James P. Clements

Jim Clements is West Virginia University’s 23rd president. WVU is the flagship university of West Virginia, with an internationally diverse student body of about 33,000 undergraduate and graduate students across approximately 200 degree programs in the University’s 14 constituent colleges, two divisional campuses, and multiple healthcare sites.

Dr. Clements chairs the boards of the West Virginia United Health System, the WVU Hospitals, and the WVU Research Corporation. In total, WVU and its affiliates represent a $2.5 billion enterprise and employ more than 20,000 people.

Over the past four years, WVU has set significant records in private fundraising, enrollment, and research funding. Through WVU projects, as well public private partnerships, nearly a billion dollars of capital improvements are underway on campus, in WVU’s health care system, and in the community.

Regionally, Dr. Clements is a board member of the National Energy Technology Laboratory Regional University Alliance. He chairs the Implementation Committee of the Power of 32, a visioning initiative across 32 counties in Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. In the state, he co-chaired the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission’s Diversity Initiative Council, and co-chaired the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission’s College Completion Task Force. In addition, he serves on the board of the West Virginia Business Roundtable.

On a national level, he is secretary and incoming chair of the Council of Presidents of the Association of Public Land-Grant Universities (APLU), which places him on the executive committee. He is also co-chair of the APLU Energy Forum, chair of the American Council on Education’s (ACE) Commission on Leadership, and a member of the Business Higher Education Forum that includes Fortune 500 CEOs and higher education executives. Dr. Clements was the only university president selected for a 15-member Innovation Advisory Board to the U.S. Department of Commerce. He was also nominated and participated in the 81st Joint Civilian Orientation Conference through the U.S. Department of Defense.

Before coming to WVU, Dr. Clements served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Towson University, the second-largest public university in Maryland. Prior to becoming provost, he served as Towson University’s vice president for economic and community outreach, and as the Robert W. Deutsch Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Computer and Information Sciences.

Dr. Clements earned a B.S. in computer science and an M.S. and Ph.D. in operations analysis from the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), as well as an M.S. in computer science from Johns Hopkins University. The fourth edition of his project management textbook was published in four languages and used in multiple countries; the fifth edition was released in spring 2012.

At WVU, Dr. Clements is a tenured professor in the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources’ Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.