Three Named Honorary Alumni

There are people associated with Clemson whose lives and personalities seem to be imbued with all things Clemson. Three of those people were named honorary alumni this spring.

Football Head Coach Dabo Swinney and his wife, Kathleen Bassett Swinney, received the recognition at the 2017 All In Ball, an event presented by Swinney’s All In Team Foundation. A University of Alabama graduate, William Christopher “Dabo” Swinney began his career on the Clemson football coaching staff in 2003 and was named interim head coach in 2008, eventually taking on the role permanently at the end of that season.
Kathleen Swinney, also a graduate of the University of Alabama and a former schoolteacher, has focused her attention on using her high-profile platform as the first lady of Clemson football to better the lives of others.
The Swinneys were recognized for their impact in the community and the All In Team Foundation, whose mission is “to raise awareness of critical education and health issues in order to change the lives of people across the state of South Carolina.”

Lillian U. “Mickey” Harder, who retired as director of the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts in June, was named an honorary alumna at the annual Clemson Pops Concert held at Patrick Square.
Harder came to Clemson in 1972 and has devoted her time to nurturing performing arts, serving as music faculty prior to becoming director of the Brooks Center in 1996. She and her husband established an endowment to create the Lilian and Robert Utsey Chamber Music Series at Clemson University, the only endowed chamber music series of its kind in South Carolina.
Harder holds degrees from Coker College and Converse College and has continued her studies at Boston University, the University of Georgia, Amherst College and the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau, France. She previously received the Clemson Outstanding Faculty Woman Award given by the President’s Commission on the Status of Women, the Thomas Green Clemson Award and the Elizabeth O’Neil Verner Governor’s Award for the Arts.
Honorary alumni are selected by the Alumni Association Honors and Awards Committee on the basis of outstanding service, lifelong devotion, and loyalty to Clemson or the Alumni Association.