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

Follow Dean Nicholas Vazsonyi!

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

The great strength of a land-grant university is that it adds to the quality of the lives of the people that we serve in our state, nation and world. That may sound like an exaggeration, but Clemson has a presence on every continent, including Antarctica. The value that we add to people’s lives is frequently the result of talented and dedicated individuals working together to make great things happen.

The team approach is always powerful, yet sometimes the efforts of individual students can touch people’s lives in a variety of personal ways. Hundreds of stories could be told, but I wanted to share the following one, brought to my attention during recent weeks.

While walking through Grand Central Station in New York City, a Clemson student majoring in American Sign Language stopped to help a blind gentleman holding a sign asking for directions to customer service. As Teresa Clancy approached the gentleman, she realized he was also Deaf. Thanks to her training at Clemson, she was able to hold his hands and have a conversation about what had happened. Clancy helped him get on the next train to his destination and helped him find a seat on the train. She asked the conductor to tap him on the shoulder when he got to his stop and she repeated the plan to the traveler. When she prepared to get off the train, other passengers asked if it was safe for her to leave her friend on the train. To their amazement, Clancy responded that they had just met. What a great example of how acts of kindness can add value to people’s lives, no matter how large or small!

What impresses me the most is that there is almost no end to these kinds of stories.

Two students studying construction science and management have dedicated considerable time and energy to the advancement of the Clemson University Habitat for Humanity Campus Chapter. Construction Coordinator Brittany Lacy and Assistant Homecoming Build Coordinator Marissa Bischoff are other examples of students using what they’ve learned at Clemson to add value to other people’s lives. As I’m sure you know, through their efforts and the efforts of others in our community, Clemson is helping provide affordable housing, and our students are gaining valuable hands-on experience. What a wonderful example of the meaning of the Clemson Family!

There are numerous examples of Clemson students helping rural communities in South Carolina, including those enrolled in our Master of City and Regional Planning (MCRP) and Master of Resilient Urban Design (MRUD) programs. Through these projects and partnerships, they are adding value that can only be accurately measured in the years to come.

Our students carry a devotion to service into their lives beyond Clemson – even to other continents. Charity Shaw, a Gates Scholar and member of the Class of ’17, traveled to Africa to work on an individual basis with women’s groups and support their efforts to improve reproductive health. A graduate of the Women’s Leadership program, Shaw is now pursuing a master’s in public health at Emory University. This kind of service gives students an opportunity to learn more about the power of nonprofit organizations, and to gain an appreciation for the complexity of these kinds of problems in other areas of the world. Once again, our students are using what they have learned at Clemson to add value to other communities, no matter how far away.

Other notes from our College

• 

  President Jim Clements invited Todd Anderson, center, to attend the Florida State game on Oct. 12 as Professor of the Game. The printmaker and Clemson professor is observing and visually documenting researchers and the environment in Antarctica.

• The College recently hosted the fall open house for prospective students and their parents. This event on Nov. 1 allowed a large number of high school students to spend the day learning more about the exciting programs offered by the College. Our Student Services team did a wonderful job of orienting the students to Clemson University, while helping them begin to develop an educational pathway that will allow them to achieve their goals and dreams.

• The Humanities Advancement Board (HAB) met in October, in support of humanities programs in our College. The board’s work and involvement created the Humanities Hub, which is advancing the outreach, scholarship and teaching of the humanities at Clemson. The generous gift of board member Chris Loebsack also was recognized. He has established the “Lectures in Law and Humanities Series, endowed by Loebsack & Brownlee, PLLC,” which will launch March 26, 2020, with a visit from Pulitzer Prize-winner Matthew Desmond, the author of “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City.” The HAB board members also attended a luncheon honoring the fifth anniversary of the Women’s Leadership program, which included an address by Georgia Callahan, a retired senior vice president of Chevron and an alumna of Clemson English and also the Master of City and Regional Planning program.

• Students from the Department of Art were featured at the Homecoming football game on Oct. 26. Professor Todd Anderson, a printmaker who teaches in the department, was recognized as Professor of the Game on Oct. 12, just before he headed off to Antarctica on a research trip funded by an NSF grant. As I said, we really do have faculty in Antarctica!

• And finally, the College has initiated an inclusive strategic planning process that will highlight our enduring commitment to diversity. Faculty, staff and students in all of our departments will be invited to participate in this important planning process. This plan will expand upon our current commitment to diversity.

Thank you for all you do to advance the mission of the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities,

Tim Boosinger

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.