Col. Sandy Edge, USAF (Ret) ’72

Beloved educator. Trusted mentor. Embodiment of the Clemson spirit.

Sandy Edge of Clemson has contributed more than 50 years of service to his nation, community and alma mater.

A native of the Wampee community in Horry County, S.C., Sandy earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education from Clemson in 1972 and a master’s degree in business administration from Troy State University (now Troy University) in 1980. He also studied at the Air Force’s Air Command and Staff College and Air War College.

He held successive assignments of increasing responsibility for the Air Force in locations stretching from Spain and Saudia Arabia to Florida. His military awards and recognitions include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with Four Oak Leaf Clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal and Joint Service Achievement Medal.

He capped his 28-year military career by returning to Clemson in 1997 as commander of the Air Force ROTC detachment and chair of the aerospace studies department. Upon active military retirement in 2001, he began more than two decades of service as a teacher and administrator in Clemson’s business school, now the Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business.

He directed the college’s Academic Advising Center; coordinated the freshman and transfer student orientation program and recruiting activities; and taught and managed instruction for the introductory Business Foundations course.

He was a faculty member of the university’s Athletic Council and assisted with the recruitment and ongoing academic success of hundreds of student athletes. He provided guidance and information about academic policies and programs to aid recruits with their enrollment decisions, and he then developed mentoring relationships to help the students with their academic progress.

Among Sandy’s many campus, alumni and community activities, he was president of the Clemson Alumni Association, board chair of the Clemson Corps, and a member of the Board of Visitors and the Clemson University Foundation’s board of directors. He is a longtime member and leader of the Rotary Club of Clemson. He gives generously to Clemson academics and athletics and to Rotary programs.

He received the university’s Thomas Green Clemson Award for Excellence as a faculty member, his college’s Charles Dunn Academic Advising Award, the alumni association’s Volunteer of the Year Award, Clemson student government’s Gator Farr Spirit Award and the Rotary Club’s Vocational Service Excellence Award.

Sandy and his wife, Becky, have two daughters, Angela J. Shine and Johanna J. Hartmann. Both of their sons, Brandon Blake and the late Broade Allen, graduated from Clemson in 2001.