Dear Faculty, Staff, Alumni and Friends
Looking Back
As we closed out 2025, the Department of Performing Arts once again put on their 8th annual “Sounds of the Season” concert, a gala feast of singing conceived and brought to life by Dr. Anthony Bernaducci, Associate Professor of Music and Director of Vocal Studies, in a sold-out Brooks Center auditorium festively decorated by his wife, Breanna. The concert puts the full range of our students’ vocal talents on display. There are the large ensembles — Clemson University Singers, CU Men’s Choir, CU Women’s Choir — and the cream of the crop: Cantorei. There are also the smaller groups: Tigeroar and TakeNote, with their astonishingly polished performances. Then there are a handful of vocal solos. A special nod to Nia Evans, from Beaufort, SC, for her absolutely gorgeous and moving rendition of “Let it Snow!”
But the moment I await each year is “Away in a Manger.” Dr. Bernaducci always manages a masterful buildup to that moment when the auditorium falls quiet and dark, illuminated only by candles held by each member of the combined choirs, who fill the stage and the aisles of the auditorium. And then, out of the stillness, “Away in a Manger” emerges. Breathtaking and deeply moving. How can such a large chorus be so hushed? Even though it hardly seems possible, it gets better every year.
I want to extend my gratitude to Hank and Kay Owen, stalwart and loyal Friends of the Brooks Center, who sponsor the concert and who have been steadfast supporters of the performing arts at Clemson for decades.
Looking Ahead
As the more in-depth article discusses, we have a new Director of the Humanities Hub, Dr. David Coombs, who began his tenure at the start of the New Year. David rose to the top of the candidate pool following an internal search within the College. The Humanities Hub is the brainchild of Dr. Lee Morrissey, Professor of English, who got the idea off the ground in 2016. One of the things about the College that excited me the most when I arrived from the University of South Carolina in 2020 was the existence of the Humanities Hub — the kind of cross-disciplinary Humanities initiative our friends in Columbia significantly lagged behind in launching. They have something similar by now, but not before Clemson got there first!
The Humanities Hub connects with all three pillars of Clemson Elevate. Most of the Humanities-related events it organizes and sponsors — campus talks, our Law and Humanities series, lectures by prominent speakers — enrich intellectual life for students on campus and realize one of the reasons to come to a university in the first place. The Hub also provides research funding and support that enables our stellar faculty to continue and complete their projects, most of which end with the publication of scholarly articles and books, and to present their work at national and international conferences and symposia, which increase the visibility and luster of Clemson among our peers. Last, but not least, the Humanities Hub sponsors humanities-related activities for the local community and beyond. Something we can and should do even more. Now, more than ever, we need members of the community to understand what the humanities are and why they are essential for a civilization to remain just that, a civilization.
I foresee growth in the future and expanding activities, as the Hub continues its work to support collaboration between the different humanities disciplines on campus, build connections with intellectuals around the country and beyond, and increase Clemson’s reputation as an institution where the Humanities are thriving. Clemson is a great university, and a great university deserves and needs strong humanities programs. My dream is that Clemson will eventually have a Humanities Center with a physical location, which would serve as the tangible nucleus for such activities. It would be the first such Center in the state of South Carolina.
Let’s Go, Tigers!
Nicholas Vazsonyi
Dean
