SC Prison Education Interest Group Hosts Tours of JUMPSTART and SOTERIA CDC
Date: March 20, 2025, 11:00 am – 4:00 pm
You are invited to join the Emeritus College SC Prison Education Interest Group on a visit to two highly successful re-entry programs for Incarcerated men and women to support their transition back into society. Formerly incarcerated men founded each of these faith-based programs.
JUMPSTART, Wellford, SC, has three programs: an Inside Program with Mentors prepares the prisoners for the residential Transitional Program. Upon successful completion, men and women move into the Workforce Development Initiative. JUMPSTART’s second-chance employer partnerships extend to over 40 companies in the Spartanburg area. Lunch will be provided by JUMPSTART’s Culinary Arts students. A donation is suggested for lunch.
SOTERIA CDC, our second stop (afternoon) is in Greenville, SC. SOTERIA CDC provides individuals with housing, education, employment, affirmation, and advocacy. We will tour their newest transitional house for women as well as the recently rebuilt woodshop. The shop turns out beautiful custom furniture and other items.
Dr. Rosanne Pruitt, Emeritus College Representative on the University-wide Well-Being Council, Advisory Board Member, and Co-Chair of the Emeritus College’s Well-Being Committee, is pictured with 30 Clemson employees who recently completed two-day adversity training.
Virtual Attendance: Do not register – contact vmushef@clemson.edu for the Zoom link
Hybrid Panel Lunch
Retirement
Thinking about retiring? Please join the Emeritus College for an informal session with a panel of emeritus faculty and representatives from Clemson’s Office of Human Resources and SC PEBA.
You may have questions about the process of retirement, selecting the right time to retire, related decisions, and retirement paperwork. Or you may be wondering what happens after you retire – what do you do after breakfast that first morning?
Learn about the advantages of participation in the Emeritus College and the support available for emeritus faculty. Emeritus faculty will be available to answer questions you have about what to expect when retiring and opportunities post-retirement!
PANEL PARTICIPANTS
Moderator
Dr. Debra Jackson
Director and Professor Emerita of Nursing
864-656-3990 | dbj@clemson.edu
PEBA (SC Retirement Systems and State Health Plan)
The Annual Holiday Social is always a favorite event within our Emeriti community because it’s a party – hanging out together, meeting new people and catching up with old friends, and just having some good old-fashioned fun – no agendas, no awards, no business. We hope to see you there. Please register in advance REGISTER TO ATTEND HERE
The Clemson University Emeritus College gathered on Tuesday, October 29 for the annual Fall Picnic and Business Meeting. Around 150 emeritus faculty enjoyed great food and conversation; welcomed new members; approved changes to the college’s by-laws; and awarded the prestigious Emeritus Award for Research and Scholarship to two very deserving Emeritus Faculty for their outstanding contributions to scholarly research: Dr. Frankie O. Felder and Dr. Jack C. Peck!
Dr. Frankie O. Felder
Dr. Felder, 2024 Fall Picnic and Business Meeting, Emeritus Collegge
Since retiring in 2017, Dr. Felder has devoted a significant amount of time to researching and writing two important historical documents. These include a history of her family, whose roots are from deep southern states, and the history of graduate education at Clemson University. Both publications invite critical thought about subjects that impact those living in the South. Her publication OURstory, Unchained and Liberated from HIStory (pronounced HIS-story), was published in 2021, and describes the lesser-known aspects of an African American family experience prior to and through the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow.
Dr. Frank Smith, director of the African American Civil War Memorial Museum, called this book “a must read for any serious scholar wishing to understand this period of American history.” Dr. Vernon Burton, who wrote her foreword, said she “opens the doors to the history of education of blacks in the South to the general reader through the rise of her ancestors’ descendants as they passed through the doors of Rosenwald School and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.” Her book … “addresses how the South’s very dark period of American history has changed in her lifetime” offering “hope for the future in the victories of the past.”
Dr. Felder has also researched the history of graduate education at Clemson. Her book Graduate Education at Clemson and the Evolution to a University is due out in the spring. She was the opening plenary speaker at the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools this year where she shared her premise that graduate education transformed a rural college into a world-class university. Her nominator notes that she received a resounding standing ovation for her presentation on the relevance of graduate education not only to Clemson University, but to all southern colleges and universities. Her book recognizes more than one hundred graduate “trailblazers” and reflects on one hundred years of graduate education at Clemson from1924 to 2024.
Dr. Jack C. Peck
Upon his retirement from Clemson in 2000, Dr. Peck was among the top Computer Science faculty in publications and funded research. He continues to be a successful serial entrepreneur. In 1987, he co-founded Foxfire Technologies Corporation to create software for both the manufacturing and distribution industries. Beginning operations in a Clemson University incubator, Foxfire grew to more than twenty employees. Foxfire’s products were employed by such well-known companies as Levi, Wrangler, Playtex, Sara Lee, Jantzen, Intertape Polymer, and Carters. In 2006, after a successful exit from Foxfire Technologies, Dr. Peck co-founded FastFetch Corporation to supply innovative hardware and software solutions for eCommerce order fulfillment.
He provided the creative impetus that formed the basis for FastFetch’s products. One such product employs artificial intelligence to determine a right-sized container for shipping multiple items of different sizes and shapes with minimal wasted space. This problem has long been recognized as a difficult problem in the computer science field. In 2019, this development was judged as the most innovative supply chain management product in the US by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), edging out Intel Corporation.
While there are numerous artificial intelligence applications currently being developed for the supply chain industry, the FastFetch solution is one of only a few that are in production daily by well-known companies such as Snap-on, Staples, FedEx, and UPS. In addition to receiving the CSCMP innovation award in 2019, FastFetch was a finalist for the innovation award in 2018 and the runner-up in 2023. Dr. Peck has been granted 5 US patents and several international patents on the innovations employed in FastFetch products. Jack is recognized as a thought leader in the supply chain industry. He has frequently presented technical talks at industry conferences, served on industry panels, been interviewed on several occasions by supply chain media outlets, and been quoted in trade publications. Additionally, Dr. Peck continues to publish scholarly papers in a refereed, international supply chain journal with publications in 2019, 2023, and a publication scheduled for 2025.
November 4, 2024, (Monday), 10:00 am – 11:30 am, Hybrid, Doug’s Holiday Gift Tech Talk! Join Doug, our CCIT Support Consultant, as he provides his suggestions and moderates others’ ideas on helpful small, inexpensive, and more expensive tech products to consider this holiday buying season. Doug will feature items under $10 and others to fit all budgets with freebie suggestions. He will also discuss how to repurpose or upgrade existing tech. Stay to the end for some giveaway prizes for online/in-person participants!” Light refreshments will be served. Contact emerituscollege@clemson.edu for the Zoom Meeting Link.
Hurricane Helene’s impacts resulted in the need to reschedule our Fall Picnic from Oct 1st to Oct 29. Everyone must reregister for the new date of the picnic:
Members of the Emeritus College truly enjoy getting together for the Annual Fall Picnic and Business Meeting! Come on out to Palmettos Event and Catering Center at 11:30 am on Tuesday, October 1, 2024. Bring a guest (suggested donation of $20 per guest). Registration is required. Thank you. See you then!
Come on Out for the Fall Picnic – Oct 1, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm
SPECIAL
EMERITUS COLLEGE MUSIC EVENT – OCTOBER 18TH
Event: Interview Mac Arnold and enjoy
Mac’s music along with one band member
Date:Friday, October 18, 2024, at
10:00 am (Coffee House Music Session)
Place: Emeritus College Seminar Room
Cost: Free (donations are welcome!)
The
Clemson University Emeritus College has arranged for legendary Blues performer
Mac Arnold to discuss his career and provide musical entertainment during our
regularly scheduled Coffee House event on Friday, October 18, 2024, beginning
at 10 AM.
You may
be familiar with Mac, but here is a brief bio: Born in Ware Place, SC to a
family of sharecroppers, he and his brother, Leroy, taught themselves how to
play guitar by fashioning a broom stick and a gas can into an instrument. As a
teenager, Mac formed a band with James Brown playing the piano. In 1965, he
moved to Chicago to be close to the electric blues scene and became a part of
Muddy Waters’ band. By the 1970s, Mac was in Los Angeles and began coordinating
music on the TV show Soul Train, later playing bass on the theme song for the
extraordinarily successful television show Sanford and Son, starring Redd
Fox. Mac became remarkably busy doing recording work with Otis Redding, B.B.
King, Bill Withers, and others. In the 1980s, he returned to South Carolina to
become an organic farmer. Mac eventually formed the Plate Full O’Blues band,
and they toured together.
We will
interview Mac about his career and enjoy a jam session with a member of the
Plate Full O’Blues band. Please invite friends and family who would appreciate
getting to know this South Carolina treasure. He is a very humble and
approachable man. Please feel free to ask him questions as this will be very
informal and lots of fun. Sponsored by The Debbie and Vince Jackson Endowment
for Music and your contributions, which make music events at the Emeritus
College possible.
