A major gift for Architecture, and new leadership in English

Dear Faculty, Staff, Alumni and Friends,

First and foremost, I am so pleased, proud and grateful to announce the $3 million Cornerstone gift from Bill and Laura Pelham. Thank you so much, Bill and Laura! A full article in this month’s newsletter tells the details of how their gift will serve our students, but I don’t know if it can convey what a gratifying end it made to such a tumultuous year!

The University held a memorable event to celebrate the gift at the Poinsett Club in Greenville. Our President was in attendance and shared a few thoughts, as did I. One of the comments I made was that it is remarkable to what extent this gift aligns perfectly with the strategic priorities we have been articulating for the College during the planning exercise we have been undertaking this past semester. The Pelhams’ generosity truly could not have come at a better time or in a better form.

A couple of additional announcements. Susanna Ashton will be stepping down as Chair of the English Department at the end of June. She has done an amazing job over the last four years, especially navigating her large and complex department through the pandemic. We will miss her energy, her panache, and her vibrant sense of humor. But we also wish her well as she goes off for a richly-earned sabbatical in the fall, followed by a spring to be spent as a Research Fellow at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University. While at Harvard, Susanna will be continuing her work on John Andrew Jackson, an escaped slave from South Carolina who became an international speaker and author in the 19th century. Hats off to you, Susanna!

Succeeding Susanna as the incoming Chair of English is Will Stockton, Professor of English and a scholar of the early modern period including his namesake William Shakespeare, a lesser-known playwright who produced some pieces for performance at the Globe Theatre in London.

I was also hoping to be able to make two additional leadership announcements, one for the conclusion of our national search for a new full-time director of Pan African Studies, and one for our internal search for a new Director of the Humanities Hub to replace Lee Morrissey who will be stepping down at the end of the summer. An announcement for both is imminent, and we hope to be at liberty to give you the news in our August newsletter, if not sooner.

Last but not least, the Dean’s team has been hard at work these last weeks, preparing the College report to the Board of Trustees, my first since becoming Dean, which will be presented later this fall. The talent and hard work of our students, faculty, staff and alumni have given us a deep well of accomplishments from which to draw for our presentation.

With best wishes to all for the summer as we pull out of COVID at last…

“Go Tigers!”

Nicholas Vazsonyi, Dean
College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities

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Commencement is only the beginning

After a long and grueling year, we just celebrated commencement in person. It was shorter than the usual ceremony, and safety made the look and feel a bit different, but the occasion was marked, and that is important. Ritual is integral to the human experience; it is a means for us to orient ourselves and share an experience with those close and distant.

As I watched our students completing their Clemson journey, there was so much I wished to say. Although I didn’t have the chance to share my thoughts in a speech, I have a column! If I could speak to our each of our new graduates, this is what I would say:

Dear Graduates and new Clemson Alumni,

Congratulations on your achievement! You have just celebrated a milestone among many your lives, but this one is special for most of you because it marks the end of your formal education. Life is filled with milestones, but few signify as definitive an ending and beginning as this one. I can imagine that you are feeling various things right now: joy, sadness, nostalgia, anxiety, numbness, and all the mixed emotions that come with freedom.

While your formal education may be over, your process of learning is not. In many ways it is also just beginning. To a certain extent, learning is unavoidable. Our senses and our brains are perpetually receiving input and processing. But I encourage you to think about learning actively. Sign on to a life of learning, and learning for life.

If you were educated in our College, you were trained to make conscious learning a way of living and interacting with the world. Learning how to see and to think historically, conceptually, artistically. Learning how to read and observe, not just accepting at face value, but examining critically, scrutinizing between the lines, peering behind the scenes. The College has introduced you to the human condition in all its dynamic extremes and complexity.

Take all this with you and apply it to the world as you encounter it. Seek to learn and understand just a little bit more every day. And when you interact with people, try never to forget the individual human being behind the façade. That’s why we read literature and go to the movies—to be reminded about our common humanity in powerful and memorable ways.

And when you get the chance, travel. See the world, the people in it, what they have built over time, and the ways they live and interact.

And always take the time to go some place quiet to reflect and to think about what you have learned.

Congratulations again. Now spread your wings, and fly…

“Go Tigers!”

Nicholas Vazsonyi, Dean
College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities

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Some Reflections on Claudia Rankine’s Visit

Dear Faculty, Staff, Alumni and Friends,

On the evening of November 13, the award-winning poet Claudia Rankine zoomed into campus from her home in New York City and spent two hours talking primarily with our students. The event was organized by a group of faculty from the English Department, including Maya Hislop, Matt Hooley, Kimberly Manganelli, Jamie Rogers, Hannah Pittman-Goodwin, and Michael LeMahieu. It was the crowning event of a common read for English students of Rankine’s remarkable Citizen: An American Lyric (which I highly recommend, if you haven’t read it). Published in 2014, it is particularly apt and haunting in the wake of this past summer, a summer that was perhaps a watershed moment in race relations in this country. The book doesn’t belong to any fixed genre. It is more like a collage, combining anecdotes, personal recollections, poetry, reflections, journalism, and images.

It is the book’s last image I would like to ponder for the remainder of this message. Rankine ends with a painting by the 19^th-century British artist, J.M.W. Turner, titled “The Slave Ship” (Original title: “Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On”) (1840). It depicts the historical event in 1781 of the slave ship “Zong” caught in a terrible storm. The ship’s captain had decided to throw slaves bound for Jamaica overboard in an effort to collect insurance for cargo “lost at sea.” The event caused an uproar in England and subsequently moved Turner to portray the moment in his inimitable way.

Rankine reproduces the painting in its entirety and adds a detail from a corner showing the limb of a black person still in shackles surrounded by hungry fish. The image is grotesque and disturbing. But Rankine leaves it there without comment. The work of literature ends with an image. There are no words.

Towards the end of her presentation, Rankine talked about the painting and her thoughts. For her, it is, perhaps surprisingly, an image of hope: a white man from England more than a century and a half ago moved to express his horror at the treatment of people as though they were mere cargo.

How much has the world changed since then, I wonder.

Then Rankine added something very important: it doesn’t matter if it’s the 1800s or the 21^st century. People who know something is wrong know something is wrong.

And I would like to add: the arts help us see and know when something is wrong.

Poets, artists, and composers have long held up a mirror to show us who we are. They have exposed the dystopian worlds we inhabit and towards which we are headed. They have also been able to imagine other, better, worlds towards which we must strive.

The creative arts compel us to reflect. They point out the consequences of our behavior. They also inspire hope and illuminate the way forward…

“Go Tigers!”

Nicholas Vazsonyi, Dean
College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities

Dear students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of CAAH:

With another academic year beginning and the campus bustling with life, it is my privilege to greet you as the interim dean of the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities.

As I get to know the College and its people, I’m struck by the warmth, camaraderie and sense of purpose that surrounds me.

I’ve met students who are ambitious, poised and intellectually curious.

I’ve witnessed the dedication and commitment of our staff.

And I’ve been impressed by the level of scholarship I see among the faculty in our College’s diverse departments – and all across Clemson University.

I look forward to meeting many more of you in the coming months.

This is a special College at a great University and I am proud to serve as its steward as we continue our growth, build upon our successes and keep moving forward.

My close acquaintance with Clemson began in 2018 when I served for several months in a similar capacity at the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences.

I’ve also gotten to know Clemson leaders through my involvement with the Tigers United Consortium, which began during my time as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Auburn University. Together with our peers at Louisiana State University and the University of Missouri we share a mascot and a mission ­– to save the world’s remaining wild tigers.

This week on campus, I had the chance to meet with the Tigers United group and to convene with my new team.

I, too, had the unexpected pleasure of speaking with several families from Charleston who chose to spend their time as evacuees visiting Clemson and learning about all we have to offer in CAAH.

We are relieved that for many along the East Coast, the damage from Dorian has been much lighter than anticipated. Our Clemson Design Center in Charleston fared well and our students, most of whom evacuated the area, are safe and back in class. Please keep in your thoughts the members of the extended Clemson Family who have been directly affected by the hurricane and also the people of the Bahamas who have faced unfathomable devastation. They will need our support during a long recovery.

With gratitude,

Tim Boosinger

. . .

Tim Boosinger has been named interim dean for the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities while the University continues its search for a permanent dean.

His six-month appointment began Sept. 1, 2019. To lead the College, Boosinger will draw from his previous experiences as an interim dean of the Clemson College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences and as vice president and provost of Auburn University. His area of expertise is veterinary pathology and he served previously as dean of Auburn’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Boosinger is tasked with continuing the positive momentum of the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities.