C. Douglas Johnson (‘87 ACCT)
Social Capital: Theory, Measurement and Outcomes is a discussion of social issues, justice and status, and is published by Nova Science Publishing.
Travelers Winter 2014
[AFG_gallery id=’7′]
Circle of Gratitude
Friends and family honor Mayberry’s memory
At the Clemson-Boston College football game, friends and teammates of former Clemson football player Robert P. “Bob” Mayberry Jr. announced that $1 million and 74 dollars has been raised to establish an endowment to honor Mayberry’s memory and values. The endowment will award partial scholarships to football trainers and/or managers.
Mark Richardson ’83, a member of the committee that initiated the effort, said that the scholarship was a fitting tribute. “We are confident it would have been Bob’s dream to honor those who work hard day in and day out with no expectation of recognition beyond that which accrues to the whole team.” The fundraising committee also includes Jubal Early, Steve Horvath, Steve Luquire, Robert P. Mayberry Sr. and Kendall Alley ’83, M ’85.
Mayberry started on the 1981 National Championship team. Following graduation in 1983, he joined his father in the automobile business, married and raised a family, and seized every opportunity to demonstrate his passions for Clemson and for helping others. He died in 2012 after a battle with cancer.
Pledges and gifts in support of the Robert P. “Bob” Mayberry Jr. ’83 Endowed Memorial Grant-in-Aid may be addressed to the Clemson University Foundation and mailed to Connie Sexton, IPTAY Major Gifts, P.O. Box 1529, Clemson, S.C. 29633.
Barker Scholars update
More than $2.8 million has been donated to the Barker Scholars Endowment, established to honor President Barker and his wife, Marcia. The endowment will support need-based scholarships for undergraduates. More than 2,000 contributed to the fund, with more than 80 founding partners who contributed more than $25,000 each.
Donations may still be made online, by check or by gifts of appreciated stock. Make checks payable to Clemson Fund, P.O. Box 1889, Clemson, S.C. 29633, and indicate “Barker Scholars.”
Fort Hill Club looks to the long term
Since 2006, the Fort Hill Clemson Club has funded annual scholarships for students through the money raised from their annual Recruiting Wrap Up. But this year, they decided a change was in order.
The event has more than tripled in attendance to 700 and increased more than 1,000 percent in sponsorships to $21,000. Held the day after recruiting ends, it includes chats with the coaches and players, barbecue and getting the inside scoop on the season to come.
Jerry Handegan and Eric Breazel
This year, club leadership took a look at their profits and their goals. “There were always two schools of thought,” says former club president Jerry Handegan. “Do we give immediate money now, or do we create an endowment? People wanted to do scholarships. So we just gave our $10,000 annually for that.”
According to Eric Breazel, also a past president of the club, “As the event got more and more successful, we began to ask the question, ‘Should we think more long term?’ What pushed us over the edge was a chat with the financial aid and admissions staff, and hearing their perspective on the benefits of endowment — being able to attract students and offer them four-year scholarships. It was a no brainer.”
The club is actually doing both for now, giving an annual scholarship until the endowment reaches a high enough level to support more scholarships. The club invites scholarship recipients to the event each year, and according to Breazel, that makes the day even more special. “Obviously, folks come to see Dabo and the recruits. But while we’re welcoming new student-athletes we’re also celebrating new academic scholarships as well.”
And their message to other groups? “I would strongly like to encourage other groups or individuals to take a second or third look at making a gift that will make an impact for generations to come, not just for one year,” says Breazel. “Clemson’s still young and has centuries to go. An endowment can make a significant difference.”
To learn more about how you can make an impact on the future of Clemson, visit clemson.edu/giving, call 864-656-5896 or email cufund-L@clemson.edu.
Wells Fargo supports Call Me MISTER®, Emerging Scholars
Call Me MISTER and Emerging Scholars have in common their goal of improving educational opportunities for underrepresented populations. They also have in common the support of Wells Fargo, which donated $500,000 last fall to support the programs. Call Me MISTER seeks to place more African-American males in elementary school classrooms as teachers. Emerging Scholars’ mission is to increase the number of college graduates from economically disadvantaged areas and first-generation families. Since 2006, Wells Fargo has given $1.71 million to support the two programs.
Butch and Joy Ferree
Ferrees create trust for scholarships, experiential learning
Maurice “Butch” Ferree ’65, M ’67 and his wife, Joy, have created a charitable remainder trust valued at more than $1 million to benefit students in the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences.
Half of the money will establish the Dr. Maurice E. “Butch” Ferree and Joy Culver Ferree Scholarship Endowment to provide scholarships for students in the college. The other half will create an endowment to provide experiential learning opportunities for students.
“We just both love Clemson,” said Butch. “I don’t have anything but good memories of being a student here. Looking back, most of my professors were tough as nails, but they loved their students. They were making men out of boys — that stuck with me. That experience was so valuable for me.”
“Clemson is a place I have loved all my life,” said Joy. “We want to see it continue to grow, and we wanted to help deserving students complete their education here.”
New leaves honor great generosity
The grounds of Fort Hill are home to three new bronze oak leaves sporting the signatures
of the new members of the Fort Hill Legacy Society, whose bequests or testamentary trusts were realized at $1 million or more.
Ethelyn Berry Smith dedicated her life to education. She taught several years in Kershaw County, and continued her devotion to education by establishing the Harry Graves Berry Bioengineering Endowment to honor her brother, a member of the Class of ’41.
Tragedy struck Ernest and Virginia Carroll when their only son, Ernest Jr., was killed in action in June 1944 during the invasion of Normandy, while Ernest Sr. was serving in the Pacific theater. The Carrolls created the Ernest Hill Carroll Jr. Endowed Scholarship Fund at Clemson, where he had attended before enlisting in the Army.
Porter H. and Sara L. Adams have long been tied to Clemson. Porter graduated in 1940, and their son Porter Jr. graduated in 1964. After 26 years of service in the U.S. Air Force, Porter Sr. taught both high school and college, then established the Porter Adams Family Endowed Unrestricted Scholarship.
As part of the inaugural Week of Gratitude held on campus in October, the Student Alumni Council presented a $75,000 check to benefit the Student Alumni Council Scholarship Endowment Fund and the Student Memorial Chapel.
Susan Echols ’97, M ’04 and Jason Smith
Life-changing to lifesaving
We’ve all experienced moments when we were inspired to make a difference in others’ lives or pass on kindnesses experienced. Few have embraced a life-changing moment as Susan and Jason Smith of Clemson.
In April 2011, the Smiths’ daughter, Emerson Rose, was born at the Medical University of South Carolina with a heart defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. A mid-pregnancy ultrasound had detected a heart abnormality, so the Smiths made arrangements for her delivery at MUSC, where she could have open heart surgery shortly after birth. The surgery went well, but little Emerson Rose passed away of complications at only 76 days old.
Out of the sadness and pain of this experience, Susan and Jason founded the Emerson Rose Heart Foundation™. They say their faith is helping them turn a devastating loss into a lifesaver. The mission of the foundation is to help babies born with congenital heart defects through supporting research efforts focused on innovative methods of treatment, prevention and diagnosis. It also lends support to parents while they are preparing for and caring for a child with a congenital heart defect. With these combined efforts, they hope to make a difference in the awareness of heart defects.
The foundation is now working on several quality improvement projects at MUSC ranging from a $2,000 project to reduce infection rates to an $80,000 information sharing collaborative with 20 other pediatric heart centers across the U.S. The foundation also has funded pulse oximeter equipment to 17 hospitals across the state to begin screening newborns for potential heart defects.
Probably the most lasting legacy is the Emerson Rose Act, a new S.C. law requiring hospitals to test every newborn for heart defects before they are discharged from the hospital. The Smiths and the Emerson Rose Heart Foundation worked alongside Sen. Thomas Alexander ’78 to help the act receive unanimous approval in the legislature.
“The foundation’s goals continue to be helping babies affected by heart defects in South Carolina and expand to other states. We are beginning to bring children with heart defects to the U.S. from Third World countries to have lifesaving heart surgery,” shares Susan.
The foundation receives funds from golf tournaments, fundraisers and even Dabo’s All In Foundation, an organization started by Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney and his wife, Kathleen.
After Emerson Rose died, the couple decided to go through the adoption process, and then Susan became pregnant. Along with foundation activities, the Smiths stay busy with two baby girls, Rowan Sarah, one year, and Campbell Jane, seven months.
For information on the Emerson Rose Heart Foundation visit www.emersonroseheartfoundation.org.
Alumni writers in ‘State of the Heart’
An abandoned farm near Edgefield. An ancient bald cypress in Congaree National Park. A wildlife “enchantment” spot in Calhoun Falls State Park. Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge. Clemson’s own Class of ’39 Caboose Garden in the S.C. Botanical Garden.
All are vivid places lodged in the minds of Clemson alumni writers.
They’re among an album of mental snapshots — places, people, history — in a collection by 36 S.C. writers on the places they love. The newly published State of the Heart is edited by author Aïda Rogers with foreword by novelist Pat Conroy.
Clemson wildlife ecology professor J. Drew Lanham ’88, M ’90, PhD ’97 revisits the Edgefield farm of his youth and its decaying beauty, the place where he learned to value and respect the sometimes harsh patterns of nature. He’s author of The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature published by Milkweed Editions.
Former S.C. Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist John Cely ’69, M ’80 describes his first encounter with the great bald cypress in the Congaree National Park and the park’s hardwood forest he’d thought existed only in history books. He’s a former land-protection director for the Congaree Land Trust and author of Cowassee Basin: the Green Heart of South Carolina.
Director of Erskine’s Quality Enhancement Program and writing center, Shane Bradley M ’07 remembers a no-frills camping trip with his four-year-old daughter in Calhoun Falls State Park, an experience that opened his eyes to nature’s enchantment and began a priceless family tradition. He’s author of Mourning Light and The Power and the Glory.
Award-winning novelist, poet, biographer and historian William Baldwin ’66, M ’68 recounts a project on the history of the great Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, a conflicted effort as significant for its failures as for its successes. Among his many works is Unpainted South, in collaboration with photographer Seldon B. Hill, a tribute to South Carolina’s rural past.
Former Clemson World editor Liz Newall ’70 revisits the S.C. Botanical Garden at Clemson, a living preserve illustrated by nature and cultivated by countless faithful gardeners — where each visitor finds a bit of his or her own personal history. She’s author of Why Sarah Ran Away with the Veterinarian and other fiction and nonfiction.
Clemson legends Frank Howard and Ben Robertson also make cameo appearances. State of the Heart is available through bookstores and online at www.sc.edu/uscpress.
Helen Turner Hill ’85
Charleston’s goodwill ambassador
Two weeks after Helen Turner Hill became executive director of the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB), Hurricane Hugo hit north of Charleston. How could anyone imagine a bigger challenge to a new position?
Twenty-four years later, Hill has proven she was more than up for the challenge. Under her leadership, Charleston is world renowned with back-to-back No. 1 rankings from readers of Condé Nast Traveler magazine as the nation’s best tourist destination and, last year, best-in-the-world.
The Charleston native earned her degree in parks, recreation and tourism management and returned home to put her education to work. She was concierge at Wild Dunes Resort before moving to the Charleston CVB to sell ads for the visitors’ guide and later was sales manager for meetings and conventions. Her hard work and natural fit to developing tourism moved her into the executive director position.
When Hill came to Clemson, she wanted to join her father, the late Robert M. Turner ’61, working for his mortgage company.
“In my second semester at Clemson, I knew accounting wasn’t my thing, and I thought about doing something else,” she said. “I asked myself, ‘What else could I major in and transfer all of my credits?’ I looked around, and tourism was it.”
Hill says that working with the College of Charleston’s Office of Tourism Analysis guides their purchase of advertising and marketing programs to help contribute to economic development. Statistics have shown that 4.83 million visitors brought in $3.58 billion to the Charleston-area economy in 2012. That’s about one-fourth of all tourism dollars in South Carolina.
“It’s the history that makes us special,” Hill said. “There is not another place like this in the United States of America. This is not Anywhere, USA.
James D. “Jim” Martin ’86
A relationship with the land
“Choose a job you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
For Jim Martin, Charleston Parks Conservancy program director and James Island farmer, no saying could be more apropos.
“I’ve always known I wanted to garden. Even as a tiny child, my parents always let me have a little garden plot of whatever I wanted. And I knew I wanted to study horticulture at Clemson when I was in the tenth grade,” Martin said.
Martin has spent his entire working life acting on his childhood impulse to make things grow. He has worked in public horticulture throughout South Carolina for more than 25 years. At Riverbanks Zoo, he played a pivotal role in conceptualizing and developing the zoo’s 90-acre botanical garden. He was instrumental in master plan development for the Mepkin Abbey Botanical Garden. He has also been vice-president of horticulture for Brookgreen Gardens on Pawleys Island.
In 2007, S.C. businesswoman Darla Moore invited Martin to help launch the nonprofit Charleston Parks Conservancy, which partners with the City of Charleston and local communities to renovate and maintain the city’s parks and greenspaces through its Charleston Park Angels program.
“The Park Angels program is founded on the concept that if you give people the opportunity to help with their parks and greenspaces, they will make it happen,” Martin said. The group is currently filling bare patches of dirt with lush plantings and replacing decades-old playground equipment with the latest and safest at 27 sites.
But Martin’s life wouldn’t be complete if he didn’t also grow vegetables as he did when he was a child, so in 2012, he started a small boutique farm on Johns Island where he leases 1.25 acres through Lowcountry Local First’s incubator farm program. Martin sells his seasonal vegetables and herbs to local restaurants by focusing on what each restaurant’s specific needs might be and what he as a small farmer can grow for them. Martin says that the evolving “foodie culture” in Charleston has resulted in the understanding that buying fresh, locally grown, high-quality produce results in a better product.
“I’ve had a great career. I love what I’m doing. And what I did at Clemson helped get me here,” Martin said.
Matthew E. Szymanski ’01
ReSpace
Orange is a defining color for most Clemson Tigers. Matthew Szymanski, however, also identifies with green. Szymanski, a design major, left Clemson with a desire to actively make a difference in his community.
At DesignSpec, an architecture firm based out of Chapel Hill, Szymanski works on projects ranging from architecture to interior design, with an emphasis on sustainability and a modern design aesthetic. Additionally, Szymanski encourages the use of sustainable design while serving as board member of the Triangle American Institute of Architects and director of the Young Architects Forum & Emerging Professionals group. Szymanski’s leadership within the design industry allows him to make his voice heard about the environmental implications inherent to every design project. But now, he’s redefining the way we think about design with one word: ReSpace.
Szymanski, looking for a new way to raise awareness about reusing materials in design projects, joined forces with like-minded industry professionals to found ReSpace LLC. The organization’s goal is reflected by their largest effort, the ReSpace Design Competition, respace.org. This competition requires designers to develop project designs to be built with salvaged materials. Once the top design is selected, volunteers build it in just a 48-hour period. Szymanski hopes the event will help students, architects and builders realize the importance of reusing materials whenever possible. “We cannot sit back and watch vast quantities of materials that still hold value be carted off to the landfill without a second thought,” said Szymanski.
The 2012 ReSpace Design Competition received submissions from across the globe — Europe, Australia, North America and South America. “The purpose of this competition is to serve as a catalyst for excellent design with salvage materials,” Szymanski said. By getting designers directly involved in the process of sustainable small space design, ReSpace will be able to make a larger impact in the overall sustainability conversation.
“That’s what I love about the competition,” he said. “One by one, we are getting people to take up the cause and do something.”Szymanski credits his Clemson roots for inspiring his actions.
“Clemson taught me the importance of caring about your local community while taking responsibility for wider, global causes,” he said.
My Clemson: Mac Segars ’10
Passion for global health
My friends say that going to Clemson was one of the best decisions of their lives. For me, attending Clemson wasn’t much of a decision; the education and scholarships offered by Clemson made it an unbeatable option. I couldn’t sit still when I found out I’d been accepted; I’ve had a lifetime of love for Clemson and couldn’t wait to be a Tiger.
Though I studied math, Clemson helped me explore another passion of mine: global health. I took a discussion-based course on infectious disease and worked with faculty to complete a senior research paper on the prevention of influenza transmission.
Most importantly, though, Clemson’s Honor College allowed me to spend a summer building houses in an impoverished community in India. That experience exposed me to the material needs of developing nations as well as establishing my ability to assimilate in their cultures. It gave me the passion and confidence to join the Peace Corps after graduation.
My two years with the Peace Corps in Mozambique has been a challenge. I arrive to my community via canoe (mind the hippos!) and have a six-hour hitchhiking journey just to check my mail. I teach 11th grade math in Portuguese, a language that I saw for the first time only 10 weeks before classes started. Aside from teaching, I’ve helped coordinate a provincial science fair and a national women’s empowerment organization. I’m also finalizing plans to develop a sustainable school meal program at a nearby primary school.
The passion I developed for global health at Clemson has only grown as I’ve experienced the reality of health care access in rural Mozambique. It’s a reality that still shakes me every day. Though I work primarily as a teacher, I also volunteer at my community’s health center. HIV, tuberculosis and malaria are all very common, but nothing has affected me more than witnessing infants with severe malnutrition. If they weren’t cradled in my arms, it would be hard to imagine children whose parents are too poor to feed them.
My work at the health center has inspired me to return to medical school and study to become a pediatrician. I hope to split my time between working with America’s urban poor and the most health care-deprived populations in the world via Doctors Without Borders. It’s a future that I can’t wait to start and one that I owe, at least in part, to Clemson.
Though I studied math, Clemson helped me explore another passion of mine: global health. I took a discussion-based course on infectious disease and worked with faculty to complete a senior research paper on the prevention of influenza transmission. Most importantly, though, Clemson’s Honors College allowed me to spend a summer building houses in an impoverished community in India. That experience exposed me to the material needs of developing nations as well as establishing my ability to assimilate in their cultures. It gave me the passion and confidence to join the Peace Corps after graduation.
View a video about Mac’s experiences in Mozambique:
Lifelong Tigers
Young Alumni recognize this year’s Roaring Ten
Young Alumni Roaring Ten
This fall, the Young Alumni recognized ten young alumni who have made an impact in business, leadership, community, educational and/or philanthropic endeavors, while exemplifying Clemson’s core values of honesty, integrity and respect. Meet this year’s Roaring Ten.
President of the Nashville Area Clemson Club, Benjamin Thomas Miskelly works with his church as a youth leader, with “Rebuilding Together Nashville” on the board of directors and as a Clemson representative with the ACC/SEC Leadership Council. He is an urban planner and graphic designer with the Metropolitan Nashville Planning Department.
Brianna A. Woodsby is a student in Clemson’s MBA program. President of the Spartanburg Clemson Club, she is active in Junior League of Spartanburg and is an IPTAY representative. International trade manager with AFL, she is chair of the advisory board for Wofford’s Kappa Delta chapter and active in Spartanburg Young Professionals and the United Way Young Leaders Society.
The youngest human resource director in the history of Milliken & Company and the youngest chair of the Spartanburg County Republican Party, Joseph Nicholas “Nic” Lane serves on the Student Affairs Advisory Board and works closely with the Michelin Career Center, offering advice on how to make students competitive in today’s professional environment. He also is on the board of the Blood Connection.
Michael Blake Berry was named 2011 Teacher of the Year at Pendleton High School and selected by the S.C. Association of Agricultural Educators as the Outstanding Young Teacher. He is president of the S.C. Association of Agricultural Educators and president of the historic Pendleton Farmers Society.
Odessa Sirman Armstrong serves on the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences Alumni Board and stays engaged with the Clemson Black Alumni Committee. She is a member of the Emerging Leaders Development Program in Washington, D.C.
An attorney with the Cranford Law Firm, Shaun W. Cranford has served as president of the Columbia Clemson Club, where he led their first Clemson Day at the Statehouse. He also is a leader in the club’s efforts to raise funds for a $25,000 scholarship endowment.
President of the MBA Alumni Society, Stephen Epps III is a member of IPTAY, Alumni Council, Greenville Luncheon Planning Committee and Greenville Young Alumni. Active with PULSE, a leadership development program for young professionals, he was recognized as volunteer of the month for July 2013.
Tanner James Smith (not pictured) was the first basketball player in Clemson history and only player in the ACC for 2012 to combine +10 points, +5 rebounds, and +4 assists per game for a season. He currently plays in the MHP RIESEN professional basketball team in Germany. He is founder of “Tanner’s Totes,” a nonprofit established to help teens cope with long-term hospital care.
Former president of Clemson’s Young Alumni and an active member of the Richmond Clemson Club, Victoria Watson Longshore serves on her church’s hospitality committee and volunteers with the Virginia Special Olympics.
William R. Cathcart Jr. received the 2010 Distinguished Leadership Medal for Journalistic Excellence by the U.S. Business Institute. He has worked as managing editor of the Charleston Mercury and as media adviser and speechwriter for the president of the Republic of Georgia, where he also advocates for the region’s cystic fibrosis patients.
Pictured (clockwise from left): Cathcart, Miskelly, Epps, Cranford, Berry, Lane, Woodsby, Armstrong, Longshore.
Ables (center) with Brasington and Hunter
Ables named Volunteer of the Year
During Homecoming weekend, the Alumni Association honored Sonya Ables ’79 (center) as the 2013 Volunteer of the Year, the highest recognition and greatest expression of appreciation extended to an individual by the Alumni Association staff for outstanding service and volunteerism. A member of the Alumni Association board of directors and an IPTAY life member, Ables has served as president of the Women’s Council, where she created the annual Bring Your Daughter to Clemson program, which allows girls ages 6 to 18 to learn about academics, campus life and student activities. She also has been an at-large member of the Clemson Alumni Council and a member of the Alumni National Council. She is pictured with Wil Brasington, senior director of the Alumni Association, and Alumni Association president Ann Hunter.
Guarding of the Rings
A NEW TRADITION: Guarding of the Rings
You probably know about the Ring Ceremony, which was begun in 2000 and provides a memorable way for seniors to receive their Clemson rings. Held twice a year, the ceremony includes a lesson on the history, heritage and symbolism of the Clemson class ring from University historian Jerry Reel. You might not know what happens the 24 hours before that event.
Preceding the ceremony, the rings are displayed in Memorial Park near the Scroll of Honor. Members of Clemson Corps stand guard over the rings throughout the day (and the night) before the ceremony and then process, carrying the rings to Littlejohn Coliseum for the ceremony.
If you’ve lost your ring, never purchased one or you’d like to honor your son or daughter with a ring for their graduation, go online to clemson.edu/ring. There’s also a line of related jewelry available.
CLUB HIGHLIGHT: Arizona Club colors the desert orange
-
- Jaron Brown
-
- Jaron Brown with Tiger Rag
-
- Arizona Clemson Club at the Cardinals Spring practice
-
- Arizona Clemson Club at the Cardinals Spring practice
-
- Arizona Clemson Club Orange Bowl Party
-
- Arizona Clemson Club Orange Bowl Party
-
- Arizona Clemson Club at the Cardinals Spring practice
-
- Arizona Clemson Club
-
- Arizona Clemson Club Orange Bowl Party
-
- Arizona Clemson Club Orange Bowl Party
-
- Arizona Clemson Club
-
- AZ Clemson Club at Cardinals practice
-
- AZ Clemson Club at Cardinals practice
-
- Summer Send Off
-
- Andre Ellington
-
- Service opportunity
-
- Service opportunity
-
- AZ Clemson Club at Cardinals practice
Tracey Hulsebos ’88 and her husband Tom knew there were Clemson people in Arizona and decided to find a way to bring them together. They utilized social media to find fellow Tigers and hosted several events that brought Clemson fans out of the Southwest woodwork, which led to the creation of the Arizona Clemson Club (AzCC) – one of 73 official Clemson Clubs around the nation.
The AzCC, spearheaded by Hulsebos, Sammie Holmes ’07 and Terry Mullane (Clemson parent), brings Tigers across Arizona together to renew their Clemson Family ties, to provide networking opportunities and also to improve the quality of life for surrounding communities.
The strength of Tiger loyalty is palpable among the members of the AzCC. According to Jan Matthews, it’s “like having a piece of Howard’s Rock right here.” Charles “Trey” Ballard ’11 also experienced the benefits of the Arizona Clemson Family stating, “The [AzCC] University bond helped me to bridge a networking gap and secure a quality job in tough economic times.”
The AzCC plans a variety of events throughout the year. Last summer, the club met for a send-off party for new students Jackie Dunham and Dylan Kennard. Dunham’s parents expressed tremendous comfort and excitement in joining the Clemson Family, knowing their daughter was going to be on the other side of the country.
The AzCC has several events planned for the upcoming year including food drives and a Military Appreciation Day celebration. No matter what the AzCC does, be assured it will reflect “One Clemson” and provide a comforting reminder that even the desert bleeds orange.
— Contributed by Margaret Smith ’09
There are clubs across the country to provide you with ties to the Clemson Family. Go to clemson.edu/alumni to find a club near you.
Greek Isles
EXPLORE THE WORLD WITH CLEMSON ALUMNI AND FRIENDS
Clemson Alumni Association is your ticket to the world’s cultures, sights and sounds. We handle the arrangements and work with high-quality providers so that you can relax, explore and immerse yourself in dream destinations.
We offer special trips providing unequaled access, educational value and Clemson experts to enrich your experience. Upcoming trips include Normandy, the Greek Isles, Oxford, Europe and Alaska. Contact Randy Boatwright at brandol@clemson.edu.
CLUB KUDOS
Orlando Club Banner
Orlando Club sets new communication standard
If you live in the Orlando area, you’ve probably noticed the amazing job that the Orlando Clemson Club does with their email blasts. The club president, Matt Alexander ’09, works hard to capture and engage local alumni by pulling in photos of their events in every email blast.
More than 250 Tigers attend the ’Cuse at the Blue Tusk
Members of the New York/Tri-State and New England Clemson clubs gathered with representatives of IPTAY, the Alumni Association and Clemson Fund on Friday, Oct. 4, at the Blue Tusk in Syracuse, New York to celebrate Clemson in Syracuse.
Clemson Alumni flag flies at all ESPN GameDays
If you were watching ESPN this fall, you may have seen the Clemson alumni flag crop up at some odd locations. The Alumni Association reached out to alumni in areas that hosted ESPN College GameDay and provided them with a Clemson Alumni flag to wave during the show. Pictured here are David Pawlowski ‘01 and Tara Young at the Northwestern game.
Alfred G. Wheeler Jr. and Alumni President Ann Hunter
WHEELER NAMED HONORARY ALUMNUS
The Alumni Association has named entomologist Alfred G. Wheeler Jr. an honorary Clemson alumnus. Wheeler, pictured here with Alumni Association President Ann Hunter, retired to Clemson as an adjunct member of the entomology program after 25 years with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. In his 17 years at Clemson, he published more than 115 research papers, served on 16 graduate student advisory committees, mentored several Creative Inquiry undergraduate research projects, volunteered to coordinate the entomology seminar series for six years and worked as editor of South Carolina Biota for more than a decade. Wheeler also established a $100,000 endowment to support research expeditions for entomology graduate students.
Honorary alumni are selected by the honors and awards committee for outstanding service, lifelong devotion and loyalty to the University or the Alumni Association. To see past honorary alumni or to view the award guidelines, go to clemson.edu/alumni and click on “Honorary Alumnus.”