Dr. James Clements, CS, ’85, IS, ’91 and '93, honored as UMBC Engineering/Information Technology Alumni of the Year

Date Posted: - 11/2/2009

Dr. James Clements took office as the 23rd President of West Virginia University on June 30th of this year. However, his aspirations of being a professor and eventually a top administrator in higher education began more than twenty years ago while he was a student at UMBC. On the evening of Thursday, October 15th, at the campus’ Albin O. Kuhn Library, Dr. Clements expressed some wonderful recollections of his academic studies at UMBC as he accepted the honor of UMBC Outstanding Alumni of the Year from The College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT).

IS Department Chair, Dr. Andrew Sears introduced Dr. Clements saying that he was probably the easiest IS Alumni of the Year candidate he has ever had to decide on nominating.

Dr. James Clements’ college experience began at UMBC in the fall of 1982 and to this day he still holds the IS Department’s programs in high regard, saying, “The IS Department has always had a cutting edge curriculum that prepared me to work professionally in my field of study.” He says he knew early on that he wanted to be working in the computing sciences, but shortly into his undergraduate studies another career path also became very clear to him. While waiting for a class to start his professor entered the room and that’s when he said to himself, “You should be a professor.” He remembers the thought left him with a “magical feeling.”

Dr. Clements thanked IS Department Professors Dr. Guisseppi Forgionne and Dr. Anthony Norcio for their mentorship. He also noted in his acceptance speech that the value of the UMBC degree has continued to grow due to the increased recognition the university receives each year as a leading university.

For two consecutive years Information Systems alumni have been awarded UMBC Alumni of the Year honors. In addition to Dr. Clements receiving the honors this year, Dr. Stephanie Reel, IS, ’85, was named UMBC’s Outstanding Alumna, Engineering and Information Technology in 2008.