Parks Establishes Endowment Honoring Architecture Professor David Allison

He has been named one of the “Most Influential People in Healthcare Design,” but to his students, he’s simply Professor Allison.

Since 1990, David Allison ’78, M ’82 has been the director of Clemson’s Architecture + Health master’s program in the School of Architecture. Under his leadership, the program has become recognized as a premier architecture health degree and consistently is ranked as one of the country’s best by Design Intelligence magazine.

Allison’s work training the health care architects and researchers of the future hasn’t gone unnoticed. Russell Paul “Rip” Parks ’76, managing principal at DesignStrategies LLC of Greenville, has established a $175,000 endowment in Allison’s name that will generate financial support for the Architecture + Health program.

“Many people can sprint, but few can run marathons,” said Parks. “I was inspired to provide this well-deserved endowment in recognition of the 28 years of hard work, diligent planning and bold vision implementation by David and his talented team of health care design professionals. I am confident that David will use this endowment to enhance the program and inspire future leaders in the exciting field of health care design.”

The announcement came as a surprise to Allison. “This is an incredible honor coming from Rip,” said Allison. “It’s the people I work with and am surrounded by that allow me to do what I do, and our program wouldn’t be possible without our students. We get to do great work because of them, and I’m grateful that our program attracts those who are eager to learn and excel.”