Clayton Clem College of Engineering B.S. Civil Engineering, 1979 CLAYTON L. CLEM grew up in Athens, Ala., and Hixson, Tenn., and graduated from Hixson High School in 1975. He is married to Quebec native and family physician Diane Fortier, and they live in Ooltewah, Tenn. Clem graduated summa cum laude from Tennessee Tech University with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1979 and went on to receive a master’s degree in engineering with a concentration in applied mechanics from The University of Tennessee Chattanooga in 1985. A registered engineer in the state, Clem has held various positions in the Tennessee Valley Authority since 1979, with responsibilities including design and construction of telecommunications, transmission line and substation facilities. He oversees the electric system project, which engineers and constructs power system facilities across the seven states and 80,000 square miles that belong to the TVA. Clem has helped develop several industry guidelines and standards over his career, including the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, Guidelines for Electrical Transmission Line Structural Loading and the National Electrical Safety Code. He has been named TVA’s Engineer of the Year and has been recognized as one of the Top 10 Federal Engineers by the National Society of Professional Engineers. In the late 1990s, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave him the Innovations in Transmission Line Engineering award. Last year, TTU recognized him as the university’s Engineer of Distinction. When he is not involved with the power business, Clem serves on the advisory board of TTU’s electrical engineering department and is a member of the
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President’s Club Eagle Society. He has served as the president of the Chattanooga chapter of the TTU alumni association and is a past member of the university alumni board. Despite a busy and demanding career, the strong relationships he formed on campus have inspired him to stay involved with his alma mater. Memories of the campus community’s dedication to him prompted Clem to make a similar investment in today’s students.
Pepper Owens College of Interdisciplinary Studies B.A. Interdisciplinary Studies, 2007 Master’s Mental Health Counseling, 2011 PEPPER OWENS could tell you a thing or two about work-life balance. For years, she worked full time and took college courses during her lunch break, all while raising nine children. She ran out of courses before she accumulated enough credits for a bachelor’s degree. She had about 80 hours of credit, across a variety of disciplines. No one discipline had enough hours for a degree. She gave up. In 2004, TTU’s School of Interdisciplinary Studies reached out to her. Owens enrolled in interdisciplinary studies through the Regents Online Degree Program and finished her degree in the fall of 2007. Then she lost her job just as the economy was starting to turn sour. In 2008, she went on to start a master’s degree in mental health counseling. She got her second degree from Tennessee Tech in May 2011. Finishing her degrees was a step-by-step process. She said she was never sure whether she would be able to finish the work required each semester, let alone the next one or the one after that.
But her persistence paid off and enabled her to begin a career as a therapist for foster children with Camelot Care Centers. Before she lost her job and discovered her new career, Owens held a variety of jobs in the Cookeville area in advertising, marketing and graphic design. Owens has an appreciation for her earlier work but a passion for her counseling career. Working with foster children who are having trouble resonates with Owens. There was a time in her life when she needed extra help with life’s problems herself. She was the recipient of Putnam County Habitat for Humanity’s first home, and even after raising nine children, she still questions the best ways to handle difficult situations, especially those that arise as a result of mental illnesses. Owens has overcome adversity and worked against the odds to achieve personal, professional and educational success. Completing her degrees at TTU means more to Owens than finding a rewarding career she loves. Her academic achievements have made her an exemplary role model to encourage her children and her foster children to finish college as well.
ESTATE & FINANCIAL
PLANNING UPCOMING SEMINARS
November 13 Life Insurance in Estate Planning
(rescheduled from October 23)
COMPLIMENTARY dinner and seminars will be held at 6 p.m. in the Noble Cody Executive Suite in the Roaden University Center, Second Floor. PLEASE contact the Office of Planned Giving at (931) 372-3055 or tiffrector@tntech.edu for more information.
tntech.edu/giving/deferred