John Jacques named director of the Clemson Advancement Foundation for Design and Building

Published: July 20, 2011

John Jacques image by: Clemson University

CLEMSON — John Jacques has been appointed interim director of the Clemson Advancement Foundation for Design and Building (CAF). He replaces LeRoy Adams, who has been in the role since 2003 and has accepted another position at the university. Jacques assumed his new duties July 6.  

For the past 10 years, Jacques has held the title of design facilitator with McMillan/Pazdan/Smith Architecture in Greenville, an award-winning architecture and interior design firm led by several of his former students where he helped establish the atmosphere of a teaching office. He is a professor emeritus of architecture at Clemson, where he taught in the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities for nearly 30 years and was chairman of the School of Architecture. Recently, Jacques helped form the design team and played a role in the early stages of design for the Lee Hall restoration, renovation and addition. 

On three occasions he was elected to the board of directors of the South Carolina chapter of the American Institute of Architects, most recently as secretary. Several years ago, Jacques brought the school together with AIA/SC to produce an exhibition and publication of architecture in the state titled “South Carolina Architecture: 1970-2000” as part of the South Carolina Arts Commission’s Millennium Project. The project provided an update to “South Carolina Architecture: 1670-1970” authored by his teachers at Clemson: Dean Harlan McClure and Vernon Hodges, professor of architectural history.

“It has been my great good fortune to spend my life as a teacher in both the academy and the marketplace, and to count so many of my former and current students as friends,” Jacques said. “Imagine my delight to be invited to once again serve the college through the good work of the foundation and reconnect with you: our graduates around the region, the country and the world. I look forward to writing, speaking and visiting with each of you in the very near future. There are quite a number of good stories to tell about wonderful things taking place at your alma mater.”

A graduate of Clemson’s School of Architecture (Bachelor of Architecture, 1970) and the University of Edinburgh (Master of Philosophy in Civic Design, 1975), Jacques is a member of the Graduate Institute in Liberal Education at St. John’s College, Annapolis and Santa Fe. His wife, Annemarie, is a documentary photographer, an architect and senior lecturer in the School of Architecture.  While in elementary school, their daughter was inspired to pursue a career in classical theater by attending the performances and workshops of the Clemson Shakespeare Festival. Arianne now is an actor in Portland, Ore., and will appear in “The Tempest” this August.

The Clemson Advancement Foundation for Design and Building was founded in 1956 to raise funds and other means of support for Clemson’s design and building programs. One of its most significant accomplishments is the establishment of the Charles E. Daniel Center for Building Research and Urban Studies in Genoa, Italy. Each semester, 22 Clemson students study and analyze Italian and European building construction, architecture, planning, landscape architecture, art and history. The foundation also supports the school’s off-campus centers in Barcelona and Charleston.

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