The College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences (CBSHS) elevates research, teaching and service initiatives across its seven academic departments through unique industry and community partnerships.
According to Ed Bowers, CBSHS director of assessment and engagement, strong industry and community partnerships are beneficial for faculty, students, partners and community members as they provide support for innovative research, contribute to workforce development and economic growth and offer unique experiential learning opportunities.
“As we continue to grow our network of partners, we expand our ability to advance cutting-edge research and develop career pathways for our students. At the same time, our partners gain access to faculty experts and valuable data, new perspectives and a strong pipeline of talented, workforce-ready CBSHS students,” said Bowers.
Recently, the College hosted a panel event to showcase the importance of these partnerships and highlight the successes of the College’s industry and community initiatives.
Panelists included:
Kaileigh Byrne, Department of Psychology
During the event, Kaileigh Byrne, an associate professor of psychology, shared insights gained through her partnership with cloud-based digitization service Heirloom. Byrne and her team are leading a study to examine how Heirloom’s platform can be used as a digital reminiscence-based intervention for older adults and how this influences stress and well-being outcomes. Byrne emphasized the strategic value of these partnerships and the benefits of translational research – or moving knowledge beyond academic journals to real-world application.
Her work illustrates how faculty members can use industry tools and platforms to evaluate products and explore scientific questions. She shared how co-developing studies with industry partners allows researchers to simultaneously generate publishable research and business insights and solutions, proving the partnership’s value to both parties.
Lane Glaze, Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management
Lane Glaze, professor of practice in nonprofit leadership in the parks, recreation and tourism management department, shared insight into the nonprofit sector through his 10-year partnership with the One Eleuthera Foundation (OEF), one of the largest domestically operated community development organizations in the Caribbean. Based on his experience, Glaze noted that successful partnerships are built on shared values – and academic expertise must be practical, actionable and relevant to industry needs. His partnership with OEF continues to provide global engagement and experiential learning opportunities for CBSHS students, elevating the Clemson Experience and supporting the needs of communities in the Caribbean.
Marissa Shuffler, Department of Psychology
Over the course of her career, Marissa Shuffler, professor of industrial-organizational psychology, has partnered with Prisma Health, NASA, JE Dunn Construction, the U.S. Army, Aptima, the Group for Organizational Effectiveness (gOE) and more to support effective workplace communication and collaboration. During the panel, she highlighted the human and organizational dynamics that shape successful industry collaborations and emphasized that strong partnerships depend less on formal agreements and more on relationships, trust and communication.
According to Shuffler, effective communication in industry partnerships is achieved through listening, understanding industry contexts and flexibility in research design and implementation. She also highlighted the value of these partnerships for students, noting how they create meaningful experiential learning opportunities that bridge the gap between academic knowledge and professional practice.
Through industry engagement, CBSHS provides students with hands-on learning experiences and open pathways to meaningful careers. At the same time, faculty gain access to emerging technologies and innovative avenues for research. For industry partners, these relationships offer a direct line to cutting-edge expertise and a pipeline of talent prepared to meet evolving workforce needs.
The College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences (CBSHS) was established in July 2016. CBSHS is a 21st-century, land-grant college that combines work in nine disciplines – communication; nursing; parks, recreation and tourism management; political science; psychology; public health sciences; sociology, anthropology and criminal justice – to further its mission of “building people and communities” in South Carolina and beyond.
