S C T E CHN I CA L CO L L E G E S Y S T EM ’ S
F I R S T 5 0 Y EAR S
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6 7
The 1980s
A D E S I G N F O R T E C H N O L O G I C A L C H A N G E
row,
National Lampoon
founder Christopher Cerf, sci-fi writer
Frank Herbert (Dune), and novelist Gwendolyn Brooks (Pulit-
zer). That same year President Reagan addressed the Greenville
Technical College student body. That’s stepping in pretty high
cotton.
Still, ascending the ladder was never easy. The technical train-
ing system had to claw its way to higher ground and overcome
preconceptions and unfounded fears. Then, too, Bortolazzo and
his power plays did more harm than good. Recall Dr. Lex Wal-
ters’s words: “The system was viewed as a glorified vocational
system. ‘Oh, you’re just a technical school system, and you really
don’t offer college work.’”
As of 1981, that comment lost a lot of its sting. In Septem-
ber 1981, Clemson University offered upper-level courses in a
four-year engineering program in Computer Science, Engineer-
ing Technology, and Electrical, Computer and Mechanical Engi-
neering on the Greenville Tech campus. Students who completed
the first two years’ study in the Greenville Tech program could
transfer to the “Clemson University at Greenville Tech” program
to earn a bachelor’s degree.
Innovative collaboration at this juncture was the exception,
not the rule. It’s understandable what Dr. Jim Morris believes is
his tenure’s most important achievement: getting the Commis-
sion on Higher Education to agree that technical colleges should
have the college transfer program. “There was some opposition
The Mobile Training Unit was displayed in front of the State House during Tech Week of May 1985
