Dean’s Corner: September 2024

Dear Faculty, Staff, Alumni and Friends,

Last year, as part of the effort for our new College to articulate its identity, we formulated a tagline that intends to capture what lies at the core of our educational mission. That tagline is: meet the world.

There are many different facets embedded in the idea of meet the world, and so I will be using this forum over the course of the year to add layers to what we envision. It involves activities and initiatives in the classroom, more broadly on campus, in our region and beyond, ultimately embracing the entire globe.

Just last week, we held our Fall Study Abroad Fair on campus, informing students of the many opportunities they have to enrich their Clemson Experience with travel. I'm proud to say that our College leads the University with the percentage of our students who study abroad, and I hope to build on that success.

A new Living-Learning Community

I am also so pleased and proud to report that the College of Arts and Humanities first Living-Learning Community opened its doors this Fall. It is called Passport and is the brainchild of Ellory Schmucker, a Principal Lecturer of Spanish, who is currently also running our highly successful Language and International Health program. Passport is a living-learning-center for languages and cultures, and is designed to bring together international students and native speakers with U.S.-born students who are interested in language and cultures. They reside in a designated area of Gressette and participate in group events centered around language use and culturally specific activities. There is even a small kitchen that is part of the dorm area where they can prepare and share authentic cuisine. I am so pleased that 16 students signed up for this first year's cohort. Look for a more in-depth story on Passport in the coming month!

I also used this past month to start building connections a bit closer to home.

Nurturing the Arts and Humanities

First, I spent a full day, visiting the South Carolina Governor's School for Arts and Humanities. Located in the heart of downtown Greenville, the Governor's School has a gorgeous campus filled with state-of-the-art facilities to support their programs in music, visual arts, theater, creative writing, and most recently, film. I was given a campus tour by a group of impressive and articulate students who were passionate about their studies, and I met with the School leadership to begin conversations about collaborations. The possibilities of working together with our growing film program were particularly exciting. More on that soon!

Connecting with Tri-County Technical College

My next visit was to meet with the President of Tri-County Technical College (TCTC), Galen DeHay. As many of you might already know, TCTC, located just south of Clemson's campus, serves as a pipeline for large numbers of students who are in the so-called Bridge Program, taking Gen Ed courses, as they ready themselves for full participation at Clemson. President DeHay and I wanted to explore further avenues for collaboration. There are many, including sharing our emphasis area in Writing to help their students sharpen their skills. I was extremely happy to hear DeHay say that, no matter what field one is in, being able to write effectively is and will continue to be essential to a successful professional trajectory. President DeHay also saw the inclusion of ethical thinking as one of the most important areas no matter the field of inquiry. Again, if you recall, Ethics is one of our new College's main areas of focus. Beyond this, we also both saw film production as an immediate area of possible collaboration, as TCTC has an active media arts production program.

So, all in all, the last month has been a busy time in our efforts to help our students meet the world.

Go Tigers!

Nicholas Vazsonyi, Dean

College of Arts and Humanities

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