'Made' by Detroit, Stacie Clayton uses Wayne State role to elevate students and her city

When Stacie Clayton needed public transportation the most, Detroit’s bus service came through for her.

Clayton’s time of need took place in the early 1980s when she was a student at Renaissance High School. As a member of the Class of June 1983, Clayton was on her way to being a part of one of the earliest graduating classes at Renaissance, which opened in 1978 with first-year freshmen and second-year sophomore students.

However, in order to make the most of the challenging college-prep curriculum that was being offered at Renaissance, which was then located in the building that formerly housed Detroit Catholic Central High School at West Outer Drive and Hubbell, Clayton needed to find a dependable and timely way to get home after school. For most of her high school days, Clayton’s home was literally on the other side of town in the East Outer Drive and Dickerson neighborhood near City Airport. But Clayton was able to solve the navigational challenge with the help of two — and sometimes three — Detroit bus routes: the Dexter, Imperial Express and the Hayes Express, which ultimately dropped her off close to her front porch by 4 p.m. most days.

And while the Imperial Express and Hayes Express bus routes are things of the past, Clayton continues to appreciate everything Detroit institutions have given to her life.

“Detroit made me,” proclaims Clayton, who today is Wayne State University’s director of community affairs. “As much as I love Wayne State is how much I love the city of Detroit.”

Clayton explained that when she says: “Detroit Made Me” she also is borrowing words from a clothing line of the same name.  But when Clayton describes her ability to “connect the dots” (another one of her favorite expressions) for the benefit of current and prospective Wayne State students, as well as the greater Detroit community at large, it becomes apparent that one singular catchy phrase cannot adequately capture the natural high she has been on since assuming her current position in May 2021.

In her role at Wayne State, Clayton serves as the primary contact for individuals, businesses, community organizations and local municipalities that seek involvement with the university. In some instances, Clayton’s work involves connecting all of those entities at once, as was the case with Wayne State’s recent two-day program “A Tribute to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” held Jan. 12-13. Continuing an annual tradition which was originally driven by the late Dr. Arthur Johnson, a longtime president of the Detroit Branch NAACP, a classmate of Dr. King at Morehouse College and Wayne State’s first director of Community Affairs, this year’s tribute not only honored King’s life, but it also celebrated local community leaders; showcased the talents of students attending Detroit schools and called attention to efforts and issues that support equity, including Black entrepreneurship.

A glance at Clayton’s resume reveals that she prepared for the work she does today through classwork completed at Wayne State, where Clayton earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in business administration. But years before walking across a graduation stage at Wayne State, during a time when she was tussling with statistics and finance courses as an undergraduate business major, Clayton was introduced to a space which focused on words, not numbers, through a student assistant position in the political science department. She said that experience placed her on a path that she is still happily following today.

“As I went around to the political science classes, I observed that they talked a lot and had a lot of opinions and I said: ‘I can do this’ and I switched my major to political science,” recalled Clayton, who now delights in listening to and sharing opinions with Detroiters from all walks of life and during all times, including Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings when she takes pride in dialoguing with the faith-based community, which she identified as a key partner in Wayne State’s effort to have a significant impact on the cultural, economic and social life of Detroit and southeastern Michigan.

And just as Clayton’s teachers, counselors and advisers at Renaissance High School and Wayne State encouraged her to have meaningful experiences outside the school walls to make her a more well-rounded person, Clayton did that, and then some. She accumulated more than 30 years of experience working with government, corporate and nonprofit sectors by the time she returned to Wayne State to take on her current duties. Taking a trip down memory lane with Clayton on Monday while she spoke from her home in Lafayette Park about her previous career experiences and civic involvement, also provided an opportunity to relive important moments in Detroit’s history as Clayton described transcribing taped recordings of Mayor Coleman A. Young while she worked in the mayor’s office as a receptionist during Young’s last year in office; serving as an assistant to Mayor Dennis Archer’s Detroit City Council liaison after Archer succeeded Young in office; working for the Detroit Super Bowl XL Host Committee, where she paid close attention to the hands-on leadership style of Roger Penske; helping the Detroit City Council serve residents during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, and more.

Clayton has even crossed political party lines during her career journey, but those that have worked closest with her say her passion for Detroit is a constant.

“Words can’t even explain or express how much Stacie loves the city of Detroit,” said former Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones, who, while in office, tapped Clayton to be her director of administration and special projects, a position Clayton held just prior to coming to work at Wayne State. “But even before becoming a member of my staff, she was instrumental to the work we were doing. She would often send me articles from the Detroit Free Press or The Detroit News and say: ‘You need to know this.’ She just loves Detroit and is excited about any great thing that happens in Detroit.”

Jones also shared a story about times when Clayton was making a difference in the lives of future professionals without knowing it.

“We had interns from Wayne State and some were from out of state and they would come up to me after being around Stacie for a while and tell me how much they had learned from her,” explained Jones, who says she still speaks with Clayton on an almost daily basis about matters concerning Detroiters. “Stacie mentored those young people in ways that she didn’t even know she was doing.”

Another studious observer of Clayton is former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer. As snow fell in Detroit on Wednesday morning, Archer, who served as Detroit’s mayor from 1994 to 2001, was happy to accept a call about Clayton from his winter home in Florida. Archer admitted that he “didn’t know what she did,” when he came into office as mayor and had to make decisions about retaining the services of professionals that had been a part of the Young administration. However, Archer recalled that he was quickly won over by the qualities Clayton displayed, which he identified as “sincerity, interest in helping Detroiters, intellect and a desire to improve.”

And even after Clayton moved on from the mayor’s office, Archer said he continued to observe her actions and resulting community impact with pride.

“She has always found a way to move upward and has increased her value and knowledge about the city and the people of this city,” said Archer, who said it was an extra special touch to receive a call from Clayton toward the latter part of 2022 notifying him that the Dennis W. Archer Scholarship and Community Funds, along with Dr. Earlene Hall, were selected to receive the Dr. Arthur L. Johnson Community Leadership Awards given during Wayne State’s Tribute to Dr. King. “I have watched and respected what Stacie has done, and the great thing is she is not through.”

Two days before Archer’s statement, Clayton made it clear that she wants any future evaluation of her community impact to be connected to prospective college students in Detroit, and not just students attending her beloved Renaissance High School.

“We have our Renaissance and Cass Tech, but we also have Henry Ford and Osborn and Denby and all of the other Detroit public schools and charter schools, and I want to work hard to let them know that Wayne State is an option for all of our young people,” said Clayton, who praised Wayne State University President M. Roy Wilson, Wayne State Vice President of Government and Community Affairs Patrick Lindsey and a host of Wayne State staff members that have volunteered at community events that have allowed her “to be Wayne State in the community” in a manner that is true to her heart. “Other colleges say they have extensions in Detroit, but we are Detroit’s university. I am a Detroit homegirl and when I speak to students about Wayne State I can point to my life as an example. I can thank Wayne State for where I am today.”

Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and lifelong lover of Detroit culture in all of its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at: stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott's stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/.

Stacie Clayton's tips for career-minded college students

Stacie Clayton, Wayne State University’s director of community affairs, has more than 30 years of experience working with government, corporate and nonprofit sectors. However, she points to a student assistant position she had as an undergraduate at Wayne State as one of the most important career events in her life.

Following are some tips that Clayton provided for career-minded students at any university or college.

• Internships: Don’t turn down internship opportunities that provide valuable learning opportunities, even if they are unpaid. Internships are great resume builders, provide valuable work experience and help build relationships with professionals in one’s chosen field. And when all things are equal, relationships are often the deciding factor.

• Mentors: Establish a relationship with a mentor you can trust. Even if the relationship is limited to short meetings over coffee, or done through email, look for a mentor who is invested in your career goals and able to provide information and direction to help you achieve your goals.

• Take advantage of opportunities to meet company representatives anytime they are on your campus:  Exposure to company representatives does not have to be limited to career fairs held on campus. Anytime a company representative is on campus for a community program, lecture, or any other occurrence is an opportunity for students to meet that person and make a connection to the company the person represents. Keeping abreast of information posted by your college’s Career Services office and other campus resources is a good way to find when there is an opportunity to meet representatives from companies that are on campus throughout the year.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Students and Detroit come first for Wayne State's Stacie Clayton