Benjamin C. Ayers, Ph.D.
Clemson University’s 16th President
From a childhood in rural Alabama to an esteemed academic career, Clemson’s new president brings a lifetime of learning to university leadership. In a conversation with Clemson World, President Benjamin Ayers reflects on how his upbringing shaped his life’s purpose — and how it continues to shape the way he leads.
When he was a professor, Benjamin Ayers was known for going the extra mile to memorize his students’ names. Each student, holding a sign with their name, hometown and hobbies, would have their picture taken on the first day of class, and Ayers would then get the film developed before enlisting his wife, Marilyn, to hold the portraits up in their Athens, Georgia, home. By the second day of class, Ayers knew each student by name.
“Calling someone by name, knowing about them, was important,” he says. “It was a signal of: ‘You’re in this class. You matter to me.’”
Although Ayers made it a point to know each student, he didn’t take it easy on them. Ayers set high expectations, and he was known for cold-calling on students to make sure they were paying attention and doing their work. He recalls courses that were especially challenging, including a graduate tax research class.
“Every semester, there were, for the students, long nights, a lot of hard work,” he says.
Ayers’ courses may have pushed his students, but by the end of a long semester, they often approached him after class or dropped by his office to express their appreciation. “I’ve had many students come back and say, ‘Your class really set the foundation for my career,’” he says.
Before investing in the lives of students, many of whom would build successful careers as public accountants, entrepreneurs and business leaders, Ayers was learning from his parents, who raised their two sons and daughter with purpose in Heflin, Alabama, the small town where he grew up.
Hard Work and Accountability
Ayers was just 9 years old when his father introduced him to a Snapper lawn mower. It was the summer of 1974, and while most children spent their summers playing outdoors, for Ayers, it was time to get to work beneath a hot Alabama sun.
“From the time I was 9, in the summer, there was an expectation that every year, I would have a job and would work hard, understand the value of hard work and have strong pride in the work that I did,” the 16th president of Clemson University says.
By going door to door, Ayers solicited work at $4 a lawn before yanking a pull-cord to fire up the lawn mower that would sometimes sputter to life and sometimes need a swift kick to get into gear. His father, whom Ayers half-jokingly calls his manager, would cruise through the neighborhood to inspect his son’s work. It didn’t take long for young Ayers to crouch low, getting eye level with the lawn to check for missed patches of grass.
In the winters, Ayers was expected to wake up early to help cut wood for their fireplace, and later in high school, in the evenings, he helped at his father’s automotive business, holding a flashlight as his father worked on cars into the night. When he got tired of cutting grass in high school, Ayers switched to construction work in the summers, laying asphalt and using a jackhammer in the Southern heat.
Along with their instruction on the value of hard work, Ayers’ parents taught him perseverance and about the value of higher education. One summer in college, he was feeling burned out and wanted to take a break from classes. When he called his father to tell him on a Friday afternoon, his father replied, “That will be no problem. I’ll have a construction job for you by Monday,” before hanging up the phone.
In that moment, and with that simple sentence, Ayers remembered his summers working in the Alabama heat. He also thought about how good he had it as a student, living with his fraternity brothers in an apartment with a pool. It didn’t take long for him to call his father back and tell him he’d stick out his summer classes. His father was a gifted educator, a source of both wisdom and life perspective.
Ayers had realized that higher education is a threshold to a better career and life. He went on to finish his undergraduate degree in three years, earn his master’s degree and build a successful career as an accountant before deciding to pursue a career in higher education.
Investing in Others
One might say that, as the son of two educators, Ayers’ leap from finance to higher education was written in the stars. Ayers, however, does not make decisions lightly. He carefully landed on the decision, he says, through conversations with his family, prayer and reflection on his upbringing.
Growing up, Ayers witnessed his parents unlock opportunities for others as educators. His mother was a psychology teacher and a counselor, and she taught at a junior college. His father was a superintendent of education for their county and later served as the director of their career technical school, and on the side, he owned a business that repaired and sold cars.
“He was notorious for selling cars for a low price relative to their value and doing what he could to help people afford to buy an automobile,” Ayers says.
Ayers’ parents modeled strong community values for their children throughout his childhood. When a family was in need, the Ayerses and their church helped out. When someone experienced illness or death, his family and the local community were there for them.
“When someone needed their grass cut, you cut their grass,” Ayers says. “There is something special about being raised in a small town where everyone knows everyone. People care for each other.”
At times, his parents both worked second jobs, including to put their children through college. Watching his parents in these roles made a profound impression on Ayers, and when he began to contemplate a career change, he had two options: to invest in businesses as a venture capitalist or to carry forth his parents’ legacies by investing in others as an educator.
After careful deliberation and thoughtful reflection, the choice was clear.
“Investing in the success of others individually and more broadly – I thought that was a great life investment,” he says.
In higher education, Ayers found his life’s purpose, pouring his hard-earned discipline into his classroom, research and leadership. The diligence paid off. As a faculty member at the University of Georgia, he earned 11 teaching awards at the school, college and university levels. In 2016, he was recognized among the top 5 percent most productive accounting researchers in the past 50 years. And during his three-decade career at Georgia, he worked his way up from a faculty member to senior vice president and provost, one of the highest positions of university leadership.
Climbing the academic ladder, however, was never the goal. The goal was excellence, which was fueled by his genuine passion and love for the work.
“I didn’t have a grand plan to move from faculty to head of the School of Accounting, to dean of the College of Business, to provost to president,” Ayers says. “It was really pouring into trying to be excellent in the different aspects of the job and just loving all the pieces of it.”
In every stage of his career, Ayers has sought opportunities to learn and grow. As he begins his presidency, he wants to better understand how Clemson puts its University core values, as established by the Board of Trustees, into practice.
“The core values really speak to me personally. I think the values differentiate Clemson University from many other universities. Understanding how we’re modeling the values, and how we can strengthen them, is very
near and dear to me.”
Ayers is also interested in how Clemson introduces students to values-based leadership and gives them opportunities to practice leadership themselves.
“The world needs good leaders,” he says.
A Learned Leader
Ayers often turns to life stories to extract meaning, treating his own life as a parable for meaningful life lessons. As he shares memories, he shares adages: Do the right thing. Work hard. Finish the job. Life is change.
“The world is going to change whether we lean into it or not,” he says. “When there’s change, the sky is not falling. Change often creates opportunity.”
These lessons will serve Ayers well as he steps into the presidency at a time when higher education navigates changes and challenges, including questions about the value of a college degree, financial pressures and a shifting research landscape. When asked about these changes, Ayers is clear sighted, razor focused.
“We need to make sure we’re always mission focused, led by our core values, and striving to make the biggest positive impact we can have – for our students, for our university, for South Carolina and beyond,” he says.
It was decades ago through his first childhood job that Ayers strived to meet the high standard his father had set. Today, Ayers still holds close that sense of accountability. As president, he says, that means ensuring that South Carolina continues to see a high return on its investment in Clemson. It also means continuing to lead in positive student outcomes that prepare graduates for a rapidly changing workforce.
“My approach has always been, let’s make sure that we’re making decisions today that lay the foundation for us to be better in the future,” he says. “It’s important for us to make sure that we’re nimble, especially in times of change.”
As a leader, Ayers is forward thinking. His aim is high accountability and strong outcomes amid any challenges that higher education faces. And although he’s left his accounting career behind, he still brings a passion for numbers to Clemson.
“Some people read fiction; other people read financial statements,” he says with a smile.
As the world continues to change, the passion and values Ayers brings to his leadership remain steadfast. They are values that are the right fit for Clemson, and they arrive at the right time. As president, Ayers will direct those values toward the University’s mission to transform lives through education, research and service. Making a difference is, after all, what he calls “the true Ayers family business.”
Charlotte Thigpen Ph.D. ’22 is the managing editor of Clemson World magazine.
Informative article regarding our newest President. I agree, and have lived by similar attributes in which Presient Ayres believes . I taught school for many years with those same ideals. Keep possessing and being guided by those essentials. Best to you always as you lead Clemson.