An opportunity to flourish: CU Grow helps Lisa Robinson take her next step

"CU Grow allowed me to feel more comfortable walking into my next step."

For over twelve years, Lisa Robinson spent her days mentoring, assisting and guiding Clemson students through the University's Professional Internship and Co-Op program, UPIC.

She came on board shortly after the program finished a pilot period, and she's watched it flourish. Roughly 1,000 Clemson students complete UPIC internships each year.

Robinson found her opportunity to flourish as she joined the fourth cohort of CU Grow, Clemson's staff development program.

Fresh off completion of the Women's Roundtable administrative leadership development series, Robinson felt this was the right next step to grow.

And grow she did. In August, Robinson joined the Clemson University Foundation as the associate vice president of operations.

She calls CU Grow an empowering opportunity to prepare for what was on the horizon.

"It gives you a chance to see the range of operations at the University that you might not otherwise be aware of, depending on your functional areas," said Robinson.

A chance to grow

CU Grow is a year-long program, open to staff members who have been at the University for three years. Through group trainings, individual development plans, and service, participants are encouraged to grow personally and impact the University.

"It creates a commonality and comradery between your cohort members. You see everyone is busy and working through things, and you develop a sense of community that makes you feel like your experience isn't singular."

The workshops and events build on each other and leave cohort members with lessons to apply in their everyday roles.

Through her time in the Career Center, Robinson was no stranger to personality assessments. Through CU Grow, she completed the DISC assessment and became more aware of how her personality traits manifest in her work.

"My natural instinct is "Here is the task. We have to do this. Let's get to it and crank it out." My team was on board to accomplish the task, but other people had different working styles," said Robinson. "I was now thinking of "Let's pay attention to these other styles and see how I can better fit into that instead of bulldozing [through the project]."

A budding partnership

This year, CU Grow partnered with the Rutland Institute for Ethics. The partnership infused the concepts of ethical decision-making and ethical leadership into the already carefully planned curriculum.

The new partnership quickly grabbed Robinson's attention. She attended the Rutland Institute's TIDE conference and assisted with their annual Ethics Case Competition for local high schoolers.

The partnership encouraged Robinson to take a harder look at the role of ethics in the UPIC program.

A core component of the CU Grow program is completing a project that impacts the University. Robinson saw this as an opportunity to apply what she learned to the Career Center.

Integrity and ethics were currently core competencies for UPIC interns, but the required course that accompanied internships didn't delve deep.

After engaging with the Rutland Institute through CU Grow, Robinson saw an opportunity to expand students' exposure to integrity and ethics.

She worked with her CU Grow mentor, supervisor, and the UPIC team to craft an assignment for the interns' required online course. It requires interns to participate in various Rutland Institute programs and reflect on how the experience correlates to their internship.

"It's an interesting progression," said Robinson, "because it isn't something I would have thought of beforehand, and the exposure to [the Rutland Institute] led me to think of these other opportunities."

The addition was well received - it was implemented in Fall 2024 for interns completing their second UPIC internship.

An indelible impact

That is the wonder of CU Grow. Cohort members, of which there have been 100+ over the program's five years, can look around campus and see their indelible impact on campus.

And it is that impact that prepares them for whatever opportunity presents itself next in their Clemson journey.

"You get the feeling from the program that it is designed to prepare you to pursue whatever else you may be interested in, but it also ensures you're equipped with what you need to make it happen."

More than twenty CU Grow cohort members will present their projects and officially graduate from the program on November 5. To learn more about CU Grow, visit the CU Grow website or contact [email protected].

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