Tag: faculty

By Chrystal Anderson, CU CARES Coordinator
Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)

Clemson University joined as a family on April 17 as Denim Day was honored on Clemson University’s campus. The premise for Denim Day began in 1992 when an 18-year-old woman in Italy was sexually assaulted by her driving instructor. The instructor was initially convicted with a rape charge; however, this charge was overturned. The judge ruled that the victim was wearing very tight jeans and must have assisted her assailant in taking her jeans off, thereby implying consent. The following day, women in the Italian Parliament came to work wearing jeans to stand in solidarity in support of the victim of sexual assault.

California-based Peace Over Violence then began Denim Day as an effort to stand in solidarity with survivors and protest erroneous attitudes about sexual assault. On April 17, various individuals including CAPS counselors, Clemson’s interpersonal violence prevention coordinator, representatives from local crisis centers and Clemson students gathered on Library Bridge, in Hendrix and at the Student Union to provide information about sexual assault, resources for those impacted by sexual assault and giveaways for people to show their stand against sexual assault. Many other individuals on campus participated in this event by wearing denim. This event was a great success, with much of this success due to the wonderful involvement from Clemson’s faculty and staff.

It became very evident throughout the day that our faculty and staff have made efforts to spread the word about Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Denim Day, as well as participate in various events. There is so much appreciation for those who have taken the time to show support for survivors, speak out against sexual assault, and/or talk with friends, family, colleagues, and students about Denim Day. This event was absolutely a testament to the difference that we can make when we join together for a cause. Thank you, all of you, for joining in efforts to combat this global epidemic that impacts our Clemson Family.

By Jackie Todd, Office of Media Relations

James McCubbin,  a psychology professor in the College of Business and Behavioral Science, assumed the 2015-16 presidency of the university’s Faculty Senate at its monthly meeting yesterday. The 18-year Clemson veteran chaired the Faculty Senate Research Committee before becoming Faculty Senate vice president.

“To serve as Faculty Senate president is a great honor for me,” he said. “But the real honor is to work with dedicated leaders like each of you.”

McCubbin praised the senate for its quest to preserve academic integrity, keep education affordable and to encourage a welcoming campus environment.

“I know that you don’t get much recognition for the hours you dedicate to the Faculty Senate,” he said. “However, I know that you do this for the greater good of our students, our colleagues and our community.”

In a recent presentation to Clemson’s Board of Trustees, McCubbin said that his top goal during his term is to “stimulate passionate motivation to drive ever-increasing faculty success.” To do that, the new president sees open and direct communication as a crucial part of the relationship among the university’s faculty, administration and its Trustees.

“I believe it is the basis of sound university management,” he explained.

McCubbin, who serves on Clemson’s 2020Forward undergraduate education committee, said that the Faculty Senate will play an active role in shaping the university’s future. As he leads the senate, the new president pledged to continue the work done on improving and streamlining the faculty manual, supporting diversity and enhancing a working environment that supports families.

McCubbin teaches psychology at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. His emphasis in both his teaching and research is health psychology. He actively researches and has been published for his work regarding the role of stress in cardiovascular disease.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a Ph.D. in psychology and neurobiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master’s degree in psychology from Wake Forest University.

Other recognitions at yesterday’s meeting included:

• Brett Dalton, named 2015 Alan Schaffer Faculty Senate Service Award recipient
• Retiring faculty senators
• Faculty Senate staff
• New 2015-16 faculty senators and representatives

Clemson University will be hosting its first Pride Week from Saturday, April 18 through April 24. The week, which is slated to become an annual event, will offer opportunities for the campus community to learn about the LGBT community, collaborate and show support.

This event is a collaboration of over eight different university offices and student groups on campus.

Below is a list of events:

• Saturday 4/18, 7:30 p.m.—Drag Show in Tillman Auditorium
• Monday 4/20, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.—“I have Pride” Photo Shoot, University Union
• Tuesday 4/21, 6 p.m.—Out at Work Workshop, Career Center Boardroom
• Wednesday 4/22, 7 p.m.—Trans* 101 with Keynote Speaker Skylar Kergil in Hendrix Ballroom A
• Friday, 4/24, 10 p.m.—U-GLOW Dance Party in Hendrix Student Center

Look for the hashtag #PrideWeek15 in social media accounts.

For more information, contact Shawn Knight by email or by phone at 864-656-3174.

Have ideas for better internal communications? Here’s your chance to weigh in.

To help better understand what information that you want and need from Clemson, the university is conducting an internal communications survey for its faculty and staff.

Faculty and staff who complete the survey will be entered into a drawing to receive one of two free employee-parking placards. The placards are good for one year. Please note that for us to move forward with the drawing, we must have at least 950 completed surveys, so encourage your colleagues to participate! As of today, we have 401 completed surveys. Click here to begin the survey or copy and paste the following link in your URL: https://clemsonia.co1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_9N8VqGSdjkxIBKJ

Read more about what we learned during the 2013 survey and the actions we took as a result of your feedback.

Contact Jackie Todd, internal communications director, with any questions.

By Jackie Todd, office of Media Relations

To help Clemson maintain a safe and welcoming environment for all faculty, staff and students, Clemson employees will soon be asked to learn more about Title IX policies, procedures for resolving complaints, and key resources available for support. All university employees will be required to take a one-hour long Title IX online training course.

The online course will cover information about Clemson University-specific policies and reporting requirements, explore the definitions of terms like sexual harassment and sexual misconduct and offer interactive examples and scenario exercises. Participants may leave the course at any time. Upon return, the course will open to the last page visited. The deadline to complete the course is June 30.

“It’s important for faculty and staff to know how to respond to students who may come to them with concerns.” said Jerry Knighton, director of Clemson’s Office of Access and Equity and the university’s Title IX coordinator. “We encourage employees to not only report any issues they may encounter, but also incidents shared with them by students so that appropriate authorities can provide options and resources to ensure issues are addressed properly and in accordance with our policies.”

The online training will soon be integrated into employee orientation. As a result, new faculty and staff will be expected to complete the required training as part of the university’s onboarding process.

How to take the training

Starting next week, a special email invitation will be sent to all university faculty and staff with a link to the training. Look for an email from the “Office of Access and Equity” with “Title IX-Eliminate Campus Sexual Violence Training” in the subject line. Arrangements will be made for employees who may prefer not to use the online format.

For any questions about the required training, contact the Office of Access and Equity by phone at 864-656-3181 or by email at CUAE@clemson.edu.

By Jackie Todd, Office of Media Relations

Your opinion matters. Are we effectively communicating with you? Are we giving you information that you want and need? Are we using effective channels to provide that information? We’re not going to know unless you tell us.

To help us better understand what information that you want and need from Clemson, the university will offer an internal communications survey to its 4,800 faculty and staff. The survey is administered every two years. This year’s survey will be open from April 13 through April 24.

Faculty and staff who complete the survey will be entered into a drawing to receive one of two free employee parking placards. The placards are good for one year. Please note that in order for us to move forward with the drawing, we must have at least 950 completed surveys, so encourage your colleagues to participate. As of today, we have 401 completed surveys.

What you said

The initial survey, which first debuted in 2013, yielded actionable information:

• Although most respondents indicated that the information they received from Clemson was “about right,” one in four employees reported that they received “too much” or “overwhelming” information.
• Most respondents gave high marks to the timeliness of information they received; however, there were complaints about the timeliness of inclement weather announcements and campus alerts.
• The top three channels through which faculty and staff received information included:
  • Campus-wide emails (but many complained that they received too many of these)
  • Inside Clemson weekly e-newsletter (formerly called Inside NOW)
  • Their co-workers
• One in three respondents indicated that they received emails that did not pertain to them.
• Respondents indicated that they did not read the weekly e-newsletter, because it was too long, a marketing tool, and a vehicle for advertising events.

What we did

• Reduced email clutter: Most campus-wide emails are now included in the weekly Inside Clemson e-newsletter with news and information posted on the faculty and staff Web page.
• Added other communications channels: We enhanced our Social Media presence and disseminate news through Twitter (@InsideClemson and @ClemsonUniv), Facebook, Inside Clemson Instagram and more! We also use the digital signage around campus to publicize events.
• Redesigned the weekly e-newsletter and changed its name: We streamlined the format so that readers can quickly scan content and click on the articles that are of interest to them. Inside NOW was renamed Inside Clemson to be consistent with all communications coming from the Inside Clemson account.
• Categorized content in the Inside Clemson e-newsletter: The redesigned e-newsletter offers feature areas with photos. Other important news is located in the Headlines section and a sampling of university events, trainings, seminars, etc. – all of which can be found on the university calendar—are listed under the Upcoming events
• Redesigned the faculty and staff Web page: The new design intuitively weaves features, news, resources and more onto one page.

What do you say?

Our internal communications enhancements are only efficient if they better help you access the information that you need. Are we on the right track? It’s your turn to tell us.

Contact Jackie Todd, internal communications director with any questions.

Student Disability Services (SDS) wants to make sure you are aware of some important details if your students will be using the Test Proctoring Center (TPC) during final exam week (April 27 – May 1):

·         The TPC is limited on the number of exams that can be proctored during the week of finals. We cannot reserve space or take tentative test proctoring requests.  SPACE WILL ONLY BE AVAILABLE FOR SDS REGISTERED STUDENTS.  Upon receipt of a completed online test proctoring form (submitted by the student and verified by the instructor), we will confirm whether or not we can accommodate the request.  We operate on a FIRST-COME, FIRST-SERVE BASIS, so please respond to and confirm your students’ requests ASAP.

·         The deadline for submitting a completed online test proctoring form (including the student’s request AND instructor’s verification) to SDS for final exam week is noon Monday, April 20.  Once the scheduling window is closed, it will NOT be reopened.

·         When one of your students submits the online form here, you will receive an email asking you to verify the exam information. You must complete the verification before the deadline. (Note: Please do not close the page unless you have seen the confirmation page indicating that the form has been successfully submitted.)

·         If you do not receive a confirmation email from clemsontpc@clemson.edu, then the exam has not been scheduled.  Please check your junk email folders for this confirmation email.

·         Access and manage student requests here. You can also check the status of student requests at this site.

·         TPC hours during final exam week: 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. (exam must be finished by 7 p.m.). Our online system will not process requests in which the end time of the exam is after 6:30 p.m. Monday – Thursday and 4:30 p.m. on Friday. To work around this, please select a time allotted that will fall within the allowed parameters. Please indicate the correct start time and time allowed in the special instructions section of the form. (We apologize for the inconvenience and are working to get this fixed.)

·         Due to the high volume of exams, we will not be able to guarantee our usual one business day turnaround on completed exams. The quickest way to receive completed exams is to select the “instructor pick up” option on the proctoring form.

An email was sent to students regarding the deadline for submitting test proctoring forms for final exam week. View more information here.

April 7 is no ordinary Tuesday. On that date, Clemson will commemorate the 127th anniversary of Thomas Green Clemson’s death, which set forth the chain of events that led to the eventual founding of Clemson University.

Clemson University’s Tiger Brotherhood will host its traditional Founder’s Day service at 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 7, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Pendleton.

Among the speakers will be Clemson President James P. Clements and historian Jerry Reel.

Following the service, attendees can visit Thomas Green Clemson’s gravesite.

By Jackie Todd, Office of Media Relations

Clemson University Police Department (CUPD) officers were out in force Tuesday at the University Union Starbucks. But they weren’t there to perform an investigation, write a ticket, or collar a criminal. Instead, they were there to build a community.

CUPD’s Coffee with a Cop event regularly attracts more than 100 people. Part of a nationwide movement begun in 2011, the event allows law enforcement to break down barriers and to build relationships between police and the communities where they serve.

“We hold these events to come together with the community to discuss anything they want to discuss,” said Dwayne Leslie, a CUPD lieutenant and one of the event organizers. “There’s no agenda. By coming out, having coffee with a cop and meeting their local police officers, the community can put a face with that officer that they see in the car. If they’re more familiar with someone, they’re more likely to call on them for help.”

Charity Hubbard, a sophomore studying recreational therapy, wasn’t planning on meeting the police when she made her morning coffee run. But her visit to Starbucks turned out to be an opportunity to address a perception that many students have about law enforcement.

“I was walking in about to buy my own coffee, but the cops talked me in,” she said. “It’s probably the first time I’ve interacted with a cop in general. It was nice to have them come up and talk. They’re really friendly. They’re real people, not scary cops.”

Hubbard’s friend, Danielle Brafford, agreed.

“I think that a lot of people think that the cops are against the [or] they want to make money from the students,” said Brafford, a junior recreational therapy major. “That’s a common belief. But it was kind of encouraging to see their interactions with people and how open they were with talking and getting to know them.”

Along with building trust and community, CUPD sees the Coffee with a Cop initiative as a chance to familiarize students, faculty and staff with their role.

“Usually they are just curious about what we do,” explained Leslie. “We have our explosive detection dog, Doc. He’s always a big hit; so they’re curious about him and what he does. A lot of the questions involve many officers we have, what do we do each day. A lot of times they’re not familiar with what we do on a regular basis.”

The event, according to Leslie, also pairs law enforcement with the public that they serve.

“A lot of times the officers are on the job and in their car and they don’t interact with the public a lot,” he said. “But we bring those officers out and they really have a good time. It just reminds them of why they do what they do and why we’re out here to serve. It gets them back in touch with people and so that’s one of the really good things that happens from our side.”

Coffee with a Cop is held on campus each semester.

By Jackie Todd, office of Media Relations

Clemson’s carillon chimes are about to sound even better. A 3,000-pound bell became the newest addition to the Tillman Hall carillon Monday as workers very carefully removed the building’s north clock face and installed the bell.

Phillip Addington has been with Clemson for 16 years. As a civil survey project supervisor for the university’s facilities department, this is the first time that Addington and his team have embarked on such a complex – and stressful – project.

“This was a first for all of us” he said. “We had to remove the clock mechanism that turns the hands. Of course, with the brick being over 100 years old, we were concerned about the clock face. Once we loosened everything up, we were concerned about the clock falling out. We didn’t know how heavy it was, but once we got into it, we realized it wasn’t quite as heavy. This process was definitely trial and error.”

Comprised of 80 percent copper and 20 percent tin, the bell is the largest carillon bell ever cast by bell foundry Meeks, Watson & Company.

Bill Meeks, owner of the Ohio-based company, was on site for five days to oversee the laborious process of preparing and installing the bell. Meeks’ company has been in business since 1991 and in that time, he’s cast just four other bells of this magnitude.

“Not only is this the largest bell that we’ve cast, it’s the largest one cast in the U.S. in the past 75 years,” he said.

The bell, according to Meeks, was two years in the making.

“First we had to match the pattern of the existing bells,” he explained. “We had to take the profiles of the existing bells and design this bell to match that profiles so that the characteristics could be the same when the bell is played. Then we scaled to that note and made a false bell. One you have the false bell, then it is placed into the mold to make a cavity in the bell that equals the mold. The metal is then poured into the mold.”

The D#/E flat 3 bell will allow Clemson’s carillon to function in ways that it did not before. Many carillons, according to Meeks, are made and purchased without certain bells, typically because the bells are heavy and expensive.

“Thus, you are limited in the amount of music that can be played,” said Meeks. “Modern carillon music is written with the D# tone. So this inclusion of this bell will make a difference in the carillon.”

The bell was a gift from the Clemson’s Undergraduate Student Senate and the 2011-2012 student body.

More photos here.