Board of Trustees
The Furman University Board of Trustees is composed of 36 members plus 11 members elected to emeritus status. The group meets three times a year and provides leadership and guidance to Furman while shaping its goals, policies and practices. Trustee members are elected to serve three-year terms and are eligible to serve two successive terms.Trustees cannot succeed themselves until one year has passed.
Trustees Emeriti
University trustees play a vital role at Furman by helping to shape policy, set goals and craft strategic initiatives. The board meets three times per year, and its 36 members are among the university’s most ardent and devoted supporters.
In 1997, the board approved the title of Trustee Emeritus to recognize board members whose devotion, length of service and leadership has been extraordinary. Trustees Emeritiare special ambassadors and liaisons for Furman and have a profound influence on the university. Tom Hartness, who served as trustee for four decades, was the first to be selected Trustee Emeritus.
Minor Mickel, who served as the first female board chair and held the position during the separation from the South Carolina Baptist Convention, athletics and music benefactor Bill Timmons, and the great-great-great grandson of the university founder Richard Furman, Alester G. Furman III, are past Trustees Emeriti.
Serving in 2012–13 are eleven Trustees Emeriti: Lloyd E. Batson, Hardy S. Clemons, John C. Cothran, Sarah Belk Gambrell, James L. Hamrick, Ralph S. Hendricks, William B. Howes, Emilyn Childs Sanders, Elizabeth Peace Stall, Mary Peace Sterling, and Charles Townes.