Paul Anderson

Paul Anderson serves as Clemson’s Director of Football Academics and Freshman Transition. He joined the football program prior to the 2021 season after more than two decades at Clemson University as a decorated educator and historian.

Anderson originally joined the university in 2000 after graduating with his Ph.D. from the University of Mississippi and was among those profiled in The Best 300 Professors publication by the Princeton Review. In 2004, he was named Alumni Master Teacher, an award for outstanding undergraduate classroom instruction, which is presented to a faculty member nominated by the student body and selected by the Student Alumni Council.

In addition to his role as professor, from 2019-20, Anderson served as university historian. He helped develop programs and initiatives aimed at understanding and interpreting Clemson University’s history, and provided recommendations to Board of Trustees as well as advice and oversight on matters of university history and tradition.

His areas of special academic interest were the American South and the American Civil War. Anderson’s book, A Short History of the American Civil War, was published in September 2019.