Tri-County, SWU also announce graduation plans

By Anna Simon
CLEMSON BUREAU

CLEMSON -- When state Rep. Dan Cooper receives an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at Clemson University's May 9 graduation ceremony, it won't be his first Clemson degree.

Cooper will receive the honorary degree and address graduates at the 9:30 a.m. commencement exercise in Littlejohn Coliseum at Clemson University. Clemson's afternoon commencement begins at 2:30 p.m. the same day.

Cooper, R-Piedmont, who chairs the state House Ways and Means Committee, studied community and rural development at Clemson, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1984.

The honorary degree "is more than an honor," Cooper said. "It was a privilege to study at Clemson University, which equipped me to serve our great state, and it is a privilege to give back to South Carolina through my career of community service."

Cooper, who spent two years working for state and local governments before beginning his career in the insurance industry, has served in the state House since 1991 and has chaired Ways and Means since 2005.

Cooper's support to Clemson and higher education in the state of South Carolina "has enabled the state's research universities to increase their research capability and advance South Carolina's knowledge-based economy," said Clemson President James Barker.

In recent years, Cooper has helped secure funding for Clemson's Baruch Institute in Georgetown, the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) and the Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering Technologies (COMSET), among others. He also has been a champion of Clemson's Public Service Activities mission and the university's support of the state agriculture industry, Barker said.

Tri-County Tech

Dr. James E. Bostic Jr., former executive vice president of Georgia-Pacific Corp. and the first black person to earn a doctorate at Clemson University, will address Tri-County Technical College's Class of 2008.

Approximately 439 graduates will be recognized at the annual spring commencement scheduled for May 15 at 6 p.m. at the Anderson Civic Center. In addition to families and guests of the graduates, alumni and friends of the college are invited to attend the ceremony.

Bostic currently assists the South Carolina Technical College System's "readysc" program with economic development training matters.

Bostic attended Clemson University on a Ford Foundation Fellowship and earned a bachelor of science degree in textile chemistry from Clemson in 1969, and in 1972 he became the first black student to earn a doctorate at Clemson University. He later served as deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the Nixon administration.