Category: Life After Retirement

Mary Taylor Haque, Alumni Distinguished Professor Emerita of Horticulture, retired in 2010. She has been very busy since her retirement and remains an example of staying engaged after retirement!

Book Details: 2021:  Currently working on editing a textbook and writing the Foreword for The Placemakers Academy by Mary Palmer Dargan, ASLA.

Published Writing:
2021:  Haque, Mary Taylor. The Saluda Riverwalk and its Sentinel Destination: Boyd Island Sanctuary. The Midlands Master Naturalist Association Newsletter. Winter Issue 2021. Pages 14-17.
2021: Haque, Mary Taylor. The Saluda Riverwalk. The Upstate Master Naturalist Association Newsletter. Spring Issue 2021.
2019:  Bauknight, Deana. “A Flock of Birders” featuring Taylor and Haque family. Columbia Metropolitan Magazine. March 2019.
2014:  “Reflections on a Seabird Rookery-Deveaux Bank”.  Article by Mary Haque featuring work of Dana Beach, founder of the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League and author of Deveaux Bank.  The Upstate Naturalist. Vol. 4, Issue 4, August 2014 page 3&6.

Award Details since retirement: 
2018:  Inducted into the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Council of Fellows: “Fellowship is among the highest honors the ASLA bestows on members and recognizes the contributions of these individuals to their profession and society at large based on their works, leadership and management, knowledge, and service. The designation of Fellow is conferred on individuals in recognition of exceptional accomplishments over a sustained period of time.” (ASLA)

2016: Silent Footprinter Award. Presented by the South Carolina Chapter of the Sierra Club.

Student’s Honors and Awards Since Retiring:
2010:  Creative Inquiry Advisee Thomas Baker won Best Creative Inquiry category in the Clemson University E-Portfolio contest. Landscape Design of a Vertical Plane: The Clemson University Green Wall Project. March 2010.

2010:  Independent study students Christa Jordan and Erin Cooke were awarded the National Wildlife Federation’s Campus Ecology Program Fellowship to work on a green roof project as a collaborative effort between Friends of Lake Keowee (FOLKS) and Clemson University 2009-2010. They presented “Demonstration Green Roof that Encourages Participation, Education and Action”  at the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) Conference in 2010.

Teaching and Advising:
2015: Served on the Program Planning Committee for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.
2011 to 2015: Served on the design team for the Children’s Garden at the South Carolina Botanical Garden (SCBG) and participated in plans to involve children in nature-based learning through the redesign and installation of an expanded Children’s Garden. This team worked with the SCBG board who successfully raised $2 million for the Children’s Garden.
2014: Planned and organized a public event featuring Dana Beach to educate and fundraise for bird habitat in South Carolina. Birding benefit proceeds exceeded three thousand dollars and drew visibility to help grow the membership and support base of seven participating organizations including The South Carolina Master Naturalist Program, the South Carolina Botanical Garden, The Coastal Conservation League, the Keowee Clemson Bird Club, The Foothills Group of the Sierra Club, the South Carolina Master Gardener Program, and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.
2013: Served on the state committee to plan and host the Master Naturalist State Conference and silent auction, helped organize the poster sessions, and recruited and introduced the keynote speaker.
2012: Served as a “client” for Angelina Oberdon’s business writing class at Clemson University to prepare marketing brochures, a website, and a Facebook page for the Foothills Group of the Sierra Club.
2011: Spring Semester: Substitute taught tennis classes at Clemson University for Dr. Gina McLellan.
2011: Served as guest critic for Professor Scott Schiff’s Civil Engineering CU class project to design a “Road Diet” for Highway 123 in Clemson, SC.
2011: Served as “client” for Joey Burton’s exit project in Landscape Architecture.  Design of an education center for the SC Wildlife Federation property on Congaree Creek in Cayce, SC. Final presentation December 9.
2011: Served as “client” for Nick Myer’s exit project in Landscape Architecture.  Design for the Clemson University Calhoun Field Lab and Aquaculture Facility. Final presentation December 9.
2010: Taught a Horticulture Creative Inquiry Class at Clemson University.  Thomas Baker.  Eric Healy.

Conference Presentations Since Retiring in 2010
2021: Humphries, Ann-Chadwell, Mary Taylor Haque, and Christina Xan. Inclusive Spaces + Empowering Places: The Poetry of Leadership. Women in Leadership Conference. March 6. Clemson, SC.
2016:  Haque, Mary Taylor and Betsy Corn. Rethinking the Design of a Public Children’s Garden. American Horticultural Society National Children and Youth Gardening Symposium. July 14. Columbia, SC.
2013: Haque, Mary Taylor. Promoting Environmental Education through Volunteer Service as Program Coordinator for the Foothills Group of the Sierra Club. South Carolina Master Naturalist State Conference. Poster Presentation. May 24. Clemson, SC.
2013: Haque, Mary. Landscape Design for Energy Efficiency. South Carolina Horticultural Industry Annual Conference and Trade Show. February 6. Myrtle Beach, SC.
2013:  Haque, Mary. “Connecting Children to Nature”. South Carolina Master Naturalist State Conference.  May 24. Clemson, SC.
2012:  Haque, Mary. Designing Outdoor Environments for Children. South Carolina Horticultural Industry Conference and Trade Show. February 2. Myrtle Beach, SC.
2010:  Baker, K. Thomas, Mary T. Haque, and Dr. James Brown-Faust. Landscape Design of a Vertical Plane: The Clemson University Green Wall Project. Southern Region, American Society for Horticultural Science Annual Meeting. February 7. Orlando, Fla.
2010:  Healy, Erik J., Renee K. Byrd, Mary T. Haque, Tyler Miller, and Karl Muzii. The Petty Residence: A Landscape Design Based on Principles of Sustainability. Southern Region, American Society for Horticultural Science Annual Meeting. February 7. Orlando, Fla.

Selected Invited Presentations Since Retiring in 2010:
2013: Haque, Mary.  Landscape Design Criteria for Children’s Gardens.  Presentation and consultation with South Carolina Botanical Garden staff on their Children’s Garden design. December 3 and 11. Clemson. SC.
2013: Haque, Mary. “Designing Outdoor Environments for Children.” Lake and Hills Garden Club. April 12. Salem, SC.
2012: Haque, Mary. Designing Outdoor Environments for Children presentation and consultation with garden staff on their Children’s Garden design. Brookgreen Gardens. February 24 and again on June 12. Litchfield, SC.
2011: Haque, Mary. Designing Outdoor Environments for Children.  Master Gardeners. South Carolina Botanical Garden. November 7. Clemson, SC.
2011: Haque, Mary. Principles of Landscape Design. Clemson University Hort. 461/661 Guest lecture for class taught by Galen Newman. January 24. Clemson, SC.
2011: Haque, Mary. Elements of Landscape Design. Clemson University Hort. 461/661 Guest lecture for class taught by Galen Newman. February 1. Clemson. SC.
2011: Haque, Mary. Planting Design. Clemson University Hort. 461/661 Guest lecture for class taught by Galen Newman. February 8. Clemson, SC.
2011: Haque, Mary. Topiary Artist Pearl Fryer. Clemson Garden Club. South Carolina Botanical Garden. February 28. Clemson, SC.
2011: Haque, Mary. Gardening with Children. Pickens Garden Club. September 6. Pickens, SC.
2011: Haque, Mary. Landscape Transformations. Edge Expo. Urban Ag Council, Gwinnett Center. December 7. Duluth, GA.
2010: Haque, Mary, Lolly Tai. Designing Outdoor Environments for Children.  Southern Spring Show. March 5.  Charlotte, North Carolina.
2010: Haque, Mary. Decorative Fall Plants. Garden Club. October 5. Seneca, SC.

Exhibitions Since Retiring in 2010:
Co-sponsored Exhibit on Charleston Renaissance Artist “Anna Heyward Taylor: Intrepid Explorer” at the Gibbes Museum of Art. Charleston, SC. January 18-May 12, 2019.  Her work was also exhibited at the Greenville Museum of Art May 26-July22, 2018, and at the Charleston Museum in 2019.

Professor Emerita and Senior Associate Dean, Graduate School, Dr. Felder retired in 2017 after many years of service to Clemson.

Frankie had begun her reconnection with the University since retirement and returning to the area after living nearly two years in Hout Bay, South Africa. This year (2021)she is pleased to announce that she has completed and self-published her book, OURstory Unchained and Liberated from HIStory, a narrative of her ancestors in the context of the history of the times in which they lived, primarily in Mississippi and Louisiana, prior to and during the Civil War, during Reconstruction, and into the Jim Crow era. Dr. Felder has also joined the Development Board of the Graduate School and will begin a three-year term on the Advisory Board of the Emeritus College.

Exhibition Details:  Not an “invited lecture” but “book talks” on her book, OURstory Unchained and Liberated from HIStory. It is resonating with those who have read it. She will speak to a small group in Milwaukee, WI this upcoming week, and have been asked to present in Atlanta and in Spartanburg, and will formally launch the book in Greenville at the Upcountry History Museum, September 26, 2021. Once the books are received in South Africa, Dr. Felder will do a Zoom presentation with the book club that she was a member of while living there, and will present to the Emeritus College via a hybrid session on October 26, 2021. Her ancestors included slaves, a US Colored Troop soldier, Confederate soldiers, and slaveholders.

Dr. Almeda Jacks, VPSA retired, Member of the Clemson University Emeritus College

Book Details: Working on a book from my personal experiences having reported directly to 7 presidents. “Higher Education: The Good, Bad and the Truth” (Working with Presidents and Governing Boards)

Other Details:  Currently in a pool for Interim Vice Presidents but not looking for permanent. I continue to do some consulting but truly enjoying my free time after 44 years in Higher Education!

Donna Reiss, Associate Professor Emerita of English

After retiring from teaching, writing, and editing, Donna has been learning watercolor painting, bookmaking, and mixed media collages and assemblages. Her collages have been been exhibited at the Anderson Arts Center, Artists Collective in Spartanburg, Metropolitan Arts Center, and Greenville Center for Creative Arts. Examples are on her Instagram feed, search dreissart.

Volunteer Details: She is a frequent volunteer at Metropolitan Arts Council and Greenville Center for Creative Arts. Donna has volunteered at Safe Harbor for over ten years. 

Ms. Reiss has  been making  journals and sketchbooks in a variety of formats, including hardcover and softcover. Examples are on my Instagram feed, search dreissart.

Visit http://wordsworth2.net to view her past academic and other career activities.

William Stringer, Associate Professor Emeritus of Agronomy and Soils, continues to be very involved since his retirement in 2011.

 

Published Writing Details: Writing articles for, and editing the Journal of the South Carolina Native Plant Society.

Teaching/Advising Details: Working with a Graduate Research Assistant and his committee on a project on Rocky Shoals Spider Lilies (Hymenocallis coronaria).

Exhibition Details: Frequent invited lectures on native plants, invasive plants and landscaping to Garden Clubs, Master Gardeners and Master Naturalist groups.

Volunteer Details: Leading effort to preserve and restore a site on Stevens Creek with rocky shoals spider lilies and a turn-of-the-century water turbine-driven grist mill.  Active in fund-raising for this project.

Other details: Planning to travel to historic sites in Europe when COVID subsides or an effective vaccine is available.

 

Post Retirement Activities of Walton H. Owens, Jr, Professor Emeritus of Political Science

Service to Clemson University:  (1)  Dr. Walton H. Owens, Jr. retired in 1995 and began service to Clemson University almost immediately.  As immediate past president of the Faculty Senate, he had two responsibilities: (a) to serve as chair of a committee to choose a recipient of a biennial award in Astronomy and (b) to serve on a committee of the Board of Trustees that chooses the recipients of honorary degrees.  (2) After completing those tasks, he was selected to serve as President of the Clemson chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

Service to South Carolina Government:  (1) Several years after his retirement, Walt’s service turned to SC state government.  The SC General Assembly passed a measure creating several state-wide task forces to find ways to make the state’s universities more accountable.   These were made up primarily of university trustees, university presidents, corporate CEOs, and a few former Faculty Senate Presidents.  A few years before his retirement, Professor Owens had spent a sabbatical year on the SC Governor’s Staff, doing research in that subject area.  Perhaps because of that, he was appointed to chair the Task Force on Administration and consequently to serve on another, capstone task force that prepared the report to the General Assembly.  (2) Also in the 1990s, Walt continued to serve as a Commissioner of South Carolina Educational Television.  Having taught a number of courses in public administration, Walt took the position seriously and reached out to line operatives to monitor their work and employee morale.  He did this in part to have a more factual basis for completing the annual evaluation of SCETV’s president.

Work in Public Service Organizations: But the work of which Walt is most proud was in the area of mental health.  After retirement, he was asked to do legislative and executive advocacy for the National Alliance on Mental Illness South Carolina (NAMI SC).  Soon thereafter, he was asked to serve on NAMI SC’s state board of directors.  During his tenure on the board, he served as Secretary, then as Vice President and later, several terms as President.  Looking back on those years, Professor Owens indicated that the Board realized several tangible accomplishments.  Chief among them, he said, was a legislative initiative that would make it possible for a patient to designate a family member (or a friend) who could communicate with his physician so as to help the patient understand his situation and his alternatives.  Walt felt that such a provision was much needed for psychiatric patients, while at the same time it was very helpful for others, also.  As a result of NAMI SC’s effort – and with support from activists representing the medical community – state law now requires a form (covering all medical fields) which a patient is asked to sign before an initial visit with a physician, acknowledging understanding that option.

In another initiative advocated by NAMI SC, the legislature passed a measure providing for equity in insurance coverage for mental health issues along with physical health issues.  (That parity is now required by federal law.)

Community Involvement: (1) For three years in the 1990s Professor Owens served as elder and clerk of session for Fort Hill Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) in Clemson.  (2) Finally, as an avid woodworker, Dr. Owens made several presentations to Clemson Area Woodworkers on things which he had built: a side table in the Federal Period, several curios, a chess table, and (with Professor Kelly Crader) a mountain dulcimer.  For several years he also served that organization in a leadership capacity.

Dr. John Bednar, Professor Emeritus of Languages and International Trade

Book Details: A sequel to THE PEOPLE’S PRESIDENT (IN THE NATION’S SERVICE) should be completed by mid-2019. Any emeritus faculty member wanting a complimentary copy of the completed novel should contact me. I will be glad to give you one.

Published Writings: I’m writing an op-ed article about my conviction that our democracy is in such division and turmoil that we should seriously consider electing many more Independents to Congress, since a recent poll announced that 44% of our electorate consists of Independents. With only two Independents in the Senate and no Independents in the House, less than half of one percent of this segment of our population is represented.

Other Details: I ran as an Independent candidate in the November election … as an Independent, write-in candidate on a budget of zero … for the District 3 seat in the United States House of Representatives. A second conviction in my mind, and in the mind of many others, is that there is far too much money in politics today, corrupting our democratic process in many ways.  My thanks to the votes I received from a few of you who knew. I intend to ask Jeff Duncan to introduce a bill which I call the “Super PAC Matching Gift Bill” which would force all Super PAC’s to donate an additional dollar to public education for every dollar they spend in the state of any candidate they endorse.  A proviso would be part of the bill stating that any state legislature that reduces its budgetary support of education after receiving these windfalls would subsequently be disqualified from receiving further funds, thereby guaranteeing a massive new influx of monetary support for public education. Clemson University could well benefit from this in the future, both in terms of better pre-college public education in South Carolina (and therefore better qualified state applicants) and possible allocation of some of the funds directly to the our state university by the state legislature. I would very much appreciate any and all feedback from all of you on this subject.

 

 

Jim Castle, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences

Teaching Details: Teaching yoga in Asheville, NC, at a studio, with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, and at a hospital

Volunteer Details: Volunteer at the VA Hospital

Dr. William Hendrix, Professor Emeritus of Management and Department Chair retired in 1998. After retiring from Clemson, Dr. Hendrix served on the faculty at the USAF Academy for approximately nine years before returning to South Carolina.

Published Writing: Dr. Hendrix is currently (August 2018) working on a manuscript with a colleague from Harvard University which includes moral reasoning and moral excellence (e.g. integrity, honesty, loyalty, etc.)

He has published two articles with a colleague at Harvard since he retired, they are: Hendrix, W. H., Born, D. H., Hopkins, S. (2015).  Relationship of Transformational Leadership and Character with Five Organizational Outcomes. Journal of Character and Leadership Integration, 3(1), 54-71. Born, D. H., Hendrix, W. H., & Pate, E. (2017, Winter). Three pillars of organizational excellence. Journal of Character and Leadership Integration, 4(1), 46-54. Volunteer:  Dr. Hendrix is a member of the Executive Sertoma Club of Greenville. He serves as a member of Purdue University’s College of Health and Human Sciences Alumni Board. Dr. Hendrix has served on the Clemson University Emeritus College Advisory Board.  In 2011-2012, he was Chair of  the Emeritus College Advisory Board and its Development Committee.  

Dr. John Hains, Associate Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences retired from Clemson University in 2018. Published Writing: Regular contributor to the ‘Sentinel’, the newsletter for Friends of Lake Keowee Society. My regular column is entitled, ‘Practical Limnology’ with various subtitles.

Awards: Completed  work for a Duke Energy Foundation grant, contributing to professional development courses for K-12 teachers at the Bad Creek Outdoor Laboratory. Plans are to repeat the funded course next summer (2019) as well.

Teaching: Completed teaching the graduate course (BIOL 8410), ‘Understanding Ecology and Ecosystems’ as part of the online MS in biological sciences. I have also agreed to return this fall (2018) to teach BIOL 4430, ‘Freshwater Ecology’.

Volunteer Details: I continue to assist the CU Plant Problem Clinic providing identifications of algae for SC ponds and lakes.

Other Details: For the 2018-19 academic year,  I will continue as the interim program director for the Archbold Tropical Research and Education Center, Clemson’s field station in Dominica. I hope to assist with the recovery efforts after Hurricane Maria and to hand my duties to a successor during this time.

I am also continuing as associate editor for ‘Lake and Reservoir Management’, the journal of the North American Lake Management Society.