James Timothy Hance ’84
Accomplished architect. Clemson ambassador.
James Timothy Hance, Sr. is admired by his friends and associates as an accomplished architect and leading
ambassador for Clemson.
The 1984 Clemson graduate is a member of the American Institute of Architects. He is owner and president of the architectural firm he founded in Columbia in 1994.
His firm, J. Timothy Hance, Architect, P.A., offers primarily residential architectural design and selected commercial design for projects throughout South Carolina. Before opening his own practice, Tim worked for Stevens and Wilkinson, one of the largest architectural firms in the Southeast, and then McClam-Blake Architects, a small residential design firm located in Columbia.
Two different South Carolina governors have appointed Tim to the state’s Building Codes Council, on which he has served since 2011. The council’s primary functions are to adopt or modify model building codes for South Carolina and to regulate the registration of building codes enforcement officers, special inspectors and Modular Building Program participants.
Tim is a former member of the city of Columbia’s Property Maintenance Board of Appeals and worked with the city’s Façade Improvement Program in 2011-2012. He has held several leadership positions for the Washington Street United Methodist Church, including as chairman of its board of trustees. Hance is currently a member of Shandon United Methodist Church.
For Clemson, Tim currently chairs the University’s Board of Visitors, on which he has served since 2015. He previously was secretary and then chairman of the board’s legislative committee. He works closely with the University’s Office of Governmental Affairs in organizing annual Clemson Day at the State House events and has regularly traveled to Washington, D.C., to interact with congressional members on Clemson’s behalf.
He has been active with the Clemson Architectural Foundation since 2011, serving in the roles of secretary, treasurer and trustee. The foundation provides alumni and financial assistance to programs and students in the School of Architecture through endowments and scholarships. He also served on the school’s Architectural Professional Review Committee in 2011-2013 and has been a strong proponent of hiring Clemson architectural students as Summer interns.
His financial donations to Clemson programs and activities include gifts for the Clemson Architectural Foundation, the Board of Visitors, the Grace Catherine Clements ClemsonLIFE Endowed Grant-in-Aid and the Thomas Few Memorial Scholarship.
Tim and his wife, Susan Sutherland Hance, have two children, both of whom are Clemson alumni: daughter Sarah Hance Short, Class of 2017; and son James Timothy Hance Jr., Class of 2021. His son-in-law, William, also graduated from Clemson in 2018.