the received the 2002 National Engineering Institute through a remarkable era of Award by the American Association of academic excellence and prominence, Engineering Societies; was named a strategic campus growth and expansion distinguished alumnus by the College of exemplified by more than $1 billion in Engineering at UC Berkeley in 2004; and new facilities, research initiatives and received an honorary doctorate of breakthrough discoveries and capital science from Shanghai Jiao Tong campaigns exceeding more than $1.6 University in 2005. billion. He directed a campus expansion President George W. Bush that leapfrogged the interstate connector appointed Clough to the President’s “ Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in 2001 and in 2004 to the National Science Board. Clough’s other service activities include: vice chair of the U.S. Council on Competitiveness, for which he co-chaired the 2004 National Innovation Initiative; chair of the National Academies Committee on New Orleans Regional Hurricane Protection Projects; and chair of The Engineer of 2020 Project for the NAE. Clough is a former provost and vice president of academic affairs at the University of Washington, dean of engineering at Virginia Tech and associate professor at Stanford and Duke universities. Under Clough’s leadership, Tech embraced a vision to define the technological university of the 21st century. “It is important to set a standard for everything we do,” Clough said. “If we say we want to be good at leadership, it means we want to be one of the very best. If we say we’re interested in having a diverse student body, we want to be a national leader. If we say that technological policy is important, that means Georgia Tech wants to help the nation in this endeavor. “It also never allows us to be complacent, even when we have accomplished what seems to be a lot,” he said. Clough said Georgia Tech’s best years are yet to come. “Hopefully my tenure as president has helped lay the foundation for what will be an incredible future.” When giving his farewell remarks to students surrounding the Kessler Campanile, Clough said, “A great university is always a work in progress.” 19
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