BY John Dunn
"Make my day," the line made famous in the Dirty Harry movies got a very different emphasis from President Wayne Clough in a farewell exchange with students April 21.
Clough, who leaves Georgia Tech on June 30 to head the Smithsonian Institution, and his wife, Anne, met with students in a goodbye gathering at the Kessler Campanile.
Graduate student government leaders presented Clough with a framed timeline of his "incredible feats" as president of the Institute during a tenure of nearly 14 years. Undergraduate student body president Anu Parvatiyar said an American elm will be planted near the campanile in Clough's honor.
Brock Wester, graduate student body president, said because Clough is an alumnus of the Institute "he has had an appreciation of the student experience unlike that of any other former president. He really does understand what it is to be a student at this school — the rigors and the challenges, academically and socially."
Clough, who received his bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering in 1964 and 1965, responded, "Every day when I come to work — even those days when things are not going quite right — it makes my day to meet with great Georgia Tech students."
Since becoming president of the Institute in 1994, Clough said, he has met with every elected student leader to demonstrate "that we are an open administration and we want to help make this place a great place."
Clough said student government has been a resource throughout his tenure and many projects undertaken during his administration were the result of student initiatives, including a recycling program recently recognized as the best in the country.
At the program's end, Wayne and Anne Clough were surrounded by students who crowded around them for a farewell photo that included some former student leaders who had returned to campus to offer their best wishes.
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