New employee spotlight: Yolande Graham and Petria Hoffpauir

Clemson welcomes Yolande Graham, assistant director for residential living, and Petria Hoffpauir, assistant director of the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism (CISC). Graham and Hoffpauir both leverage key experience and scholarship in their new positions at the University.

Graham joins University Housing and Dining as the assistant director for residential living for the Honors Residential College. She comes to Clemson from the University of Oklahoma, where she served as the residential college director for Dunham College, one of the university’s inaugural residential colleges. Originally from Jamaica, Graham moved to the United States in 2007. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a master’s degree in higher education and student affairs from Baylor University.

When asked what attracted her to the position at Clemson, Graham said, “It is an opportunity to be a part of a great team as we build the Honors Residential College and continue to develop the combined academic and residential experience for Honors students.” Graham says she is excited to experience the unique culture at Clemson and work with the University’s wonderful faculty, staff and students.

In her role as the assistant director of CISC, Petria Hoffpauir is excited to contribute to the education of the students in the institute’s Lyceum program. The program is dedicated to exploring the moral, political and economic foundations of a free society. “I think the mission of CISC and the Lyceum program is very important,” says Hoffpauir. Prior to joining Clemson, Hoffpauir served as coordinator for the Salvatori Center Program on Leo Strauss at Claremont McKenna College. She has worked with think tanks, taught political science at California State University, San Bernardino, and, prior to graduate school, served as the assistant director of scheduling for the Illinois attorney general.

Hoffpauir holds a bachelor’s degree in government from Skidmore College and a master’s in politics from Claremont Graduate University. She is a current doctoral candidate at Claremont, studying political science with a concentration in American politics and political philosophy. Her dissertation is on politics and the human passion of “spiritedness” in Plato and Nietzsche’s writings.