Leadership

Leslie Hossfeld, Ph.D.
Dean
lhossfe@clemson.edu

Leslie Hossfeld is trained in rural sociology from North Carolina State University with experience examining rural poverty and economic restructuring. She has made two presentations to the U.S. Congress and one to the North Carolina legislature on job loss and rural economic decline. Dean Hossfeld has served as co-chair of the American Sociological Association Task Force on Public Sociology, vice president of Sociologists for Women in Society, president of the Southern Sociological Society, chair of the American Sociological Association Section on Sociological Practice and Public Sociology and the Mississippi Food Policy Council, and a member of the Executive Council of the North Carolina Sociological Association (NCSA), which awarded her a lifetime achievement award in February 2019. Currently, Dr. Hossfeld serves as co-chair of the USDA SERA-47 multi-state initiative, Strengthening the Southern Region Extension and Research System to Support Local and Regional Food Needs and Priorities, in 13 states in the southern region. Prior to joining Clemson, Dean Hossfeld was head of the Department of Sociology, Criminology and Social Work at Mississippi State University and chair of the Department of Sociology and Criminology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She has developed economic recovery projects for rural North Carolina counties and food sovereignty projects in the Mississippi Delta using health as an economic development strategy. Her current research focuses on multi-disciplinary strategies and collaborative partnerships around local food systems development and nutrition security. She works to bridge U.S. local food systems research to health disparities to develop policy coherence linking health and agriculture policy.

Denise Anderson, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies, Faculty Affairs and Inclusive Excellence
dander2@clemson.edu

Denise Anderson has been on the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management faculty since 2003. From 2009 until 2015, she also served as the department’s graduate coordinator. Anderson’s major research interests involve youth development, youth sport, leisure education and student development, and girls’ and women’s access to recreation opportunities. Prior to coming to Clemson, she served on the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Illinois Wesleyan University, a master’s in physical education from Eastern Illinois University, and a Ph.D. in leisure behavior from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Rachel Mayo, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies
rmayo@clemson.edu

Rachel Mayo is the Wallace R. Roy Distinguished Professor in Public Health Sciences, and she has also served as research coordinator and associate chair for the Department of Public Health Sciences. Her research interests include health disparities and cancer prevention and control among minority and underserved, particularly African American and Latino populations. She has been the principal or co-investigator on more than $4 million in grants and contracts to support this work. She is the PI on a Department of Health and Human Services-funded cohort study to examine an early treatment model for infants born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome to opioid-addicted mothers, and she has previous National Institutes of Health funding examining medical and nursing students’ readiness to treat Latino patients and to increase breast and cervical cancer screenings through a statewide intervention in African American churches. She currently serves on the Center for Disease Control’s Advisory Committee for Young Women with Breast Cancer.

Nicole Davis, Ph.D., APRN, AGPCNP-BC, GNP-BC
Faculty Fellow for the Advancement of Inclusive Excellence
njd@clemson.edu

Nicole Davis is the inaugural Faculty Fellow for the Advancement of Inclusive Excellence. An associate professor in the School of Nursing, she also coordinates the school’s graduate programs in nursing education, health systems leadership, and adult/gerontology nursing practice. She is a board-certified adult and gerontological nurse practitioner and a National Hartford Centers of Gerontological Nursing Excellence Distinguished Educator. At Clemson, she is a faculty associate in the Institute for Engaged Aging, a faculty scholar for the School of Health Research, a core member of the Center for Research on Health Disparities, and a graduate of the President’s Leadership Institute. She also serves as a governor-appointed member of the S.C. Alzheimer’s Resource Coordination Center Advisory Council. She is a graduate of New York University (B.S.N.), Duke University (M.S.N.) and Georgia State University (Ph.D.).

Bryan Denham, Ph.D.
Interim Chair, Department of Communication
bdenham@clemson.edu

Bryan Denham is interim chair in the Department of Communication, having previously served as chair from 2015 to 2018. He has held the Campbell Professorship in Sports Communication since 1999. Denham is author of the text Categorical Statistics for Communication Research and has published approximately 75 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. His research has focused on the media, policy and health aspects of substance use in sport and society, in addition to issues in social identity and research methods.

Sarah Griffin, Ph.D.
Interim Chair, Department of Public Health Sciences
sgriffi@clemson.edu

Sarah Griffin is interim chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences. She also a professor in the department and a faculty scholar in the Clemson University School of Health Research. Griffin brings over 30 years of public health experience to the position and has published over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and presented at over 75 scientific meetings. Her research focuses on the dissemination, implementation and effectiveness of evidence-based approaches for prevention and treatment of obesity and other chronic diseases.

Bob Barcelona, Ph.D
Chair, Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management
rbj@clemson.edu

Bob Barcelona, Ph.D., CPRP currently serves as Department Chair/Head and Professor in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management at Clemson University. Dr. Barcelona’s research and professional interests focus broadly on increasing access to sport and recreation programs and facilities, and on improving the quality of recreation experiences through partnerships, planning, creative financing, staff training, and professional development. He is specifically interested in research that relates to access and constraints to public recreation opportunities and investigating the benefits of active recreation participation. Dr. Barcelona has partnered with the NH Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DNCR) on numerous Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plans (SCORP), and has worked with federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Department of Education on various research and program evaluation efforts. Dr. Barcelona also provides leadership for the Community Planning and Research Collaborative (CPARC), conducting community engaged research, strategic, and master planning with parks and recreation agencies throughout the country. Prior to working at Clemson University, Dr. Barcelona held faculty appointments at the University of New Hampshire and Indiana University and worked in collegiate athletics and recreational sports at the University of Mississippi and the University of California-Berkeley. He currently serves as the Chair of the Council on Accreditation for Parks, Recreation, Tourism and Related Professions (COAPRT), and is the Editor-in-Chief of the Recreational Sports Journal. Dr. Barcelona was inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration (AAPRA) in 2019 where he serves as Chair of the Research for the Profession Committee.

Jeffrey Peake, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Department of Political Science
jpeake@clemson.edu

Prior to joining the faculty at Clemson, Jeffrey Peake was professor of political science at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. A Clemson alumnus (B.A., political science), he received his Ph.D. from Texas A&M University. Peake's research interests focus on the Presidency, the media, and Congress. More specifically, Peake has written on presidential leadership of the media and the public, presidential-congressional relations, agenda-setting, and the domestic politics of treaties. He is co-author of two books,  Breaking Through the Noise: Presidential Leadership, Public Opinion, and the News Media and the Rise of Executive Agreements: International Commitments in a System of Shared Powers.

Pat Raymark, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology
praymar@clemson.edu

Pat Raymark has served as the chair of the Department of Psychology at Clemson since 2010. Prior to serving as chair, he served as the graduate program coordinator for the department. He originally arrived at Clemson in 1998 after spending several years as a faculty member at the Ohio State University. His research interests largely revolve around applied decision making within the context of personnel selection and evaluation. More specifically, he has conducted research investigating the decision-making processes used in employment interviewers, job analysis, and performance appraisal.

John Whitcomb , Ph.D.
Acting Director, School of Nursing
jwhitco@clemson.edu

John Whitcomb is acting Director for the School of Nursing. He is a professor in the department and a faculty scholar in the Clemson University School of Health Research. Whitcomb brings over 38 years of critical care nursing experience to the position. Prior to Clemson University he served in the United States Navy for 26 years, both as enlisted and an Officer, retiring in 2009 as a Commander. He served as the Specialty Advisor to the Surgeon General, Critical Care Nursing having oversight of critical care nursing stateside, overseas and in combat during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). He served as the Trauma Training Officer for the White House Medical Staff. His research focuses on the critical care setting, such as end of life issues, family visitation, functional status post cardiac arrest and cardiac arrest outcomes and the study of delirium in the critical care setting. He is a Fellow of Critical Care Medicine.

Katherine Weisensee, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Chair, Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice
kweisen@clemson.edu

Katherine Weisensee joined the Clemson faculty in 2008 and became chair of the department in 2018. Her research interests include human skeletal biology, forensic anthropology and morphometrics, and she currently teaches Introduction to Anthropology, Biological Anthropology, Forensic Anthropology, Human Variation and Human Remains Recovery. She earned a Ph.D. and master’s degree in anthropology from the University of Tennessee and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Brandeis University.