They say only time will tell. Well, it was a certain timepiece that told Dan Roberts what he would do with his life.
“It’s kind of funny, my first exposure to IBM was sitting in class at Spartanburg High School watching the clock tick toward 3:05 when the bell would ring and we would be dismissed. And the clock was made by IBM—the IBM logo right there,” Roberts says.
Turns out, he never did work for International Business Machines, but the face on the clock nevertheless inspired him to consider working in computers, a field exploding in 1969.
Today, after a half-century in high-tech, Roberts, 72, is pursuing his doctorate in—what else?—computer science.
Last spring, he picked up his Master of Science degree, exactly 50 years to the day and hour—the afternoon of Friday, May 11—that he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in math/management science, also at Clemson University.
In the ’60s, computing offered a “different view of industry from what people in the South were seeing, particularly with cotton mills and heavy manufacturing,” he says. “It was bringing leading-edge, high-tech technology to the world of manufacturing. So that fascinated me.”
After Clemson undergrad, he took his skills to industry and, ultimately, health care—all to automate processes that would help people.
“I have been able to kind of ride the crest, not only seeing that technology but helping people take advantage of that technology,” Roberts says.
Despite lucrative job offers elsewhere, he never left the Upstate. After all, he’s Tiger orange from paws to proboscis; he still works with the university’s Athletic Department, and he’s immersed in Clemson’s Institute for Engaged Aging (IEA), a multidisciplinary program.
At the IEA, he was a pilot participant in the Memory and Cognition Research Project. And, among other efforts, he worked on a paper titled “Automating Word of Mouth Through Retiree Volunteerism.”
And now he says he’s a year or two away from earning his Ph.D. at Clemson’s Human-Centered Computing Division.
“People ask me what that is, and I’ll say, ‘Well, it’s kind of the opposite of corporate-centered computing.’ If you’re doing computing from the corporate environment, like I did for 50 years, the objective is to minimize your costs and increase your profits. In human-centered computing, the idea is bringing the technology to make people’s lives better.”
He does plenty of that outside the classroom, too. He volunteers for numerous organizations, including the American Cancer Society, Upcountry History Museum, Upstate Forever, and Little League, among others.
The latter goes straight to a lifelong passion: baseball.
He has also served on the committee that helped attract the Greenville Drive to Fluor Field. And he sat on the board of the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum & Baseball Library; at its grand opening, he dressed up as the near-mythical White Sox player.
In a Clemson News article last May, Brad Wyche, who founded Upstate Forever and serves as its senior advisor, had this to say about Roberts: “He is totally selfless. He is always looking for ways to help people and organizations. He has a heart of gold and just wants to help in any way he can.”
Roberts doesn’t keep an eye on the clock anymore. Still, one can’t help but ask, why a Ph.D. now? And why spend so much time with his business consulting and all that volunteer work and still make time for the ol’ ballgame?
“‘Retire’ is not an either-or kind of a thing,” he says. “I guess what I’ve learned is I’m not very good at retirement. I’m not that couch potato, sitting on the sidelines, although I do a lot of sitting on the sidelines because I have grandkids still playing baseball.”
Professional Profile
Dan Roberts’ LinkedIn profile reads like the resume of a 20-something go-getter looking for a big-time job. While he’s been there and done all that, here’s a condensed version of where he’s been, what he’s done, and what he’s still doing.
October 2019 – current: Cleveland Cliffs/AK Steel Insight Global Consulting, Cincinnati and Middletown, Ohio. Senior consultant/trainer. Production planning and scheduling systems – supply chain optimization
August 2018 – current: Clemson University Athletic Department via Rhino Sports. Guest relations and security specialist
December 2003 – July 2018: UnitedHealth Group/Optum; Healthcare management systems development and project administration
Previous professional work: AspenTech, a global asset management software company in Bedford, Massachusetts. Monsanto Co./Innovative Computing: systems integration specialist/training consultant
Dan Roberts Fact File
Community involvement
- Clemson University Institute for Engaged Aging
- Upcountry History Museum
- Baseball Stadium Initiative: served on committee to attract the Red Sox organization to Greenville
- Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum & Baseball Library: board member, tour guide, and Shoeless Joe interpreter
- Greenville Little League: Coach and webmaster
- Upstate Forever
- Freelance Writer, including Greenville Journal
Hobbies
Mentoring, coaching, cycling, hiking, college sports, basketball, building websites, landscaping, remodeling, traveling, reading, music
