Making Clemson History

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Many students begin their college careers a bit uncertain about what direction they might head. The final decision often comes down to determining where their strengths and passions lie.

As a graduating senior, Louise Franke is still answering that question for herself.

She loves the humanities but envisions a career as a physician. A Clemson University Honors College student, she’s majoring in biochemistry but points to a political theory class her freshman year as life-changing, resulting in a minor in philosophy and political science. She has done research in the EPIC (Eukaryotic Pathogens Innovation Center) laboratory while participating in both the Lyceum Program, which requires a political philosophy class each semester and biweekly Socratic sessions with a professor, and the Dixon Global Policy Scholars program, which brings students from different majors together to discuss and dissect broader policy issues.

She hasn’t wanted to close the door to any of those interests. And it has served her well.

Since 2006, Clemson has had six Rhodes finalists. This year, Franke has made history by being named the University’s first-ever Rhodes Scholar — one of 32 American students to receive the scholarship.

The Rhodes Scholarship is recognized worldwide as the top award for undergraduates. Scholars are selected through an intensive application and interview process and then spend two years at the University of Oxford, where Franke plans to pursue a B.A. in philosophy, politics and economics before earning a joint M.D. and Ph.D. in bioethics. Her goal is to practice as a physician while forging a career as a bioethicist in the public policy and academic realms.

“The Rhodes community is an intellectual community where people care about ideas, about action and about the world,” said Franke. “It’s a group of people that fight the world’s fight, and the fact that I’m now part of that blows my mind. It’s a dream come true.”

 

The Rhodes community is an intellectual community where people care about ideas, about action and about the world.

 

Franke points to her first class in the Lyceum program with assistant professor Michael Hoffpauir as causing “a slight existential crisis.” In Franke’s only non-science course that semester, she was reading Plato, Aristotle (“all that kind of great ancient stuff”). She said she was “nodding along, writing my essays, but nothing was jarring to me.” But reading Machiavelli’s The Prince made her stop and think. Then she read Frederick Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morals.

“I was just like, ‘What does this all mean?’” she said. “How could I not be studying Nietzsche for the rest of my life? I don’t understand it all, but what I do understand makes me know I have to understand more.”

Hoffpauir remembers Franke delving into subjects such as justice and considering what it means “for her — for caring for herself and for her caring for others. She became keenly aware that doing so requires her to work through her unexamined opinions and any bias she might have.”

Franke described that class as a “huge moment,” one she credits for pushing her to apply to the Hudson Institute Political Studies program in Washington, D.C., an experience she called “my favorite six weeks of my life.” Mornings consisted of three-hour seminars with 18 other students and a professor (“like the best professors in the country,” she said); afternoons, they met different influential figures (“We met Ruth Bader Ginsburg. That was amazing.”) and participated in policy workshops.

But when asked what she’s most passionate about, Franke gets less academic. “It sounds super cheesy,” she said, “but I think helping people more than anything.” She said the main thing she’s learned about herself is that she doesn’t want a job that is not constantly interacting with people.

“I think my goal is to go to med school right now. But I’m very, very open to something else happening.”

 

The Best of the Best

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In November, Clemson faculty voted Rhondda Thomas the recipient of the Class of ’39 Award for Excellence — in essence, she has been named as one of the very best faculty members by her own colleagues.

The award, endowed by the Class of 1939 to commemorate its 50th anniversary in 1989, is presented annually to one distinguished faculty member whose contributions over five years are judged by peers to represent the highest achievement of service to the student body, University and community, state, or nation.

“The legacy of sacrifice, service and philanthropy of the Class of ’39 is inspiring and motivating, and I’m honored that my colleagues chose me to be a part of this distinguished group,” said Thomas, the Calhoun Lemon Professor of Literature. “I’m also grateful to work at a university that values and encourages service both on and off-campus.”

Her research and teaching interests are early African American literature and culture, politics of Black identity, autobiographical scholarship, African American literature and the Bible, race and culture studies, African American historiography, migration narratives, and African American women writers.

Perhaps most significantly, she has been a prominent member of the community pushing for a full accounting of Clemson’s history with African Americans in the region. “Through her public program creation and leadership, she has greatly contributed to increasing understanding of our cultural heritage and to recognize the previously unheard voices in Clemson’s institutional history,” said Will Stockton, chair and professor of English.

Erin Goss, associate professor and associate chair for the Department of English, commented on the impact of Thomas’ work to document the Black experience at Clemson in her nomination letter:

“Dr. Thomas has made enormous contributions to how students, colleagues and citizens understand the history and culture of Upstate South Carolina,” Goss wrote. “Most recently, by documenting the history and experience of Black people in the region through her celebrated and highly publicized ‘Call My Name’ project, she has also helped these populations better understand how to [comprehend] the challenges of the past to build a stronger future.”

Named Clemson’s 2020 Senior Researcher of the Year, Thomas also won a CAAH Creativity Professorships award for the 2020-2022 term and a Preserving Our Places in History Project Award for “Call My Name” from the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission. She has received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support a touring exhibition of her research, “Call My Name: The Black Experience in the South Carolina Upstate from Enslavement to Desegregation,” an extension of an initiative that has digitized more than 2,000 primary documents related to Clemson’s history.

Thomas also is involved in an interdisciplinary partnership coordinated by English professor Lee Morrissey that has been awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, dedicated to “Exploring America’s Stories in the Clemson Landscape.”

 

 

Three Vegetables to Plant Midsummer for Fall Harvest

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Vegetable gardeners, especially in the South, know the lull that shrinks harvests during July and August. Tomatoes, peppers, squash and cucumbers simply can’t take the heat when daytime temperatures climb past 95 and nighttime lows exceed 75. The plants may survive, but the crops won’t set fruit.

Midsummer planting offers an opportunity to stretch your growing season and utilize the remaining garden space when early-summer crops are past their peak.

Clemson Cooperative Extension suggests three vegetables to plant midsummer to keep your garden growing for a fall harvest.

Okra: the Southern staple that loves hot weather. Clemson Spineless is a widely planted variety of okra, and given its name, how could you not choose it? Okra is safe to plant anytime from May through early July. A late okra planting will bring a welcome fall crop. Be sure to harvest okra pods at 2 to 3 inches long when they are the most tender and tasty. If pods aren’t picked daily, plants will stop bearing.

 

Midsummer planting offers an opportunity to stretch your growing season and utilize the remaining garden space when early-summer crops are past their peak.

 

Brussels sprouts and broccoli should be planted between mid-July and September 1. You can start crops as transplants or sow them directly in the garden. Brussels sprouts are ready to harvest in 85 to 100 days, while broccoli is ready to harvest 50 to 90 days after transplanting. Harvest broccoli when the main head is 3 to 6 inches in diameter and the flower buds are still tightly closed. Cut the main stem about 6 inches below the top of the head. Brussels sprouts should be picked when the sprouts are 1 inch.

Midsummer plantings need ample irrigation during this dry time of year to ensure good seedling emergence. Soil should stay uniformly moist for the best roots. Irrigate during periods of dry weather, especially as the roots are developing, by moistening the soil to 6 inches deep.

 

Campus Projects That Never Came to Be

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What if Clemson’s campus had a section of restored colonial buildings and farms? How different would campus be with a Center for Visual Arts, connected by a pedestrian bridge to the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts? What happened to plans for a campus parking deck?

Answers to these questions and more can be found in Unbuilt Clemson, a new book by Dennis Taylor, librarian emeritus who spent 32 years working in special collections and archives. Published by Clemson University Press, Unbuilt Clemson looks at projects throughout the University’s history that were never realized. Taylor spent years researching Clemson’s archives and visiting architecture firms from Williamsburg, Va., to Boston, Mass., that had worked on plans for the University, digging into proposed projects that, for one reason or another, were never built.

 

One issue that alumni might not be surprised to read about, Taylor said, is parking. The book details two proposed parking decks from 1992 and 2002 that were never built due to cost.

 

Some projects eventually took form on campus in other ways, such as a multipurpose auditorium proposed in 1965 that eventually led to the construction of Littlejohn Coliseum.

Other projects, such as a Continuing Education Center in 1972, never came to fruition because funding was not available. And some projects, such as the CURIOUS Campus — a “village” of academic buildings with a town center, green spaces and nature trails on the shores of Lake Hartwell —  simply did not come along at the right time to align with other campus priorities.

One issue that alumni might not be surprised to read about, Taylor said, is parking. The book details two proposed parking decks from 1992 and 2002 that were never built due to cost. “The first campus master planner wanted to turn campus into a walking campus,” Taylor said. “Parking has been a problem going back to President Poole when more students started driving cars.”

 

When in Fort Collins

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Hello! I’m Hannah Halusker ’17, M ’20, a two-time Clemson alumna who now works in science communications at Colorado State University.

Last year, I traded the Appalachians for the Rockies and moved west to Fort Collins, Colorado. Boasting 300 days of sunshine per year and situated in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, Fort Collins is the “Choice City” that many outdoor enthusiasts, like me, call home. Welcome to FoCo!

 

1 | Poudre Canyon

Starting high up in Rocky Mountain National Park and emerging just north of Fort Collins, the Cache la Poudre River drops 7,000 feet in elevation as it winds through Poudre Canyon. My first Colorado hikes took place on the canyon trails shared with campers, fly fishermen, rafters and kayakers alike.

 
2 | Bike Paths
When I moved to Fort Collins, a co-worker told me that there are two requirements for living here: owning a bike and owning a dog. I’m still working on the latter, though the bike paths in town are enough to stay occupied. Fort Collins is one of five platinum-rated bike-friendly communities in the U.S., with over 200 miles of dedicated bike lanes and 50 miles of marked or signed bike routes to explore.
 
3 | Horsetooth Reservoir
Named after the mountain that forms its western edge, the reservoir is surrounded by 1,900 acres of public lands — a go-to for boating, swimming, biking and rock climbing.
FUN FACT: Much of the water provided to eastern Colorado is diverted from the Western Slope under the Continental Divide and through a system of dams and canals. Water rights and conservation are hot topics as water becomes a more precious resource.
 

4 | Old Town
Put on the map when the railroad came to town in 1877, present-day Old Town was the business district of historic Fort Collins. Today, it’s the place to go for a night out, with more than 80 restaurants to choose from.
PRO TIP: Get an ice cream cone from Churn, a shop designed after an antique ice cream churn bucket, and stop into Sense of Place for a gift to take home.
 

 
5 | Breweries
The Napa Valley of Beer, the Brewmuda Triangle, the Craft Beer Capital of Colorado — there’s something about that Rocky Mountain water that attracts breweries to Fort Collins. The city ranks fourth in the nation for number of microbreweries per capita, with some of the big names including New Belgium Brewing, Anheuser-Busch and Odell Brewing Company.
 
Interested in sharing the best eats and secret spots of your own city with fellow Tigers? Email shutto@clemson.edu for more information.
 
 

Taking Care of Each Other, and Our Communities

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It’s been a remarkable fall at Clemson. We’ve welcomed alumni back to campus, witnessed a wonderful display of student spirit in the Homecoming floats, celebrated the 29th home built by the Clemson chapter of Habitat for Humanity and enjoyed being together face to face again.

At the same time, we’ve continued robust testing for COVID-19 while keeping each other safe by masking in many indoor spaces on campus. The Clemson Family takes care of each other; we have seen that in action this fall, not only on campus but also in our larger communities. Ruthie Hite, for example, went above and beyond for her friend and fellow alumnus by giving him one of her kidneys — an act of true selflessness. You can read their incredible story on page 14.

Another good example is the Call Me MISTER® program. To increase the number of Black male elementary school teachers, Call Me MISTER, which began at Clemson in 2000, continues to spread its influence across not only South Carolina but other states as well. Roy Jones, the program’s director, has been on a mission to uncover our shared history and, by doing so, enrich the experience and education of every mister. Read about his journey on page 26.

The University reached another exciting milestone this fall when we dedicated the Samuel J. Cadden Chapel, which has been a dream of students and alumni for decades. This all-faiths chapel will provide a quiet place for meditation, reflection and celebration for the University community. Read more about the beautiful new space, the young man for whom it is named and the many people who made it possible on page 20.

This fall, we’ve had the joy of watching our daughter Grace enroll as a freshman in the ClemsonLIFE program, and we are thankful she has the opportunity to enjoy a life of purpose, employment, independence and friendship. When you’re on campus, I encourage you to watch for the interactions and enjoy the relationships that our traditional students have with our ClemsonLIFE students. It will make you smile.

I hope that you will come back to campus this spring to enjoy a baseball or softball game, a concert or an alumni event, or simply to wander through campus, enjoying the memories and absorbing the changes.

I look forward to seeing you on campus.

Go Tigers!