Clemson University Women’s Commission gives Outstanding Women Awards

Published: April 21, 2011

Outstanding Women Award winners: Marcia Hayes, left, Holly Tuten, Jessica Dean, Jennifer Johnson and Rachel Mayo image by: Clemson University

CLEMSON — The President’s Commission on the Status of Women at Clemson University recognized five women with its annual Outstanding Women Awards.

The Outstanding Academic Faculty Award was presented to Rachel Mayo, associate professor of public health sciences.

Mayo has been chairwoman of the education subcommittee of the South Carolina Cancer Disparities Network, the South Carolina Cancer Alliance, the South Carolina Central Cancer Registry advisory board and the Partnership for Cancer Prevention. She has been co-investigator on two National Cancer Institute grants.

Mayo has emerged as a national leader on the Witness Project for Breast Cancer, and her work in developing and implementing the Witness Project intervention has now reached more than 2,000 women in South Carolina with breast and cervical cancer education. She was instrumental in development of a Promotora Health Education program that has benefitted Latino women throughout the Upstate of South Carolina with health education, screening and prevention services. 

Mayo was chairwoman of the Women’s Commission and chairwoman of the Faculty Senate's welfare committee.

The Outstanding Graduate Student Award was given to Holly Tuten of Chapel Hill, N.C., a Ph.D. candidate in the department of entomology, soils and plant sciences.

Tuten is nationally recognized as a scientist and scholar, published author, teacher, communicator and leader. Her interests are in medical-veterinary entomology, specifically the impact of mosquitoes on zoo animals. 

Among Tuten’s many honors are a National Science Foundation of Graduate Research Fellowship and an Adkins Endowment Award. To make science more accessible and understandable across campus, Tuten worked with The Tiger student newspaper to start a weekly science column. She encouraged other graduate students to write the column to show how important it is for scientists to learn to communicate with non-scientists. 

The Outstanding Undergraduate Award went to Jessica Dean, a senior psychology major from Summerville.

Dean is a Clemson National Scholar and a member of the Calhoun Honors College with a 4.0 grade-point average. She is president of Omicron Delta Kappa Leadership Honors Society, vice president of administration for Kappa Alpha Theta Fraternity and chairwoman of Mortar Board Honor Society. Her organizations have helped raise thousands of dollars for service programs in the area, including Relay for Life, Habitat for Humanity and the Clemson Community Development Center.

Dean has worked with children with autism and Asperger’s syndrome at Tailsman camp in North Carolina. She currently works as an intern at The Arts Center in Clemson, coordinating this summer’s art camp. Dean also has worked as an advocate for victims of sexual assault at Foothills Alliance and created educational materials for their Prevent Child Abuse Program.

The Distinguished Contributor Award was presented to Marcia Hayes of Greenville, director of the Greenville Free Clinic.

Hayes graduated from Clemson’s School of Nursing in 2010 as a family nurse practitioner. She received the School of Nursing Master’s Excellence Award at the May 2010 nursing convocation. Her graduate research focused on helping survivors of childhood abuse.

Hayes has participated in several medical trips to Ecuador to provide health care in remote Amazon jungle villages and has traveled with her church, Vineyard Church of Greenville, on mission trips to India, Mozambique and Peru.

The Thea McCrary Student Award for Outstanding Service was given to Jennifer Johnson, a senior civil engineering major from Hilton Head. 

Johnson has volunteered for the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) outreach program called “It’s a Girl Thing” and has visited middle schools and conducted hands-on projects to educate young girls in the field of civil engineering. She is head counselor for the WISE Experience, an orientation program for incoming women who have been accepted as engineering and science majors. 

Johnson is president of the Society of Women Engineers at Clemson and developed CU Engineering 101 as a way to reach out to high school girls to visit Clemson for a day to learn about engineering. 

Johnson volunteers as a coach for the varsity girls’ basketball team at D.W. Daniel High School. She also was a volunteer coach at the Mason Dixon Basketball Tournament at the South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind. 

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