Author: Christina Fleischer

Fluor, a long-term corporate partner and supporter of Clemson University has donated $60,000 to support initiatives on campus and student organizations.

As part of this donation, Fluor will join the Michelin Career Center as a Platinum Tiger Partner. They have been an important partner, historically, with the Career Center, and have supported Clemson’s programming and outreach efforts with more than just monetary assistance; Clemson and the Career Center can always count on Fluor representatives to assist with classroom presentations, resume critiques, student employment opportunities, and career testimonials.

Fluor will also support the Community Resilience Course Program for undergraduate students participating in Clemson Engineers for Developing Countries. In collaboration with Clemson’s Risk Engineering and System Analytics Center (RESA), students in this course will investigate areas of vulnerability in Puerto Rico as they relate to Hurricane Marie.

In addition, Fluor will continue support for the Construction Science Management Program, Department of Mechanical Engineering Honors and Award Banquet, and the continuation of the Fluor Engineering and Science Study Hall, managed by PEER and WISE.

Finally, Fluor’s donation will support several student organizations including, Clemson Engineers for Developing Countries, National Society of Black Engineers, American Society of Civil Engineering, and IEEE Southeast Design Competition Team.

On April 12-13, Clemson University hosted the second annual National Men of Color Summit at the TD Convention Center in Greenville, South Carolina. The sold-out summit was attended by two thousand people and had over 45 sessions designed to encourage students to evaluate and discover their full potential. The two-day event was sponsored by a variety of corporate partners including BB&T, Michelin, Hubbell Lighting, BMW, ScanSource, Duke Energy, Bon Secours, Synnex, Boeing, Milliken and Fluor.

Keynote speakers included:

– President James E. Clark, South Carolina State University
– Brian Heat, Educator and Entrepreneur
– President Chris Howard, Robert Morris University
– Tom Joyner, radio host of “The Tom Joyner Morning Show”
– Roland Martin, journalist
– Wes Moore, CEO and founder of BridgeEdu
– Commissioner Carlos Santiago, Massachusetts Department of Higher Education
– Damon Williams, chief catalyst, Center for Strategic Diversity Leadership and Social Innovation
– Juan Williams, FOX News political analyst and commentator

“We intentionally identify speakers and presenters who can identify with the challenges and issues these students face,” Lee Gill, Clemson’s chief diversity officer, said. “We want these students to see themselves in the successes of our speakers.”

The goal of the summit was to engage and develop relationships among the participants, expose them to the college environment, provide positive male role models, connect students to campus resources, and help attendees take ownership of their own success.

Clemson University has been awarded a $5,000 grant by AFL, an international company focused on manufacturing, engineering, and installing fiber optic products and equipment, for the Charles H. Townes Optical Science and Engineering Summer Program. The Townes Program is an undergraduate student experience where students from diverse backgrounds in materials science and engineering come to Clemson University for a 10-week summer program to work in laboratories at Clemson’s Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering Technologies (COMSET). Between 8 and 12 students are accepted into the program every year and are immersed in a campus residency where they gain hands-on research experience and participate in training programs and workshops. Each participant in the Townes program spends 28 hours per week in the lab working on group projects, which they present to faculty, staff, and industry at a poster session at the end of the 10-week program.

Funding from AFL will support a summer scholarship for a student, mystery bag engineering design competition supplies, weekly professional development lunch & learns, student research project supplies, and a student research poster session. Clemson University is one of six Upstate organizations to receive community grants from AFL. These grants, made possible by AFL’s Community Outreach Program, were given to programs that align with AFL’s focus on STEM education and social service outreach.

Dr. Ballato received his undergraduate and PhD degrees from Rutgers University in 1993 and 1997, respectively, and then joined the Ceramic Engineering faculty at Clemson. He has been at Clemson for 21 years. During his time here, he has worked to establish the COMSET research center, which includes the nation’s premier academic laboratory for optical fiber development. Optical fiber is involved whenever and wherever someone sends or receives data, such as email, websites, social media, or e-commerce.

At COMSET, Dr. Ballato studies new materials and methods for making novel optical fibers used for communications and lasers for manufacturing and defense. Companies are situated at every step of this value chain, so industrial partnerships are critical to the transition of his lab’s concepts into the market.

Dr. Ballato notes, “Collaboration with Corporate and Foundation Relations started many years ago when we were first developing our optical fiber capabilities and several companies valued that effort. For the eight years that I was in the research and economic development leadership team at Clemson, industrial partnerships were central to our efforts, and CFR was a great partner.”

The COMSET laboratory has worked with over 150 global partners and their approach to making novel optical fibers is now used in more than 40 countries. Dr. Ballato is graduating two PhD students this year and is excited to search for and recruit a new cohort of students who will help Clemson chart the future for optical fiber.

Clemson University associate professor of English, Rhondda Robinson Thomas has received a $50,000 Whiting Public Engagement Fellowship to share the university’s history through a museum exhibition called “Black Clemson: From Enslavement to Integration.”

This fellowship will help the exhibit travel to 10 sites across South Carolina for two years. Thomas is also partnering with local organizations to create a series of public events that further illuminate the history of Clemson, as not only a university, but also a town. “Black Clemson” is an extension of Thomas’ earlier initiative, “Call My Name: African Americans in Early Clemson University History.” This initiative has digitized over 2,000 documents related to Clemson history, including slave inventories, prison records, labor contracts, photographs, and correspondence.

Thomas is one of seven individuals to receive the 2018-19 Whiting Public Engagement Fellowship for work in the humanities disciplines of history, literature, philosophy, anthropology, and gender studies. “I am honored to be a member of the cohort of Whiting Public Engagement Fellows for the 2018-2019 academic year,” Thomas said. “This fellowship will enable me to increase the visibility and impact of my ‘Black Clemson: From Enslavement to Integration’ traveling museum exhibition project in South Carolina and the nation.”

Clemson University unveiled the new Clemson Vehicle Assembly Center on Thursday in Greenville. The Center will be a hub for automotive researchers, students, and manufacturers where they can collaborate to develop and learn advanced manufacturing techniques.

As part of the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR), the Vehicle Assembly Center is a collaboration between BMW Manufacturing, Siemens, Clemson, and Greenville Technical College. The 4,000-square-foot center will not only have a full vehicle assembly line, but also a joining lab, sub-assembly lab, embedded devices lab, collaborative robotics center, and autonomous factory vehicles.

Research will be conducted primarily by faculty and students in Clemson’s College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences. Greenville Tech students will be enrolled in manufacturing training programs.

“BMW Plant Spartanburg continues to grow. A highly-skilled, well-educated workforce is essential to meet the challenges of the next generation of vehicles,” Knudt Flor, president and CEO of BMW Manufacturing said. “The Vehicle Assembly Center and its project-based learning approach promise to prepare a workforce with the skills needed to be successful in the premium automotive industry.”

For more information, visit: http://newsstand.clemson.edu/mediarelations/clemson-launches-advanced-manufacturing-research-and-workforce-development-hub-in-greenville.

First Citizens Bank has partnered with Clemson University with a three-year, $60,000 contribution to the College of Business. This donation will fund CU Business EDGE (Engage Students in Development and Global Experiences), a new program that pairs students’ educational experience with a variety of engaging activities that will sharpen their soft skills and help differentiate them in the job market. First Citizens also has announced it is contributing an additional $40,000 toward construction of the new business school, expected to be completed in January of 2020.

First Citizens’ contribution will fully fund CU Business EDGE, allowing the program to improve and expand initiatives such as etiquette dinners, workshops, and other career oriented events.  “First Citizens stepping up like this will help our students become more well-rounded and competitive,” Helen Diamond Steele, director of student enrichment for the business college, said. “This partnership is going to provide us the wherewithal to deliver these programs on a larger scale.”

Chuck Perry, an ’84 graduate of Clemson’s business college and the area executive for First Citizens Bank, believes that the partnership between First Citizens and Clemson will not only enrich development opportunities for students, but also open a talent pipeline for his employer.

“In supporting Clemson’s next generation of talent, First Citizens is hoping this partnership will make a difference in students’ lives and, of course, their careers,” said Perry, of Clemson. “We are well aware of the caliber of student the Clemson business college graduates, and we hope this connection will also make them more aware of the career opportunities First Citizens Bank has to offer.”

Wells Fargo has donated $350,000 to two different diversity programs at Clemson University. Students in the Call Me MISTER and Emerging Scholars programs will benefit from these $200,000 and $150,000 scholarship donations respectively. This funding will support initiatives focused on improving educational outcomes for diverse student populations across South Carolina.

Call Me MISTER was established to increase the number of diverse teachers in South Carolina. The program provides tuition assistance for its participants in teacher education. It also provides a support system to ensure graduates’ success.

The Emerging Scholars program gives South Carolina high school students in low-income areas with opportunities such as mentoring, college tours, educational workshops, and summer residential experiences at Clemson.

“The continued support Wells Fargo provides Emerging Scholars has allowed us to increase the number of students we serve,” said Amber Lange, executive director of the Office of College Preparation and Outreach. “This summer we will expand into two new high schools and that would not be possible without Wells Fargo.”

Wells Fargo has given over $1.5 million to Call Me MISTER and $750,000 to Emerging Scholars. The longtime support of these programs allows Clemson to bring educational and career opportunities to many young people of color and first-generation college students.

For more information, visit: http://newsstand.clemson.edu/mediarelations/wells-fargo-donates-350000-to-clemson-diversity-programs-2. 

Wells Fargo executives joined leaders from Clemson and the College of Business on Tuesday, November 7 for the third annual Wells Fargo Scholars Luncheon, which celebrates Wells Fargo’s support of the Wells Fargo Student Endowment Scholarship Program, the Wells Fargo Professorship of Banking, Dr. Lucy Chernykh, Associate Professor of Finance, and the Wells Fargo Faculty Scholar, Dr. Brandon Lockhart, Assistant Professor of Finance.

The Wells Fargo Scholars Program was established in 1998 and provides scholarships to rising juniors and seniors studying finance-related disciplines. Students must have a 3.0 GPA, exhibit strong leadership and communication skills, and be involved in university organizations and clubs. The first scholarships from this endowment were awarded in 2007, and 88 scholarships have been awarded since.

The 2017-2018 Wells Fargo Scholars are:

Michael Akin, Financial Management, Atlanta, GA

Joseph Baynard, Financial Management, Charlotte, NC

Mitchell Brockmann, Financial Management, Hilton Head, SC

Taylor Brown, Financial Management, Greer, SC

Kyle Carrier, Financial Management, Hopkinton, MA

Paul Currey, Financial Management, Winnsboro, SC

Guerry Green, Financial Management, Pawleys Island, SC

Scot Mackenzie, Financial Management, Smithfield VA

Noah Mackey, Financial Management, Richmond VA

Eugene Mcelheny, Financial Management, Carbondale, IL

Alexandra Becker, Financial Management, Oceanport, NJ

James Hooks, Financial Management, Nashville, TN

Tabitha Davis, Financial Management, West Linn, OR

Emma Dilworth, Accounting, Greenville, SC

Mia Jones, Financial Management, Homer Glen, IL

The luncheon allowed students the opportunity to network with Wells Fargo executives and talk about their future careers in the financial world. At the event, Dean Bobby McCormick highlighted this by saying, “As we prepare for this next generation of excellent undergraduate education in business, we will look to partners like Wells Fargo to determine the experiences that will shape students into competitive employees once they enter the financial sector workforce.”

On November 1^st Clemson University welcomed State Farm representatives from across South Carolina to campus for a reception in the State Farm Sales Lab. The Sales Lab has become an integral part of the marketing department. Students utilize the lab as part of course curriculum to practice and fine-tune their sales abilities. Having the opportunity to watch themselves and other students make mock transactions in high-tech sales suites allows students to become more proficient in current selling techniques. Business School Dean Bobby McCormick spoke to State Farm’s generosity and the importance of their donation to Clemson marketing students at the event.

“We are delighted to have this opportunity – to celebrate State Farm’s longstanding support of Clemson University – and to provide a networking opportunity for our students. I would like to thank the State Farm representatives that are with us this evening for their continued commitment to Clemson.”