By Ken Scar, Office of Media Relations
The Clemson Corps, a constituency group dedicated to continuing the university’s military heritage, has created a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for faculty and students to participate in the completion of Memorial Park, one of the defining features of the campus.
An undergraduate research creative inquiry group is being organized to facilitate the construction of a kiosk that will give visitors a historic perspective of the park and the men and women it memorializes.
The plans for Memorial Park, which sits directly across from the 80,000-seat Memorial Stadium, have included an informational kiosk since their inception.
“Thousands of people visit Memorial Park during the year, and many are not aware of its history and purpose,” said retired U.S. Army Col. Danny Rhodes, co-chairman of the Memorial Park and Scroll of Honor Committee. “We have had plans since our initial concept design to establish a kiosk so that visitors can access information about the park, the Scroll of Honor and the 485 heroes memorialized there. We are now ready to explore the best alternative to provide this capability.”
The Scroll of Honor, a manicured barrow ringed by stones etched with the names of every Clemson graduate who died in military service, was dedicated in April 2010. Memorial Park, the immaculately landscaped grounds that surround the Scroll of Honor, followed in May 2012.
The kiosk will be the finishing touch on the iconic location, which has quickly become hallowed grounds for the Clemson community.
“The park is dedicated to all members of the Clemson ‘family’ who have served, who are serving, and who will commit to a lifetime of service,” said Rhodes. “There is no better example of service and sacrifice than the 485 Clemson alumni who are included on the Scroll of Honor for having made the ultimate sacrifice – their lives – in service to our country.”
“We will meet soon to begin developing the syllabus and schedule. We are open to having additional co-mentors if others are interested, and we definitely want a 
couple of students to help us develop the syllabus,” said Barbara Weaver, Clemson’s deputy director of cyberinfrastructure technology integration and chair of the faculty planning team. The CI team will begin its work this fall.
“We are most fortunate to be able to use the unparalleled expertise of our faculty and students through this creative inquiry research,” said Rhodes. “We need to apply current and emerging technology to develop both physical and virtual options so that visitors can access information at any time, on any day, and from any location. What we develop for Memorial Park and the Scroll of Honor may become the template for all venues on campus and even beyond Clemson. We need the best and brightest to tackle this challenge!”
Anyone interested in participating can contact the team members below:
- Chair of the Faculty Planning Team: Barbara Weaver, Deputy Director, Cyberinfrastructure Technology Integration, weaver2@clemson.edu, 650-8238.
- Lecturer, School of Computing, Ken Weaver, kaweaver@gmail.com, 903-1372.
- Senior Lecturer, Communications Studies, Eddie Smith, seddie@clemson.edu, 656-5383.
- Associate Professor of English, Dr. Jan Holmevik, jholmev@clemson.edu, 656-3151.
- Professor of History, Dr. Rod Andrew, jrandre@clemson.edu. 656-3153.
- Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture, Dr. Martin Holland, mjholla@clemson.edu, 650-8370.
