In between visits with Vietnam’s prime minister and Indonesia’s energy minister, Raymond Jones recently made time for his alma mater, Clemson University. Jones travels the world as a vice president with ExxonMobil Production Company, but his roots will forever remain in the Upstate of South Carolina.

Jones graduated from Clemson with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering in 1986 and has been a devoted alumnus ever since, donating both time and treasure, especially to programs that support diversity.

He returned to campus in April to be inducted into the Thomas Green Clemson Academy of Engineers and Scientists. It’s the highest honor bestowed by the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences.

“I am truly honored to be a part of tonight’s program and humbled even to be considered as an inductee into the academy,” he said at the ceremony.

For nearly 32 years, Jones has risen through the ranks in one of the world’s largest companies. Jones now focuses on the Asia Pacific region. His trip to Vietnam was for a multi-billion dollar project to drill offshore gas wells, bring the gas to shore, and convert it to electricity.

“In the areas where we were, they don’t have electricity, and they don’t have clean running water,” Jones said. “After we finish the project that we’re working on, they’ll have both.”

Some projects he has overseen would at first seem a long way from the energy business. The company has built airstrips, schools and hospitals, usually working in concert with the government, he said.

Jones’ father, Edgebert, drove trucks for a living and then became logistics manager for a snack food company.

“He was one of the smartest men I knew, and he didn’t get past the 10th grade,” Jones said.

“It was not necessarily a time when African-Americans were prospering,” Jones said. “We were getting there but not quite there. But my parents didn’t view it that way. They just said ‘You’re going to make your own opportunities, and it’s up to you to do what you can do.’”

His mother, Clara, graduated high school and planned to go to nursing school but decided to start a family instead. Jones has two siblings, Tim and Becky, who also have mechanical engineering degrees from Clemson.

“You really have to come in and be a good neighbor,” Jones said. “We really want to improve the living conditions of the people around us. Those stories usually don’t get out.”

Jones said that as he grew up in Spartanburg in the 1960s and 1970s, his parents’ objective was to make sure that he and his siblings knew they could do anything if they put their minds to it and worked hard.

Chip Hood is among the few who can say they have earned degrees from all three of South Carolina’s major research universities.

He received a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from Clemson University and then went to the Medical University of South Carolina for a master’s in biomedical science. He continued his education at the University of South Carolina, where he received his juris doctor degree.

With this unique background of legal and technical experience, as the general counsel for Clemson University, he has forged innovative models that bring together industry and higher education to benefit each other. Hood has played a leading role in helping Clemson strategically pursue its vision of becoming one of the nation’s top-20 public universities.

In recognition of his accomplishments, Hood was inducted into the Thomas Green Clemson Academy of Engineers and Scientists, the highest honor bestowed by the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences.

Kavitha Arms chose Clemson University for the in-state tuition, its prestigious reputation for academics and engineering, and because it was the post-high school destination for many of her friends.

Now she can’t imagine having attended anywhere else.

She returned to campus in April to accept the Outstanding Young Alumni Award from the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences.

“It’s such a cliché term to say, ‘Clemson Family’ and that it’s a feeling, but it was all those things,” Arms said. “I come back today, and it’s a very special place. I found my identity here, I found my friends here.”

Arms graduated in 2001 with a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering and stayed in the Upstate of South Carolina. She’s now working at General Electric and has joined the advisory board that helps guide Clemson’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

Arms thanked her parents, KD and Dhanam Ganesan, who started from nothing and produced two successful children, both Clemson University alumni.

“As I accept this, I ask that your applause please be reserved for these two people who brought me here,” Arms said in her acceptance speech. “This is really the fruit of their labor.”

Arms has worked at GE for 13 years, most of that time with GE Power. She recently accepted a new job with GE Corporate, where she leads the chemical management and product stewardship organization for the entire portfolio of GE technologies.

As part of the job, she develops and implements policies that ensure GE complies with or surpasses regulatory and legislative obligations as they relate to chemicals.

“This is a company that’s ever evolving, ever changing,” she said. “There’s a lot happening. I keep getting drawn back to GE, and I’m proud of my loyalty.”

Arms was born in India and moved to the Netherlands when she was 8 years old. She has one younger brother, Bharat Ganesan, who has a Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering from Clemson.

The family moved to Greenville when her father accepted a job at Fluor Corp. Arms enrolled in the 10th grade at Mauldin High School, and her mother got a job at Bosch.

Arms described her parents as hardworking, humble and passionate about their children’s success.