Inside Clemson

Staff member receives Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Excellence in Service

Pic of Martin Luther King award presentation. By Jackie Todd, Office of University Relations

A Clemson staff member was named recipient of Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Excellence in Service.

Vivian Morris, who heads the university’s employee onboarding program was presented with the award at the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Service, held last night at the Brooks Center.

Clemson’s Office of Inclusion and Equity and the President’s Office present the awards annually to recognize people who have shown excellence in their service to the Clemson community.

Morris was very excited and deeply touched that she was selected to receive the award. So were her family and her Human Resources colleagues, who came out to support Morris as she received the honor.

“In these times, there can be no greater honor than to be the recipient of an award that comes in the tradition and name of one of our greatest leaders,” she said. “I’m excited and grateful that others see just a glimpse of Dr. King’s qualities in me.”

It’s hard enough to start a new job, learn a new landscape and adapt new policies and procedures. If that new job is at Clemson University, Morris makes it easier. But for Morris, it’s more than a job. It’s a calling. Regardless of position, pay grade or classification, she answers the call with the same knowledge, detail and warmth that can calm the most frayed nerves. Each employee that joins Clemson knows that they are part of something bigger than just a job. They are part of the Clemson Family – and that’s because of the above-and-beyond service that Morris gives.

Pic of Martin Luther King awards presentation
Mable Clark, Erin Hughes and Vivian Morris congratulate each other after the awards were announced.

Student and community member recognized

The award was also presented to senior biosystems engineering student Erin Hughes, a member of student government who works with Healthy Campus, The President’s Commission on Sustainability and Solid Green and has planned sustainability events on campus. Hughes has a passion for social justice and is active in a number of organizations on campus.

Off campus, Hughes worked with Native Americans in the Asheville, North Carolina area in support of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s effort to halt construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Community member Mable Clark also earned the award. With the help of Clemson students and faculty, Clark led the effort to clean, document and landscape the historic Soapstone Baptist Church, including its cemetery containing graves of former slaves.

The recipients of the Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Excellence in Service were chosen based on their service to Clemson and the surrounding community, their advocacy for social or environmental justice and their service above and beyond their direct employment.

Organizers say that they received a record number of award nominations this year.