Bridge to book: Thomas S. Black ’92

/ in / 0 Comments / by:

Electrical engineering graduate Thomas Black of Blythewood was looking for a way that he could give back. The vice president of engineering at Fairfield Electric Cooperative took his Clemson education and life skills to serve as the project coordinator for a 200-foot pedestrian bridge over a raging river in rural Nicaragua.
The walking bridge improved the lives in two communities by allowing the people to reach stores, medical treatment and their farmland when the river floods. Black’s experiences on the church-sponsored project led him to publish a book, Ten $1 Bills. The book can be downloaded for free at www.tenonedollarbills.com.

The Iguana Tree: Michel Smoak Stone ’91

/ in / 0 Comments / by:

English graduate Michel Smoak Stone’s debut novel, The Iguana Tree, which Library Journal says “recalls the work of John Steinbeck,” received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and an award for one of the top novels published in 2012 by an independent publisher.
Raised on Johns Island, Stone encountered illegal Mexican immigrants who “were forthright in telling me their story.” The inspiration for her book came from a couple who were smuggled into the U.S. with their young child. Stone wanted to explore why people would take such a risk, would put themselves into the hands of people they couldn’t trust — people who might, in fact, just as soon kill them as look at them — without even knowing whether the risks ultimately would be worthwhile.
Stone lives in Spartanburg and is working on her second novel.

Are you a Clemson FIRST?

/ in / 0 Comments / by:

There are many first-generation college graduates among our alumni, and we’re trying to find out who they are.
Were you the first in your family to go to a four-year college? If so, you are a Clemson FIRST, and we’d like to hear your story. Go to clemson.edu/alumni to read FIRST generation profiles on alumni Bob Barreto and Jennifer Rahn. Then go to clemson.edu/alumni/forms/first.html to tell your story. Let us know if you’d be willing to volunteer and serve as a mentor for current Clemson FIRSTs. We’ll send you a free alumni car decal and a FIRST pin just for letting us know who you are!

Campaign celebration

/ in / 0 Comments / by:

July 20 marked the celebration of the University’s reaching — and exceeding — the Will to Lead capital campaign goal. But $608,839,594 marks just the beginning as the University is determined to reach a goal of $1 billion to meet the needs for students, faculty and facilities.

Main stage named to honor Harder

/ in / 0 Comments / by:

Mickey Harder, director of the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts since 1996, was surprised at the season-opening concert as Friends of the Brooks Center and other donors gave $136,680 to name the main stage in her honor. The announcement was made at the Brooks Center’s season-opening show with Kennedy Center Honors recipient Barbara Cook.

Numeral Society reunion honors Joe Young

/ in / 0 Comments / by:

In May, 200 brothers and guests of the Numeral Society, the 1956 – 1970 “local” Greek fraternity that later became SAE on the Clemson campus, came together for an alumni reunion at Lake Murray near Columbia.
Out of that reunion came a pledge to raise additional funds to add to the endowment that supports the Joe Young Penthouse, named for the now-deceased longest continuous resident of the Clemson House. A longtime architecture professor, Young served 50-plus years as chapter adviser to first the Numeral Society and then SAE.
The Reunion Committee (Sterling Beckman ’64, Cal McMeekin ’65, Mike Maxwell ’67, Wayne Bell ’68, Jim Engram ’68, Edgar McGee ’68, Randy Bell ’69 and Bill Myers ’72) presented a check for more than $6,000 to President Barker on September 7 in a ceremony at the Joe Young Penthouse.

McCabes honor Alumni Association president

/ in / 0 Comments / by:

Jim and Barbara McCabe of Clemson have honored a longtime friend with a $100,000 endowment to the Clemson Alumni Association. The Ann Harvin Hunter Leadership Endowment honors Alumni Association President Ann Harvin Whetstone Hunter (center) of Greenwood and will support leadership development for student and alumni volunteers.
Jim McCabe and Hunter’s father, Jack Moorer Whetstone, were friends from fourth grade until Whetstone’s death in 1959. Little did Jim know that he would later become friends with Whetstone’s daughter.
“He was my best friend all the way through school,” said Jim. “He died when Ann was a baby. After she was grown, we became acquainted. She has since called us her ‘surrogate parents.’”
A 1980 and ’82 chemical engineering graduate, Hunter was named the Volunteer of the Year in 2009. She has served on the Women’s Alumni Council and the Clemson Athletic Council and has been an IPTAY representative for 14 years.
Jim McCabe entered Clemson in 1943, but left to serve in the Navy during World War II. Retired from Exxon Company U.S.A., he has been married to Barbara for 63 years.

Honor your student’s success and encourage tomorrow’s Tigers

/ in / 0 Comments / by:

As your student becomes part of Clemson, so do you. Honor your student or young alumnus and help other families begin their own experience in the Clemson Family through the Clemson Family Endowment program.
Create a named unrestricted endowment in honor of your current student or young alumnus with a minimum gift of $10,000, payable over three years. If your employer participates in corporate matching funds, those dollars can help reach the initial amount. For more details, email cufund-L@clemson.edu or call 864-656-5896.

Segars family gives $1.5 million to support agriculture students

/ in / 0 Comments / by:

A $1.5 million gift from Goz Segars ’66 of Hartsville, along with his wife, Pat, and their family, will support scholarships, fellowships and student engagement programs in Clemson’s College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences.
“I feel very strongly about the future of agriculture in our country,” said Segars, “and I would like to help students have very broad, real-world experiences so they will have a better understanding of all facets of agriculture.”
Part of the gift will establish the Goz and Pat Segars Annual Student Assistance Fund, which will provide need-based assistance to undergraduate and graduate students in agriculture-related majors. The gift also will benefit student engagement opportunities in the college, specifically experiential learning programs for students at the Segars’ cattle ranch in Montana and their farm in Hartsville. Students, with faculty mentors, will spend time at the ranch or the farm studying animal science, pre-veterinary medicine, crop production, irrigation management, wildlife biology and environmental studies.
Segars is chair of the Clemson University Foundation Board and has been a member of it since 2006. Also a director of the Clemson University Real Estate Foundation, Segars is a founding director of Clemson’s Land Stewardship Foundation. He received Clemson’s 2011 Institutional Advancement Award and the 2012 Distinguished Service Award from the Clemson Alumni Association. He also served on the University’s Board of Visitors.