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Erwins’ continuing investment benefits students

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Students will benefit from scholarships, additional experienced faculty and new state-of-the-art classroom space thanks to the continuing investment of Joe Erwin ’79 and his wife, Gretchen.
The co-founders of Greenville-based advertising and marketing firm Erwin Penland gave two new gifts totaling $1.08 million to benefit the University’s Erwin Center for the Study of Advertising and Communication, $800,000 to further the center’s programming and $208,000 to establish the Eugene and Valerie Getchell Scholarship Endowment. Named for Gretchen Erwin’s parents, the endowment allows Clemson to offer two need-based scholarships each year to students studying in the Erwin Center, beginning this year.
The gifts are part of Clemson’s Will to Lead campaign. The Erwin Center was created in December 2012 when the Erwins gave a lead gift of $1.05 million.

Call Me MISTER receives $1.3 million

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William Buster, director of the Kellogg Foundation’s Mississippi and New Orleans programs

William Buster, director of the Kellogg Foundation’s Mississippi and New Orleans programs


Clemson’s Call Me MISTER program has received $1.3 million from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Mich., to collaborate with Jackson State University to increase the number of African-American male teachers in Mississippi K-8 classrooms. The three organizations gathered on campus to commemorate the collaboration and grant.
Clemson established the now nationally recognized Call Me MISTER program in 2000 to increase the number of African-American males teaching in South Carolina K-12 schools. MISTER stands for Mentors Instructing Students Toward Effective Role Models. After more than a decade, there is a 75 percent increase in the number of African-American male teachers in South Carolina’s public elementary schools.
The program has expanded to 17 colleges in South Carolina. Nearly 100 students are enrolled in the program in six additional states: Florida, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Mississippi and Georgia.
“The demonstrated success of the Call Me MISTER collaborative model in South Carolina, which has resulted in a significant increase in African-American male teachers in our state, provided confidence that the same result was possible in Mississippi,” Roy Jones, director of Call Me MISTER said. “We simply exported our nearly 15 years of successful experience in recruiting, retaining and developing pre-service teachers to Jackson State, which has a long tradition and history in producing African-American educators.”

Descendant Retraces Steps of Famous Botanist

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Régis Pluchet, sixth-generation descendant of André Michaux, visited the Clemson Forest as part of a trip to the United States to retrace his ancestor’s steps.

Régis Pluchet, sixth-generation descendant of André Michaux, visited the Clemson Forest as part of a trip to the United States to retrace his ancestor’s steps.


ALMOST 200 YEARS AGO, André Michaux, a famous 18th-century botanists, visited the Clemson Forest and spent the night in what is now called “the Bottoms,” site of the Student Organic Farms. This spring, Régis Pluchet, sixth-generation descendant of Michaux, visited the Clemson Forest as part of a trip to the United States to retrace his ancestor’s steps. Michaux also is known for discovering the Oconee Bells wildflower in the nearby mountains.

Chi Zeta celebrates 40 years, endows scholarship

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This spring, the alumni brothers of the Chi Zeta Chapter of Omega Psi Phi fraternity returned to Clemson to celebrate the chapter’s anniversary. Forty years ago, a group of students chartered the first black Greek-lettered organization on campus. Since then, 122 brothers have been initiated, and more than 90 of those returned for the reunion.
Chi Zeta took a leadership role during the 50th anniversary of the ending of segregation at Clemson. The “50 for 50” campaign was designed to celebrate 50 years of integration at Clemson by creating 50 diversity endowments, with a goal of fully funding the endowments within five years. Chi Zeta saw this as an opportunity to create its own endowment to provide financial support for deserving undergraduate students now and for years to come. Chi Zeta met its commitment within four months and awarded the first scholarship in the fall of 2013.
To mark its 40th anniversary as a campus organization, the alumni brothers of Chi Zeta raised another $25,000, which doubles the endowment to $50,000. With these additional donations, the brothers of Chi Zeta, in conjunction with Mrs. Veronica Clinkscales and the Clinkscales family, were able to establish the Dr. William C. Clinkscales Sr. ’74 Diversity Scholarship Endowment honoring her late husband, one of the founding brothers of the fraternity.
 

Marketing Students Attend New York Business Meeting

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Meeting with Scott Pelley at CBS was just one of the highlights of a weeklong “business meeting” in New York.

Meeting with Scott Pelley at CBS was just one of the highlights of a weeklong “business meeting” in New York.


MEETING WITH SCOTT PELLEY AT CBS WAS JUST ONE of the highlights of a weeklong “business meeting” in New York this spring as part of the marketing course, “Gateways to World markets.” During the trip they met and discussed current brand marketing and communication trends and strategies with top executives from global brands such as American Express, CBS, Sports Illustrated, Ogilvy & Mather advertising, L’Oreal, Chobani Yogurt, Jet Blue and Yelp.

Football Team Succeeding in Classroom and on Field

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Defensive back Jerrodd Williams graduated this spring.

Defensive back Jerrodd Williams graduated this spring.


CLEMSON’S FOOTBALL TEAM HAS FINISHED THE LAST TWO SEASONS WITH A top-10 final ranking in the USA Today coaches’ poll. The NCAA Academic Performance Public Recognition Awards released in May show that the team is performing just as well in the classroom. For the fourth consecutive year, Clemson ranks among the top 10 percent of all FBS football Bowl Subdivision) programs nationally in Academic Progress Rate (APR) score.
Clemson is one of only five FBS programs ranked in the top 10 percent each of the last four years, joining Boise State, Duke, Northwestern and Rutgers. [pullquote align=’left’ font=’chunk’ color=’#f66733′]Clemson is the only FBS program nationally to finish each of the last three seasons in the top 25 of both the AP and USA Today polls on the field, and in the top 10 percent of APR scores in the classroom.[/pullquote]
Excellence in the Academic Progress Rate has translated into a strong graduation rate for the Clemson football program. Over the last four years, 67 of Clemson’s 72 seniors have earned degrees, 93.1 percent. The APR is a metric developed to track the academic achievement of teams each academic term. Each studentathlete receiving athletically related financial aid earns one retention point for staying in school and one eligibility point for being academically eligible. A team’s total points are divided by points possible and then multiplied by one thousand to equal the team’s APR score.

Clemson Lands $11 Million Grant

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CLEMSON HAS BEEN AWARDED $11 MILLION to expand a bioengineering center that helps mentor junior faculty members as they research how labgrown tissue can treat some of the world’s most debilitating diseases, ranging from heart disease to spinal cord injuries.
The money comes from a National Institutes of Health (NIH) program that supports the Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) nationwide, including Clemson’s South Carolina Bioengineering Center of Regeneration and Formation of Tissues (SC BioCRAFT). [pullquote align=’right’ font=’chunk’ color=’#f66733′]The grant is the largest from the NIH in the University’s history; it brings the total NIH funding for the center to $20.3 million.[/pullquote]
The grant will pay for maintaining and upgrading state-of-the-art facilities and provide funds for five junior faculty to begin their research, said Naren Vyavahare, the SC BioCRAFT director and Hunter Endowed Chair of bioengineering.
“This is seed money,” he said. “The whole idea behind the center is to fund and mentor junior faculty and make them successful. When they get their own major grant, we graduate them and bring new people in.”
Clemson researchers will collaborate with Roger Markwald of the Medical University of South Carolina, who is a co-principal investigator on the grant. Senior investigators Thomas Borg and Mark Kindy, both of MUSC, will provide biology expertise.

Freeman Hall expanding

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Freeman Hall expanding

Freeman Hall renderingFreeman Hall is expanding to make room for rapid growth in the industrial engineering department. The $10-million addition will include new offices, conference rooms and a 108-seat auditorium, and will include additional room for a fast-growing online Master of Engineering in industrial engineering with an emphasis on supply chain and logistics that has been supported by Fluor Corporation. The program now has about 120 students and is expected to grow to 160. Growth in the industrial engineering department underscores the power of philanthropy and the importance of Clemson’s long partnership with Fluor. Fluor contributed $1.5 million in 2013 to create the Fluor-Clemson International Capital Projects Supply Chain Partnership to help with the online program’s expansion.
 
 

Collaboration with Adobe to Support Next-Generation Creativity

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Jim Holscher, Adobe’s vice president of education field operation.

Keith Spencer, Senior account executive, Adobe Education

CLEMSON AND ADOBE ARE WORKING TOGETHER to enable campus wide access to Adobe’s Creative Cloud tools for all faculty, staff and students. Creative Cloud is a platform for making, sharing and delivering creative work through design, Web, video, collaboration and digital-imaging tools.
In addition, Adobe will invest in an innovative, state-of-the-art Adobe Digital Studio in Cooper Library that will serve as a teaching, training and collaboration environment to support next-generation learning and creativity. This joint effort includes software training support, access to the Digital Publishing Suite platform to produce academic and professional publications, and on-campus student internship programs sponsored by Adobe.
Through this collaboration, Adobe will help Clemson become a flagship institution for developing new applications for digital publishing and content creation across campus.
“Ubiquitous access to Adobe’s Creative Cloud will transform and elevate the quality, innovation and creativity of our communication practices at every level and across all media,” said David Blakesley, Campbell Chair in Technical Communication and professor of English. “Clemson is already known as a leader in communication across the curriculum, so this new implementation raises the bar for everyone.”
“Today’s students want to make a difference in the world, and they want to do it using the technology tools they’ve grown up with,” said Jim Holscher, Adobe’s vice president of education field operation. “Through our work with Clemson University, we are providing faculty, staff and students with the right tools to successfully create and communicate their ideas while mastering essential communication skills that will increase their marketability to potential employers.”

One Clemson event supports scholarships

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ONE CLEMSON MAINC.J. Spiller ’09 was one of the more than two dozen legendary Clemson athletes who were in attendance at the One Clemson Main Event, held in April at the ONE Building in downtown Greenville to support athletic and academic scholarships. Auctioned items included a personal “C.J. Spiller Experience” at a Buffalo Bills game and golf with PGA Tour players Charles Warren and Ben Martin. Proceeds benefit the One Clemson scholarship initiative, a part of the Will to Lead campaign.