A Word from Dean Richard Goodstein – July 2017

July 10, 2017

Dear Friends,

The summer allows time for many of us on campus to reflect on the previous academic year, take a deep breath and recharge our batteries for the upcoming year. With freshman orientation in full swing and the July 4^th holiday behind us, the new school year will be here before we know it.

Part of my reflection on the past year includes a deep appreciation of the quality of our 30+ academic degree programs and the effectiveness of our student recruitment efforts. Across the country, many arts, design and humanities programs are struggling to attract student interest; however, this past year the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities received unprecedented interest and applications for majors in the college. In fact, our year-over-year freshmen applications were up 30%, by far the most of any college at Clemson, including a 37% increase in freshmen applications in the humanities.

It seems to me as if CAAH, and Clemson in general, are in a sweet spot looking to the future. With continuing growth and strong economic prospects in South Carolina, we believe students and parents understand the high value of a Clemson education and our proven return-on-investment record. Because we are preparing students today for jobs and careers that have yet to be invented, the value in a college degree has never been higher. I remain enthusiastic about the college’s ability to address successfully the needs of the next generation of college graduates.

…

This week we announce five new academic leaders to the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities. Please help me welcome them:

• Richard Amesbury begins service as the new chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion. Rich has a Ph.D. in religion from Claremont Graduate University and most recently served as professor of ethics, director of the Center for Ethics and director of the Institute for Social Ethics at the University of Zurich.
• Susanna Ashton will assume her new position as chair of the Department of English in mid-August. Susanna joined the Clemson faculty in 1998. She has a Ph.D. in English from the University of Iowa.
• John Gaber joins us as chair of the Department of City Planning and Real Estate Development. John has a Ph.D. in urban planning from Columbia University and most recently served as chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Arkansas.
• Mike Jackson is our new department chair of the Department of Construction Science and Management. Mike has a Ph.D. in civil engineering from Oregon State University and joins us from Georgia Southern University where he chaired the Department of Civil Engineering and Construction Management.
• Valerie Zimany is serving as interim chair of the Department of Art. Valerie completed her MFA studies at Kanazawa College of Art in Japan as a Fulbright Fellow and Japanese Government Scholar. She began her career at Clemson in 2010 as the ceramics area coordinator and lead faculty member in ceramics.

Welcome to all our new chairs, and to everyone, best wishes for the summer.

Sincerely,

Rick