Clemson University president: Keep the focus on people

Published: May 12, 2011

CLEMSON — Clemson University wrapped up the 2010-11 academic year Thursday with the presentation of faculty and staff awards, a salute to retiring faculty members and an optimistic message from President James F. Barker.

“Clemson is a university that values people,” Barker told faculty and staff gathered for the year-end General Faculty Meeting. “Ultimately, everything we do is about people.”

In dealing with the challenges of the past two years and in planning for the future, the university has maintained a focus on people, he said. Because of that, “I firmly believe we stand at the beginning of what will be Clemson’s finest decade.”

The year-end meeting also is a time to recognize outstanding faculty and staff achievements.

Dana Irvin, academic adviser for Clemson’s Calhoun Honors College, received the Frank A. Burtner Award for Excellence in Advising. In recommending her for the award, honors students described her as a surrogate mother and credited her with pushing them to be their best.

The award, named for a former faculty member and adviser, is given for contributions to student development in leadership, devotion to duty and service to students.

The Class of 1940 Bradbury Award for outstanding contributions to Clemson’s Calhoun Honors College went to professor emeritus Stephen H. Wainscott, who joined the Clemson faculty in 1976 and served as director of the Honors College from 1992 until his retirement in 2009.

Current Director William Lasser said Wainscott “built the Honors College into a program that is recognized on campus and around the country as a leading force for academic excellence and intellectual engagement.” He was instrumental in expanding opportunities for cultural enrichment and international programming, and continues to lead the Honors College’s international efforts.

Wainscott’s wife, Sue, accepted the award on his behalf because he is in Belgium with a study-abroad group.

Agricultural engineer Ahmad Khalilian received the Godley-Snell Award for Excellence in Agricultural Research. Khalilian is internationally recognized for his work in precision agriculture and irrigation, and is a leader in zone management for nematodes in row crops. Nematode worms cause more than $300 million in crop losses a year to cotton growers.

Khalilian, a professor in the biosystems engineering, has been at Clemson’s  Edisto Research and Education Center in Blackville for 26 years. The Godley-Snell Award is named in honor of W. Cecil Godley, former director of the South Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station, and Absalom W. Snell, former associate director.

The Alumni Award for Outstanding Achievement in Research was presented to Mica Grujicic, a faculty member since 1988 and holder of the Wilfred P. and Helen S. Tiencken Professorship in Mechanical Engineering. Grujicic is internationally recognized and frequently cited for his research in materials science, computational mechanics and thermal fluid sciences.

Delphine Dean, an assistant professor of bioengineering, received the Phil and Mary Bradley Award for Mentoring in Creative Inquiry. Dean is directing or co-directing four Creative Inquiry teams and will add a fifth in the fall. The projects are aimed at improving health care through new technologies and bioengineering. Some of Dean’s students traveled with her to Tanzania for research on designing medical technology for the developing world.

Nominations for the Bradley Award come from students who are engaged in Creative Inquiry.

Also recognized Thursday were faculty members who are retiring and receiving emeritus status.

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