The View from Sikes: Building for the Future

/ in / 0 Comments / by:


I think of Clemson as a place that is always building. I’m not talking about the construction that has been completed at Douthit Hills and continues with the College of Business, although those are important as well.
Clemson University builds many other things that are highlighted in this issue. This year, over Homecoming week, our students completed the 26th Habitat for Humanity home in the 25th anniversary year of the program on campus. The education our students receive is broader than the books they read and the lectures they hear. They also learn what it means to give back to the community in which they live. 
In the 10th year of the ClemsonLIFE program, we celebrate building futures at Clemson. This program has opened a world of opportunities to students with intellectual disabilities and enabled them to live more independent, productive lives. Our ClemsonLIFE students have contributed a tremendous amount to the University community as they live, study and work on campus. You can read more about the program on page 22.
Clemson is building futures in Charleston as well. In partnership with a local nonprofit and several corporations, we’re offering coding classes and other opportunities to young people in one of the most economically challenged neighborhoods in the state in an effort to help those students break the cycle of poverty and see the potential for a different kind of future.
And Clemson alumni are active in the world, building bridges for peace and understanding and fostering international relationships. The story on page 30 highlights Kristie Kenney ’77, who has had a distinguished career in the U.S. State Department as an ambassador to Ecuador, the Philippines and Thailand. She is committed to mentoring students and junior foreign service officers, building the next generation of diplomats and American leaders. I’m proud to represent a University that produces graduates like her.
While the physical building projects at Clemson may be temporary, the other building we do will continue and will have results that resound through the years. Join me in recognizing our students and alumni who are building a better world for us all.
GO TIGERS!

Rooks Honor Mentor and Friend

/ in , / 0 Comments / by:

 

Ben Rook ’68, M ’74, the owner of Design Strategies in Greenville, has spent his career working on many different solutions to one question: “How can we make that happen?”
He and his wife, Becca, make things happen in many arenas: education, architecture, business and community-centered philanthropy. At Clemson, their latest gift of $100,000 will provide opportunities for architecture students by funding an endowment created in the name of mentor and friend George C. Means Jr.
Means established a health-focused studio in the School of Architecture at Clemson that has grown into today’s Architecture + Health graduate program. As the program celebrates its 50th anniversary, the Architecture + Health studio will officially carry the name of George C. Means Jr.
Ben said that when he first came to Clemson from Newberry, South Carolina, he had no idea what architecture really was. “I knew I liked making art, and I liked building treehouses,” he said, adding that Means had a gift for molding young people into “what they would be, even when they didn’t know what they could be.”
Ben graduated in 1968 and earned his master’s degree in 1974. In between degrees, he met his wife while working in Charlotte. After a long courtship, they married, with George Means as best man.
For a few years, Ben taught full time at Clemson and was an assistant campus planner. Becca educated younger students in Anderson and earned a master’s degree in education at Clemson. Ben’s career led them to Greenville, then to Charlotte and back to Greenville.
Ben wants people to remember that Means was a man with big ideas and an unparalleled devotion to students. Through the many lives he shaped over the years, Means’ influence traveled far beyond the studio that now bears his name.
The Rooks said they want their gift to the Means endowment to help keep Clemson a place where extraordinary teachers can deliver extra care and individual attention to each student. “That is what makes Clemson great,” Ben said.