Clemson University to Expand Portfolio of Projects that Give Students Real-World Experience

CLEMSON, SC – Clemson University’s engineering-and-science majors will have more opportunities to apply classroom knowledge to the real world as part of a new effort that launches this month.

Randy Collins has been named executive director of academic initiatives, a newly created position in the College of Engineering and Science. He was previously the college’s associate dean of undergraduate and international studies.

Collins said that he plans to expand “engagement opportunities” for students, including the portfolio of projects that put students in communities to learn how engineering and science apply outside of the classroom.

The activities will help better prepare students for their careers, while benefiting the communities where they work, he said.

Projects will include international programs, including study abroad, that will be aimed at building on the successes of those already in place. Clemson students, for example, have constructed a water system for a Haitian village and delivered specialized blankets to Tanzania for babies born prematurely.

“We want to provide opportunities that are uniquely Clemson,” Collins said. “We want students to be engaged in experiences that are richer than simply taking a collection of classes and getting a degree.”

A search will begin in fall for a permanent associate dean of undergraduate and international studies.

Anand Gramopadhye, the college’s dean, said that Collins’ new initiatives will focus on the 21st century’s grand challenges, including health, energy, transportation and environmental sustainability.

“Clemson is a land-grant university in an area with a large number of multinational corporations, which uniquely positions us to take the lead in solving the world’s complex issues,” he said

“It’s a responsibility that we take seriously. We’re working with a broad range of public and private partners to change the world for the better.

“At the same time, we’re providing our students unique engagement experiences that open their eyes to the world and make them more valuable to employers.”

When students go into the field, they are faced with a range of political, social, cultural and financial issues that don’t exist in the classroom, Collins said.

Civil engineering students, for example, adapted to an unfamiliar culture and learned to speak Creole while installing a water system in Haiti’s Central Plateau as part of the award-winning program Clemson Engineers for Developing Countries.

Bioengineering students have faced some of the same challenges in Tanzania.

“Students today are growing up in a global environment that did not exist a decade or two ago,” Collins said. “The work that they’re going to be doing is going to affect the world, and the world is going to affect the work they do.”

“In the past, universities taught the fundamentals. And then students were educated by the company where they went to work on the needs of the company.

“But the world is completely changed now. It’s important that students are grounded in the fundamentals, but it’s also important that they understand how what they’re learning in the classroom is translated into the real world.”

John Ballato, Clemson’s vice president for economic development, said Collins’ new role will help create a well-qualified workforce that supports companies across the state and attracts new industry.

“When students graduate and begin their careers, they need to be able to hit the ground running,” Ballato said. “The projects that Dr. Collins oversees will help ensure students are ready to meet the world’s complex challenges from day one.”

Collins will also lead online education for the college.

“Education is undergoing rapid evolution due to advances in technology, affecting teaching and learning in the traditional classroom as well as those students located off-campus,” he said.

“Not only are our students’ present college experiences being significantly changed by educational technologies, continuing education during their careers will likely be online.

“Online education provides a means for professionals to re-tool and educate themselves quickly.”

Collins, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, has been at Clemson since 1989. He served as an American Council on Education Fellow in 2012-13.

Duties in his new job will also include growing graduate-level academic programs at the university’s four enterprise campuses: Clemson University Restoration Institute (CURI) at the former Charleston Naval Complex; Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) in Greenville; Clemson University Biomedical Engineering Innovation Campus (CUBEInC) in Greenville; and the Advance Materials Research Lab in Anderson.