The 2015-2016 Victor Hurst Convocation begins Clemson University’s 123rd academic year. The event will take place on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2015, at the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts in the Auditorium. A reception will be held immediately following the meeting.
The Clemson faculty, staff and representatives of our student organizations are invited to be a part of this important ceremony in the academic life of our institution. While we encourage participants to wear academic regalia in the processional, it is not mandatory. The campus bookstore will make it possible for all rentals of regalia for the August commencement to be extended, at no additional cost, to include the 2015 Convocation.
The processional, beginning with a line up at 8:15 a.m., will proceed to the Brooks Center at 8:30 a.m. All university employees are encouraged to participate in the processional. Please plan to arrive at your starting point promptly at 8:15 a.m.
Processional Starting Points
Brackett Hall Atrium
Undergraduate Student Body
Graduate Student Body
University Staff
Athletics
Faculty Senate
Graduate School
Research
College of Business and Behavioral Science
Poole Hall Auditorium
College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences
100 Lee Hall
College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities
158 Hunter Hall
College of Engineering and Science
Tillman Hall lobby
College of Health, Education and Human Development
Eugene T. Moore School of Education
Robert Muldrow Cooper Library (second level front entrance)
Library
Sikes Hall lobby
Administrative officers, university marshal and guests
University academic deans
*In the event of inclement weather, an email will be sent to the campus community directing them to the Brooks Center for a 9 a.m. Convocation/faculty meeting start.
About the keynote speaker
This year’s Convocation keynote address will be given by Spence M. Taylor, M.D., FACS, president and chief academic officer of the Greenville Health System Clinical University, senior associate dean for academic affairs and diversity at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville, and director of the American Board of Surgery.
Taylor is a graduate of Clemson University, earning a B.S. in biochemistry and an M.D. at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC).
After finishing a general surgery residency at MUSC, Taylor completed a peripheral vascular surgery residency at Baylor College of Medicine. He joined the faculty of the Greenville Health System upon completion of military duty at Wilford Hall U.S. Air Force Medical Center in San Antonio, TX. Taylor has spent his entire academic career in Greenville where he has risen to the rank of clinical professor. During his academic career, he has been a medical school clerkship director, program director in general surgery and vice chair of the Department of Surgery, helping build a nationally renowned academic vascular surgery service. In 1998, Taylor was named chair of Surgery in Greenville, a position he held until June 2010. Under his direction, the Department of Surgery grew from fewer than 10 surgeons to more than 60 surgeons in a variety of surgical sub-specialties.
Taylor is a member of every major surgical society, including the American Surgical Association, Southern Surgical Association (current President), Society for Vascular Surgery, where is a Distinguished Fellow, and Southern Association for Vascular Surgery. He is past president of the South Carolina Surgical Society and South Carolina Vascular Society. He is past second vice president of the Southeastern Surgical Congress, past secretary/treasurer for the Southern Association for Vascular Surgery and past president of the Southern Association for Vascular Surgery. Taylor has authored or co-authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, written numerous book chapters and delivered multiple invited lectureships.
Can’t attend in person? Convocation will be live streamed on ClemsonTV.
