The C. Tycho Howle family has made a gift of $2.5 million to Clemson University to establish two endowed chairs that will benefit computing research.
C. Tycho Howle is founder, chairman and CEO of nuBridges, LLC, a leading provider of software and managed services that protect sensitive data and enable digital information exchange.
“My life’s work has been the application of computer technology to help make companies more efficient and more responsive,” said Howle. “As computer technology continues to advance, I like the notion of smart people continuing to apply those advances to take on difficult and challenging societal needs. My career and accomplishments are all due to the great education I received. My life would have been entirely different had I not had the benefit of my Clemson education.”
The first chair is the hf (Howle family) Flagship Director of the School of Computing and the second is the hf Flagship Chair in Human Centered Computing within the department of electrical and computer engineering.
Larry F. Hodges was named the hf Flagship Director of the School of Computing on July 1.
“Our goal is to become a national leader in the definition and advancement of emerging academic fields in computing through the development of successful divisions that integrate computation with the arts, humanities, sciences and engineering,” said Hodges. “Clemson realizes the importance of computing to education and research and is already ahead of many universities in developing an infrastructure that supports computing across all disciplines.”
The second chair is in human-centered computing, an emerging field focused on understanding how to make computational technologies more usable and how computational technologies affect society. It is an interdisciplinary field that involves a wide range of computing applications in electrical and computer engineering, engineering and science education, industrial engineering, psychology and sociology. The chair is unfilled.
“Clemson’s goal is to be one of the nation’s top 20 public universities, and in that quest, one of the most important contributors is to have named professorships and named endowed chairs to enhance research and educational activities in a sustainable manner,” said Esin Gulari, dean of the College of Engineering and Science. “This very generous gift from the C. Tycho Howle family moves us toward that goal.”
Gulari says Howle epitomizes “a will to lead and to serve.” He is a long-time supporter of Clemson and has championed such programs as the Howle Family Young Alumni Challenge, which encourages young alumni to give back to Clemson. The dollars raised helped fund Clemson’s Academic Success Center, which enhances student learning, academic success and personal growth through inclusive engagement with the Clemson University community.
Howle has served on the board of directors of the Clemson University Foundation. He was inducted into the Thomas Green Clemson Academy of Engineering and Science last year for outstanding career success, contributions to community and notable contributions to engineering and science. A number of other Clemson entities have benefited from his generosity: the Class of 1956 Endowment, Call Me MISTER, the Clemson Outdoor Lab, Nursing Alumni Endowed Scholarship and the ECE Industrial Graduate Fellowships, among others.
“This truly generous contribution from the Howle family exemplifies the long-time leader Tycho Howle has been within the Clemson community,” said President James F. Barker. “It is the ultimate gift that embodies what we are about at Clemson. We are extremely grateful.”
Tycho Howle received his bachelor’s degree in physics and a master’s in systems engineering — a degree program previously in the electrical and computer engineering department — from Clemson University in 1971. He also holds an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. A native of Lancaster, S.C., he and his wife, Marie, reside in Atlanta and have two daughters, Meredith Russell and Dana Sample.
In the mid-’90s, Howle and his family formed the C. Tycho and Marie Howle Foundation, which has made more than 400 grants to support education, health care, the homeless and the arts.
via Clemson
