Winter 2008 — Vol. 61, No. 1

Alumni Profiles

Pilot déjà vu
Otha “Skeet” Vaughan ’51, M ’59

Mechanical engineering alumnus Skeet Vaughan of Huntsville, Ala., tried for years to locate an aircraft like the one he took his dual flight instruction in when he began his U.S. Air Force pilot training (Class 52G at Spence Field, Moultrie, Ga.) in 1951.

Finally, last year, he found the original aircraft — the North American T-6G that he’d taken his initial USAF Pilot Training Orientation ride in — at Warbird SkyVentures in Gallatin, Tenn. In August, he traveled to Tennessee and flew the aircraft, performing steep turns, chandelles and a roll that he had done in training 56 years ago.

Bob & Phoebe hit the gym
Robert Breland ’59

While animal husbandry graduate Bob Breland developed his career as a N.C. Extension agent, he and his wife, Joyce, led an active life in volunteering. In fact, they opened their Ashe County home to 17 foster children.

His world changed dramatically, however, several years ago when an automobile accident left him blind, in a wheelchair and with the loss of his only adopted son. But today Breland is still finding ways to engage in life and affect other people’s lives through his new friend Phoebe.

Phoebe, a mobility assistance dog, is being helped in her early training by New Life Mobility Assistance Dogs volunteer puppy parents, retired physician Jim Taylor and his wife, Sue. Phoebe enhances Breland’s ability to participate in physical fitness, church activities and other day-to-day pursuits that make life full.

He, in turn, continues volunteering in activities and also visits schools to demonstrate how a mobility assistance dog helps. For more on New Life Mobility Assistance Dogs, go to www.nlmad.org.

Managing Clemson’s private gifts
Harrison F. “Hack” Trammell ’78

Clemson University Foundation Board’s new president/CEO is accounting graduate Hack Trammell, its first full-time president and chief executive officer. The Clemson Foundation exists to raise and manage private gifts to benefit the University.

Trammell is the previous president of the Regional Facilities Division of the Carolinas HealthCare System where he was responsible for leading a division with more than 7,500 employees and more than $1.1 billion in revenues.

He and his wife, Cheryl Samisch Trammell ’78, have four children, three who have attended or currently attend Clemson. The Trammells are past chairs of the Clemson Parents’ Council Advisory Board.

State officer, national leader
J. Mark Hammond M ’88

S.C. Secretary of State Mark Hammond, an education graduate, is one of 40 emerging leaders from across the nation selected for the prestigious Henry Toll Fellowship Program sponsored by The Council of State Governments.

Hammond works for efficiency, accountability and customer service. Some of his successes include steering the passage of the Charities Bill, the Corporate Modernization Bill and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act; taking responsibility for the S.C. Competitive Cable Services Act; and implementing felony provisions for trafficking in counterfeit merchandise, strengthening the trademark statute.

He also unveiled S.C. Business One Stop, a Web-based program that allows new businesses to file via the Internet with four state agencies.

AAFP teaching excellence
Elizabeth G. Baxley ’80

Family physician Elizabeth Baxley, a zoology graduate, has received the Exemplary Teaching Award from the American Academy of Family Physicians as a full-time faculty teacher.

Baxley is chair of the family and preventive medicine department at the USC School of Medicine. Under her guidance, the department has participated in national and regional health-care collaborations to improve the quality of patient care and education of students and residents.

In addition to her undergraduate and medical student teaching, Baxley is involved in graduate medical education at the Palmetto Health Richland Family Medicine Residency Program in Columbia where she’s preceptor for family medicine, OB/GYN and psychiatry residents.

Thin-brick innovator
William Brian Drummond ’91

Civil engineering graduate Brian Drummond founded his own business — United Wall Systems, a thin-brick building systems company in Gray Court — and has already become a leader in the industry.

After graduation, he spent several years as a resident engineer and construction manager on several large municipal facilities and commercial projects. This work gave him a wealth of exposure and experience in various building materials and techniques including precast concrete design and construction for a faster, stronger, modular-type of building.

In 2004, Drummond founded United Walls Systems, which provides thin-brick materials and accessories to major concrete constructors as well as design and construction assistance to major architects for large commercial and institutional projects throughout the country.

Through innovation and solid service, the company has grown to include a partner brick company in Sioux City, Iowa, and another one in Bad Laer, Germany. It has shipped thin brick for and assisted on projects in 26 states and Canada, including the Johns Hopkins University Medical Center in Baltimore. (For more on his company, go to www.unitedwallsystems.com.)

Leading Fla. attorney
Kalinthia R. Dillard ’94

History and political science graduate Kalinthia Dillard of West Palm Beach, Fla., is the 2007-2008 president of the Virgil Hawkins Fla. Chapter National Bar Association, a top legal organization addressing the needs of African American attorneys throughout the country.

After graduating from Clemson, Dillard earned a law degree from Fla. State. She’s currently associate counsel for the School Board of Palm Beach County.

As chapter president, she’ll lead the organization as it mentors law students, offers a free bar-preparation crash course for third-year law students and conducts free continuing legal-education classes for its members.

It also advocates positions on issues that impact African Americans, creates opportunities for networking and serves as an umbrella for affiliate bar associations throughout Florida.

An analytical mind
Darian M. Ibrahim ’96

Award-winning law professor Darian Ibrahim got an analytical mind by birth. His father, Ibrahim M. Ibrahim M ’66, PhD ’70, is a chemistry alumnus, former Clemson national championship soccer coach and longtime area businessman. His mom, Iris Brann Reed ’M 66, is a mathematical sciences alumna and Clemson professor emerita.

In fact, at Clemson, Darian graduated magna cum laude in chemical engineering. Next, he attended Cornell Law School, where he also graduated magna cum laude. He then practiced law in New York City and Atlanta and clerked for the Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court.

He says, “My training in chemical engineering at Clemson equipped me with the analytical rigor necessary for success in the field of law.” Good genes didn’t hurt either.

Now he’s a law professor at the University of Arizona with expertise in corporate law and venture capital, where he recently received the John Strong Teacher of the Year Award.

Running in style
Heather Langendorfer ’94

Former student athlete and marketing graduate Heather Langendorfer has combined her education and passion to start her own business in San Carlos, Calif. — atalanta athleticwear.

Langendorfer, who came to Clemson on an athletic scholarship as a diver, spends much of her day in her workout gear — training, errands before a run, the run itself, the events afterward. So, along came the idea for better-looking but still comfortable exercise clothing, in particular a running skirt.

After gathering the right team members along with conducting much research and testing, she came up with her own line of athletic apparel, named atalanta for the goddess of travel and adventure.

In addition to its product being “made proudly in the USA,” the company has a community service component and a green policy. (For more on atalanta athleticwear, go to www.skirtgoddess.com.)

Help for autism
Christina Gay Jones ’01

Speech and communications graduate Christie Jones, a speech-language pathologist, is bringing a new treatment for autism to South Carolina.

The technique — Sensory Learning Program, headquartered in Colorado — is reported to have profound results in treating children and adults with autism, ADD/ADHD and an array of other learning disabilities including traumatic brain injury.

After learning about the program and discovering that it wasn’t offered in the Carolinas, Jones opened her own speech-language pathology and sensory learning centers — SpeechWorks Inc. — in Columbia and Easley.

Her primary therapists are also Clemson graduates Erin McCall Meece ’03, psychology, and Leslie McGill McKenzie ’01, elementary education. Both also have master’s degrees in speech pathology. (For more information on SpeechWorks, go to www.speechsensory.com.)

Accounting in Sudan
Loren Stender ’06

Accounting graduate Loren Stender is with Gelman Rosenberg and Freedman LLC in Washington, D.C. The firm provides accounting, auditing and consulting services to nonprofit organizations, for-profit corporations, retail businesses, professional service firms, partnerships, trusts and individual clients.

A recent assignment took Stender to Khartoum, Sudan, to work with a nongovernmental organization that has projects in Darfur.

“The highlight of the trip was working with the large relief organization, headquartered in Khartoum and operating in Darfur,” says Stender. “Projects have provided farm equipment, donkeys, fuel-efficient stoves, housing kits, employment opportunities and hope to thousands of displaced peoples in the region.”

Byars family tradition

New management graduate Joni Byars ’07 is joined by her siblings and fellow alumni for a Clemson family portrait. Joni’s sister, Jessica Lyn Byars Groves ’00, is a certified childbirth educator and birth doula in Hampstead, Md. She’s married to Austin O. Groves ’95, M ’99. Her brother, James Lex “Jay” Byars III ’95, is an entrepreneur and the vice president and regional manager of Good Faith Mortgage in Charleston.

Joni spent four years in the U.S. Army before attending Clemson and is currently working in Mount Pleasant. She plans to attend graduate school at The Citadel and work in its athletic department while getting an MBA with a concentration in sport management.

See past Alumni Profiles.