B-Note May 16, 2019
May 16, 2019
Greetings fellow Tigers! It is hard to believe that another academic year has concluded at Clemson. It has been a wonderful week on our campus as we celebrated the year’s accomplishments, our newest graduates and our faculty and staff.
With a proud tradition of military excellence, it is especially meaningful for us to have opportunities to celebrate our student veterans. Graduates from Clemson University’s student veteran population were honored last Wednesday evening in the annual “Hail and Farewell” ceremony. Eighteen students were presented red, white and blue cords to place over their graduation gear. The graduates also received a letter from President Clements and a special challenge coin featuring the insignia of the military branches. Brennan Beck, Clemson’s director of military and veteran engagement, hosted the ceremony inside the David Peebles Room of the Hendrix Student Center. The graduates were joined by their families and a slew of special guests, including representatives from the Alumni Association, Clemson Corps, Graduate School, Student Affairs, Student Veterans Association and Undergraduate Studies. The evening featured a keynote address from Associate Vice President for Public Safety and Chief of Police Greg Mullen. He is a retired veteran of the U.S. Air Force with 22 years of combined active and reserve service. Mullen spoke to the graduates about what the next chapter of leadership would look like for them, imploring them to operate purposefully because of the ‘why,’ as opposed to the ‘what’ and ‘how.’ You can read more here.
Students, faculty and staff gathered at the Watt Family Innovation Center Tuesday, May 7 to celebrate the 2018-19 award winners during the annual spring awards ceremony. President Clements and Provost Jones were among those presenting awards. To see the list of award recipients, click here.
Clemson University helped one of the nation’s top arts festivals celebrate its 15th anniversary in Greenville last weekend. During Artisphere, Clemson professors and students from our University’s visual and performing arts programs helped kids understand the relationship between the arts and the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Clemson’s STEAM Exhibit returned with several new attractions, including a sweater dotted with LED lights that transforms musical notes into light. It was one of 12 attractions under one tent, bringing together science, technology, engineering, arts and math, or STEAM. The activities ranged from robots that draw to the dazzling delights of the kinetic arts. The activities were designed to be fun but also introduced participants to highly sought skills in the workplace, ranging from cooperation and creativity to computer coding and programming robots. The STEAM Exhibit was a collaboration of the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences and the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities. Dean Gramopadhye, of the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences, explained that the exhibit underscored the importance of STEAM education to innovation in a wide variety of fields. He went further to say, “Groundbreaking innovations of the future will require creativity, design-thinking, teamwork and effective communication.” You can read more about this year’s Artisphere and the STEAM Exhibit here.
B-Impactful!
Greg Mullen gave our student veteran graduates insightful advice – operate purposefully because of the “why.” And I felt especially motivated to share the same advice with you. These words particularly resonate with me as I think about philanthropy and the significance of giving back. As we each make a commitment to powerfully impact Clemson, the principal reason “why” is always the same – to pass on the gift of education to future generations. Thank you for making a difference for our students – today, tomorrow and forever!
Go Tigers!
Brian O’Rourke