Segars family gives $1.5 million to support agriculture students

A $1.5 million gift from Goz Segars ’66 of Hartsville, along with his wife, Pat, and their family, will support scholarships, fellowships and student engagement programs in Clemson’s College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences.
“I feel very strongly about the future of agriculture in our country,” said Segars, “and I would like to help students have very broad, real-world experiences so they will have a better understanding of all facets of agriculture.”
Part of the gift will establish the Goz and Pat Segars Annual Student Assistance Fund, which will provide need-based assistance to undergraduate and graduate students in agriculture-related majors. The gift also will benefit student engagement opportunities in the college, specifically experiential learning programs for students at the Segars’ cattle ranch in Montana and their farm in Hartsville. Students, with faculty mentors, will spend time at the ranch or the farm studying animal science, pre-veterinary medicine, crop production, irrigation management, wildlife biology and environmental studies.
Segars is chair of the Clemson University Foundation Board and has been a member of it since 2006. Also a director of the Clemson University Real Estate Foundation, Segars is a founding director of Clemson’s Land Stewardship Foundation. He received Clemson’s 2011 Institutional Advancement Award and the 2012 Distinguished Service Award from the Clemson Alumni Association. He also served on the University’s Board of Visitors.