Dear Faculty, Staff, Alumni and Friends,
Welcome back to our new academic year, which we are launching with momentum from an active summer.
A summer of film
For starters, I want to report on our film studies program that is experiencing explosive progress. For the Maymester, an initial cohort of 10 students, mostly World Cinema majors, went down to Trilith Studios just south of Atlanta and, over a two-week period, produced a short film, Unstuck, alongside industry professionals. I was present for the premiere screening, which included an opportunity for the students to say a few words about their experience. It was so moving to hear, especially first-generation students, talking about their dreams, about this opportunity, and about how they never thought they would ever have access to this kind of experience. As Associate Dean Mike LeMahieu shared in a previous Dean’s Corner, under his leadership, our College has been working with Trilith Institute to design a collaboration which would ultimately put a “semester at Trilith” program in place for our film students to get hands-on experience in the art and technology of filmmaking. The current plan is to launch the semester at Trilith in the Fall of 2026.
As if that weren’t enough, our film students made a second film this summer. This time, the project was led by our Professor of Practice and award-winning producer, Sam Sokolow. In his first year at Clemson, Sam managed to secure a $300,000 grant from the South Carolina Film Commission for our students to produce “Student Film: The Movie.” This summer, all the filming was completed, and the students are now in the post-production phase. The gala premiere is in the works for some time in the Spring 2026 semester. Stay tuned for details. It’s going to be amazing!
Compelling speakers
With students back on campus, we have a full slate of events to support their No. 1 Student Experience. On September 4, author Percival Everett is coming to campus to give a talk about his novel, James, for which he just won the Pulitzer Prize. It is a unique opportunity for our students to interact with an accomplished writer in his prime, who also hails from South Carolina.
This month, we will also be launching a new series of talks and panel presentations by our alumni who have gone on to have successful careers called Degrees of Success: Real Career Stories from Arts and Humanities Alumni. The idea is to inspire our current majors to think more expansively and creatively about where a degree from our College can lead them. While many degrees focus on training for quite specific employment, humanities degrees cultivate skills that span a number of careers and life situations. They constitute a training of the mind and a structured introduction into the story and the qualities of our species over the length of our existence and development. The possibilities opened by an education in the arts and humanities are almost limitless, and I am proud of the many ways that our graduates — past and future — explore those possibilities to lead lives of significance.
Go Tigers!
Nicholas Vazsonyi, Dean
College of Arts and Humanities
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