Archive for category: Upfront

Thanks to a recent $1.05 million gift from Joe ’79 and Gretchen Erwin, co-founders of Erwin Penland Advertising, Clemson is now home to the Erwin Center for the Study of Advertising and Communication.
“Top companies, including most of our clients, are extremely proficient at developing more innovative and reliable products and services by using cutting-edge technology and insight-driven ingenuity,” said Joe Erwin. “The Erwin Center will help prepare future generations of marketers to similarly use information, technology and modeling methods to skillfully promote these products and services.”
Initially, the Erwins’ gift will provide up to five new courses to support a new emphasis area in advertising and communication for communication studies majors and as a minor to students in other majors. Many of the classes will be taught in collaboration with industry experts at Erwin Penland.
The communication studies department currently offers emphasis areas as diverse as sports communication, communication and the law, and health communication. Erwin said that he and Clemson representatives will be meeting with major brands, marketing agencies and other industry leaders across the country to solicit input aimed at ensuring that the center develops students who are uniquely qualified to drive the future of marketing communications.

A $4.11 million grant from Duke Energy to Clemson’s Center for Workforce Development will fund initiatives in South Carolina to help provide a next-generation workforce in key cluster areas. The grant will be used to manage educational, research and outreach activities in support of workforce development and STEM education. The Center for Workforce Development will oversee distribution of these funds to partner institutions that include universities, technical colleges, K-12 institutions and STEM-oriented organizations through competitive grants, scholarships and internships.
The goal is to spur job growth by helping develop a labor force with specific skills in STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — and specifically in advanced manufacturing to support South Carolina’s burgeoning manufacturing industry.“Duke Energy recognizes that workforce development and economic development go hand in hand,” said Clark Gillespy, Duke Energy state president – South Carolina. “The Center for Workforce Development, through its far-reaching partnerships, addresses the challenges of creating next-generation engineers, technicians and scientists so the region and nation can continue to be competitive in a global marketplace.”
The center’s e-learning initiatives focus on creating innovative educational tools — aligned with industry employment needs — to increase workforce capacity. The center also supports working professionals who wish to upgrade their skills and further their qualifications.

From the summit of Sassafras Mountain, you can see Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

And now, thanks to a new overlook designed, constructed and installed by a team of graduate students in architecture and landscape architecture, visitors can enjoy that view.

The challenge was to provide a universally designed viewing platform accessible to all who visit the highest point in South Carolina, Pickens County and the Foothills Trail, according to Dan Harding, associate professor of architecture and director of the Community Research and Design Center at Clemson.
“The concept hinged on an idea that used a primary wood structure with a light, sky-blue-painted steel railing designed to leave visitors feeling as if they are floating over a wonderful rock out-cropping while remaining safely contained by the railing, which disappears into the expanding horizon,” Harding said.
Built entirely on campus, employing best practices associated with sustainable construction and resource management, the prefabricated overlook platform and the project components were transported to the job site by the design team with assistance from the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. At the Sassafras parking area, about 80 feet in elevation below the top of Sassafras Mountain, the parts were efficiently reassembled over several days.
The Sassafras Mountain overlook can be accessed from S.C. State Road 199 or from the Foothills Trail.

Opportunities abound this summer at Clemson for young people ranging from kindergarteners to high school seniors. An extensive program lineup matches just about every interest imaginable, from athletic camps and rigorous academic enrichment programs on campus to an array of recreational summer camps at sites around the state.
Clemson’s legacy of service to pre-collegiate youth audiences spans beyond a century, when the first 4-H club programs were organized. It’s a legacy that has evolved with the times, and with consistent emphasis on providing the most physically and emotionally safe environments possible for program participants and facilitators.
In 2008, before the Penn State tragedies rocked the nation, President James Barker commissioned a summer programs task force that recommended the development of a centralized system to oversee the operation of youth programs. Then in 2011, the Pre-collegiate Programs Office (PcPO) was created. The PcPO coordinates with faculty and staff to develop and plan all phases of youth program operations, then monitors to ensure they meet the University’s operating standards. These policies include background checks for all individuals working or volunteering to supervise youth, staff training protocols and emergency procedures, and a variety of other areas of risk management such as staff-to-student ratios, housing and transportation.
In 2013, the PcPO expects to support the operation of more than 1,000 youth programs, on and off campus, that will serve an estimated 45,000 young people.For a list of programs and registration information, visit clemson.edu/aspire. Or, contact Jacob Repokis, assistant director, Pre-Collegiate Programs Office, at wrepoki@clemson.edu or 864-656-5535.