Month: November 2019

Elsie Bennett Wilson, who retired from Clemson University in 2000 after 37 years and served as executive assistant to seven presidents, died Nov. 14, 2019.

She worked for former Clemson presidents R.C. Edwards, Bill Atchley, Walter T. Cox, Max Lennon, Phil Prince, Constantine Curris and Jim Barker.

Funeral services will be held 3 p.m. Monday, Nov. 18, at the Duckett-Robinson Funeral Home, 108 Cross Creek Road, Central.

The family will receive friends immediately after the service. The committal service will follow.

She will be laid to rest next to her husband, Betts, in the family plot located in Cemetery Hill on the 50 yard line about 20 yards outside the South Stands of Memorial Stadium.

Duckett-Robinson Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Read the full obituary here.

Clemson’s Solid Green Day is this Friday, Nov. 15 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. at Mell Hall Plaza. This year the Solid Green committee has teamed up with Grab-A-Bag SC, a litter pick-up campaign initiated by South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette. Students, faculty and staff who volunteer will receive a bag to collect litter for approximately one hour and bring back to Mell Hall. Each participant will receive a Solid Green T-Shirt and be entered for a chance to win a football autographed by Dabo Swinney.

The Solid Green campaign began in 2006, when students noticed that the campus was covered in litter after Homecoming weekend. The tradition was created to raise campus awareness of littering, recycling, energy and water conservation and other environmental issues, promote cleanup activities and other events, and support student groups that encourage environmental awareness. It is now Clemson’s official anti-litter and environmental sustainability campaign.

Friday also happens to be America Recycles Day, a nationally recognized day dedicated to promoting and celebrating recycling in the United States that will be celebrated in conjunction with the Solid Green Day event.

Construction will close Calhoun Drive from Fort Hill Street to Gantt Circle for as long as two weeks beginning Monday, Nov. 11.

Crews will be working on pedestrian safety and other improvements on the street. Vehicles will not be able to travel on that section of the road and 13 street parking spots will not be available during the project.

Construction is projected to end Nov. 22, but weather could delay it.

Stay abreast of construction closings with Facilities’ online interactive map.

William E. Robinson, a systems architect in Clemson Computing and Information Technology, died Oct. 12, 2019, at Easley Baptist Hospital. He worked at Clemson 21 years, from 1997 until the time of his death.

He is survived by his parents, Thomas Davenport and Mattie Robinson; is wife, Lisa Pearson Robinson of the home; two sons, Michael Goodine of Seneca and Brandon Kimbrough of Central; five sisters, Tosha (Jonathan) Mayer of Mauldin, Zundra Robinson of Shelby, North Carolina, Shanitha Robinson of Easley, Angie Stewart of Mauldin and Ebony Thompson of Greenville; two brothers, Robarea (Lavette) Robinson of Spartanburg and Marcus Robinson of Greenville.

A funeral service was held Oct. 18, 2019.

Share your condolences and memories online at Watkins, Garrett & Woods Mortuary.

Faculty investigators and staff project managers will find it easier to track and manage their project expenditures thanks to significant upgrades to the Faculty Business Information System (FBIS).

Users will find that the tool, which was developed at Clemson University and has been in use for many years, now is much faster and easier to navigate. While it still is called the Faculty Business Information System ­– originally designed for sponsored research projects – it also is used by staff to manage Fund 10 through Fund 20 projects.

The new tool was a collaboration of the Office of Strategy & Analytics, part of Finance and Operations, the Office of Budgets and Financial Planning, the Data Warehouse and Grants and Contracts Administration.

The team removed repetitive steps and the need for multiple screens and added drop-downs to make it easier for users to examine project summaries, add new projects and review journal entries and payroll detail. Also, users can download data to Excel with the click of a button and everything is backed up every night.

Assistant Professor of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences Sudeep Popat uses the system continually and appreciates the improvements. His main concern – loading speed – is fixed, and as a superuser of the system, he recognizes this as a key improvement to his job.

Department administrators can get access to the FBIS to help faculty and managers with their projects, too.

That’s especially important to Alex Villano, an accountant for the chemistry and biological sciences departments in the College of Science.

“In the admin page, the access allows users to find all of the projects they’re linked to even if they’re not the main manager,” Villano said. That’s important for her to be able to access information without having to stop everything and manage an added step of contacting the project manager or department head.

She agreed with Pokat that the system is faster than before. The navigation also is more user-friendly, she said.

The FBIS upgrade is among recent Clemson University projects intended to ease the workloads of faculty and staff through efficiencies designed to remove both wait times and added steps. Another is the recently announced decision to adopt Watermark, which will streamline and centralize the management of faculty activity reporting, faculty evaluation, as well as promotion and tenure processes.

To learn more about the upgraded Faculty Business Information System, download the condensed User Guide, access the tutorial video or request in-person training for individuals or departments. Questions about FBIS? Send them to fbis@clemson.edu.