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Welcome everybody. As Dean of the College of Education it is my distinct pleasure to
preside over today's convocation ceremony. Let me begin by extending my congratulations
to everyone here. Towards graduates: today is your day and we all applaud you, class
of 2013. Graduates: Your accomplishments that we are celebrating today have been assisted
by many people in your lives. Your parents, grandparents, siblings, partners, friends,
and many others. Graduates: please take a moment to thank those who have helped you
during your studies at the University of Georgia. In the College of Education we have 230 faculty
members in nine different departments. They have taught and mentored you over the last
several years I ask that everyone present thank our faculty. We also have 140 staff
members in the college of education. These individuals - often without your knowing - have
been instrumental in helping you earn your degree. I ask you to thank the staff in the
departments of student services, information technology library, and many other areas.
Now this is a day of celebration for your passion for learning and helping others. Convocation
is a time-honored ritual that marks all that you have accomplished thus far in your lives.
Please make sure and enjoy this moment. It is something that occurs once in a lifetime.
You are now about to become alumni of the College of Education. You are now in member
of a community that includes over 58,000 alumni. Many of these individuals have gone on to
great accomplishments and made important contributions to Georgia and the nation and we expect no
less from each of you. No pressure. We look forward in the future to hearing about the
great accomplishments and important contributions made by the class of 2013. It is now my honor
to introduce Dr. Cynthia Dillard, the Mary Francis Early Professor in Teacher Education.
Dr. Dillard is an imminent and globally respected scholar who studies critical and multicultural
education, spirituality in teaching and learning, and African-American feminist studies. Dr.
Dillard is the author of two books and over 45 scholarly articles and she's a recipient
of the American Education Studies Associations Critic's Choice award for her book, On Spiritual
Strivings. Dr. Dillard, please come to the podium to introduce our convocation speaker.
Thank you Dean Kennedy. I've been blessed with three names. The first, Cynthia B. Dillard,
is the name given to me by my parents. It has an interesting history: when my mom went
into labor, the woman she shared a room with at the hospital went into labor about the
same time. Mom brought me back after delivery, all bouncy and full of myself, and the woman
who was sharing a room with my mother's baby died at childbirth. They plan to name her
Carolyn Bryanne: In her honor my mom named me Cynthia Bryanne. That is a name dedicated
to the strength of the one who survived. In 2000 I built a community center in a little
village called Mpeasem in Ghana, West Africa, that has a preschool and kindergarten, and
currently we're in the process of building an elementary school that may, as early as
next year, serve as a student teaching site for our UGA early and elementary school students.
For this work I was crowned and enstooled in that village and given my second name:
Nana Mansa the Second, Queen Mother of Development. That is the second one, dedicated to the wisdom
of education in developing a nation and its people. Last year I arrived here to UGA, bearing
my third name: the Mary Francis Early Professor in Teacher Education. This is a name dedicated
to her legacy of courage and grace. And Mary Frances Early's legacy is a powerful story
of both here at the University of Georgia, in the Atlanta Public School system, across
the state of Georgia and beyond. Born and raised in Atlanta, Ms. Early attended Clark
College (now Clark Atlanta University) and majored in music education. Given the unjust
laws and oppressions for African Americans at that time, Ms. Early began her graduate
school in the north at the University of Michigan. Seeing the unrest and challenges that Charlayne
Hunter Gault and Hamilton Holmes were experiencing as the first African American students on
the University of Georgia campus, she felt the need to walk in solidarity with them in
her home state of Georgia. Through the challenges here at UGA, she completed her Master's degree
in music education and became the first African American to graduate from UGA in 1962. Later
she received her second degree as a specialist in music education from UGA in 1967. Mary
Francis Early's accomplishments are many or, as we say in Ghana, "plenty".
In her groundbreaking work as a teacher in the Atlanta Public Schools for 37 years, she
was awarded the Star Teacher of the Year Award and is a two-time Teacher of the Year Award
recipient. Her leadership both as the APS music coordinator and as the first African
American to serve as the president of the Georgia Music Educators Association demonstrated
her talent and made a way out of no way for many as my mother would say. Upon her retirement
from APS in 1994, Ms. Early continued to impact education, this time in higher education,
where she served as an adjunct professor of music at Morehouse and Spelman colleges and
became the chair of the music department at Clark Atlanta University, her alma mater,
in 1997. It is that this she retired for real in 2005 - but I find it difficult to keep
up with the weekly schedule of Ms. Early's many speeches, school visitations, musical
performances, church activities, UGA campus visitations - she needs an apartment here
actually - that she is involved in. Her presence - her legacy of courage - continues here at
UGA through the annual Mary Frances Early lecture and this, my own professorship in
the College of Education, named in her honor. Recently the UGA Alumni Association named
her the 2011 merit award winner for her dedication and lifelong service to her many communities
and many schools (baby cries out) - amen baby - including our own. For me, it's an honor
and privilege to call her name Mary Frances Early; it's an honor and privilege to be a
part of her legacy of courage and grace, and an honor and privilege to call her a dear
friend. Ladies and gentlemen and graduates - soon to be graduates - of the College of
Education class of 2013, I present to you Ms. Mary Frances Early.
Thank you Dr. Dillard for that lovely introduction. I am proud to call you not only friend but
also the M.F.E. professor in the College of Education. Dean Kennedy, Dr. Marcotte, Dr.
Dillard, other administrators, faculty, staff, parents, family, friends, supporters, and
of course class of 2013, I am delighted to be here with you today. I'm as excited as
you. As I thought about what I should say to you, the first thing I thought was "they
don't want to hear the usual cliches and platitudes that people usually express during vocations
like this." I thought, "What can I say that they will want to hear and that they might
remember some of?" And then I remembered that I really didn't remember what my graduation
speech speaker said, so I won't be offended if you don't remember what I say. And I have
to also remember that the ear can't take any more than the rear, so my remarks will be
brief. I want to first of all thank all of the administrators and faculty and staff of
the College of Education and the other colleges that are involved for the excellent job that
you are doing in preparing all of these students to go out into the world of work, or to go
on to graduate study. There is no more important job than that of education. I'm a lifelong
educator and I believe in it, and I thank you all for doing a superb job opening the
doors of knowledge to the students. But they had to step through those doors by themselves,
and it's obvious that they did. And then I want to say to the families, parents, family
members, supporters - thank you for supporting these students in many, many ways. A lot of
credit goes to you because without you, they would not have succeeded in what they have
accomplished. I think that often we forget sometimes that there's someone who has to
encourage, someone who has to pay the bills, and their bills other than the usual ones
that people don't know about when they come to college and university, and they also have
to prod the students sometimes when they need a little push. You have done that, and I want
to congratulate and thank you for your interest and support of these students. And finally
to the class of 2013, I am so proud for all of you, and I know that you're excited because
you're about to receive that much long-awaited diploma and you're going to start on another
path. Some of you undergraduates may decide that you're going to further your education
and hone your skills further through graduate study, or you may have a good looking and
exciting job. Graduate students you may already have a job or you may be going into another
venture. But whatever the case, your future is yours to construct and I know that that's
a cliche, but it's up to you as to where it goes. Last year I addressed Rite of Sankofa
audience and students, and I told them that the name or the word Sankofa comes from a
West African Akan language and it means "in order to move forward, we must go back and
reclaim our past so that we can find out why we are here and how we came to be who we are."
And it also means that it's not wrong to go back and claim the past. Dr. Dillard, who
just introduced me, wrote a wonderful book and its entitled Learning to Remember the
Things We've Learned to Forget. And that is true - we often forget past - but all of us
have one. If you look back on your path to where you are today, think back to why did
you come to the University of Georgia? Why did you choose Georgia rather than another
school? How did you fair academically in high school with your grades? Did you have a favorite
teacher or counselor/mentor who encouraged and inspired you to move on to higher education?
Some of you may have come from small communities, even a rural community. Others may come from
a big metropolitan city. Some of you may be the first in your family to receive a college
degree, and others of you may come from a long line of college university graduates.
Whatever the case, this is your past, and we should not forget where we came from. I
have a past here at Georgia too that I'm very proud of. I feel privileged and blessed to
have been in, I guess, the right place at the right time, and to have become the first
black graduate of the University of Georgia. That was in 1962, a long time ago. And most
of you are probably not even that old. But the University of Georgia would never be the
same again after 1962. Charlayne Hunter-Gault and Hamilton Holmes graduated in 1963, and
then it began - a flood of African American students - and students of many other ethnicities.
This diversity, this mix of people, has made the University of Georgia stronger. It has
enhanced the university community - in fact - the University of Georgia is a microcosm
of the world. The truth of the matter is that you are still constructing the past because
students will come after you who will look at what you have done. You will leave a legacy
that they will cherish hopefully, that they will try to emulate, and that's something
that you can be proud of cause some of you may not be proud right now to be called part
of the past.
But the truth of the matter is: you are. I hope that you will - as you move into whatever
career, whatever path you choose - that you will also want to give back. One of my favorite
quotes is one from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who said, "The time is always right to
do the right thing." And by that I think he meant that we need to devote ourselves to
service to others because no matter what career you embrace, you can share your gifts with
others, and if you do this to you will find that you will, you will receive abundantly.
I said earlier that it's nice to get a job with a six-figure salary, but it's not always
promised, and it doesn't always make you happy. But giving back to others will give you more
than you can imagine. So please share and when you begin sharing as a proud alumni,
please give back to the College of Education because whatever you become, remember that
UGA helped you to get there. So, the present is now. You're here, you're excited - as you
should be - and you say, "Well you know what am I supposed to do?" I want to get back to
greet tomorrow and what I say to you is: just as you should honor your past you should celebrate
the future as Dr. Kennedy has said. But what about the future? What comes next? You've
been embraced in this security here at UGA, now you get to move out on your own. All I
can say to you is that you have everything that you need to do that. You have been prepared;
you must step out with confidence. One of the things that I would say to you is live
up to your passion. What is it that you want to do? You must, if you have dreams, it doesn't
make any difference if you realize your dreams if you still see you've got to be actively
involved in life. You've got to approach life with, with passion, with self-confidence,
with persistence, and with patience. Charles Dickens wrote a famous novel entitled Great
Expectations. It's a wonderful novel, and that's what people will have for you. They'll
have great expectations. But make certain what you want to do. Your passion, your dream,
is what you want to do - not to live up to someone else's expectations. The world today
is filled with problems, and you have a responsibility and a challenge to help make this world a
better place. And if you do what I ask - that is to give back to others - you will not find
it difficult to do. Because if you remember Dr. King's mantra of giving everything that
you have in terms of service to others, you will find your life very rewarding. Though
this world seems troubled, as I look out upon your beautiful faces, young faces, I see so
much potential. I know that you can help to make this world a peaceful world and a world
of prosperity for all. And I urge you to live up to that potential and bring it to fruition.
I'm going to end with a story about famous man named Daniel Webster. Daniel Webster was
walking along the street with a friend and they were passing by a group of young people.
Daniel Webster stopped and tipped his hat to the young people. His friend, they walked
on and his friend said, "Why are you tipping your hat to them? You're the famous one, they
should be tipping their hat to you!" But Daniel Webster said "Whenever I see a group of young
people, I feel obliged to tip my hat to them because they are the hope of the future."
And so are you. In the spirit of Daniel Webster, though I'm not wearing a hat - I usually don't
- I tip my hat to you, class of 2013. I urge you to honor your past, celebrate the present,
and set sails for the future because your future is very bright. Thank you and congratulations!
Thank you Ms. Early. And now with Ms. Early's gracious wisdom in mind, we have the privilege
of recognizing those of you who will receive degrees this semester from the College of
Education. Some of you have earned bachelor's degrees; some have earned master's degrees;
some have earned specialist degrees; and some of you here today are earning academia's highest
degree, the doctoral degree. Many of you have qualified for initial teacher certification,
qualified to apply for licensure in another professional area, or added another area of
certification to your credentials. Many of you have completed original research in the
form of an undergraduate project, honors thesis, master's thesis, or doctoral dissertation.
Others of you have provided important service to the community through your service-learning
activities, and many of you have accomplished all this while maintaining a grade point average
high enough that you were graduating *** laude, magna *** laude, and suma *** laude. Some
of you have done this while working, taking care of your children or parents, or while
blazing your own trail as the first person in your family to attend college. All of you
have worked very hard, and that's what we call it earning a degree. We're very proud
of all of you, and we are pleased to be able to recognize your work and your accomplishments
here this afternoon. Now we will begin the convocation procession. The graduates will
approach the stage from the audience's right and be introduced in alphabetical order within
each of the departments. I invite the audience to please hold your applause until all graduates
have been introduced for a department. Introducing our graduates today is Dr. Ann Marcotte, Department
Head and Professor of Communication Sciences and Special Education.
Our first group of graduates this afternoon - and I understand that it's a small group
- includes all those who have earned degrees in the Department of Career and Information
Studies, who's workforce education faculty and who's learning design and technology faculty
are both ranked number one in the country in their respective areas. This department
prepares undergraduates to become career and technical education teachers. Well, those
completing graduate degrees typically assume leadership positions within the instructional
technology units of school systems, governments, businesses, or industry. All are prepared
in the effective use of information systems with emphasis on creativity and innovation
for today's careers and for those of the future. Congratulations to everyone who has earned
a degree from the Department of Career and Information Studies.
Stephen Jack Arnold Tonia Anne Dousay
Jennifer Faye Haynes
The graduates from the Department of Career and Information Studies!
Come on out here! I happened to be at a graduate commencement once when there was someone who
graduated from a particular department, probably I'm guessing thousands of people enormous,
so I'm borrowing a line from President Adams. I thought it was wonderful. "Never let it
be said at an institution as large as the University of Georgia cannot provide individual
attention." You're worth it. I'm very pleased to be introducing the young woman who has
earned a degree from the Department of Educational Psychology. The department is composed of
four graduate programs - what was yours? - including the most important, Applied Cognition and
Development, and also including Gifted and Creative Education Quantitative Methods and
School Psychology. These programs prepare professionals for careers as college teachers
and university professors, educators of the gifted and creative, school psychologists,
researchers, and test developers. It's programs are perennially ranked among the nation's
top twenty by US News and World Report, and the department is known for the quality of
its outstanding graduate - outstanding graduates, including Miss Samantha Lynn Adair.
Our next good-sized group of graduates all come from the Department of Educational Theory
and Practice. These outstanding graduates are prepared for positions as teachers, teacher
leaders, teacher educators, or researchers in early childhood, elementary and middle
school and social studies education. These programs routinely rank among the top ten
in the nation according to US News and World Report and all of its graduates share the
department's commitment to deepen society's understanding of the issues facing the next
generation of learners and their teachers and to foster equity and social justice in
education. Congratulations to everyone who has earned a degree from Department of Educational
Theory and Practice
Christy Elizabeth Adams Jose S Almodova
Ashlee Lauren Bailey Emily Kaitlin Baker
Emma Anne Barton Darryl Christopher Batson, Jr.
Katie Diana Beck Molly Michelle Bernstein
Ashley Marie Boccolucci Allison Elizabeth Bridgers
Meredith Hope Bryant Sarah Caitlin Burton
Kristin Elizabeth Bush Meganne Taylor Butler
Sarah Marie Camp Kelly Nicole Cervino
Apurva Chakraborti Katherine Marie Cline
Chelsea Allyn Cohen David Chad Daniel
Jennifer Carol Daniel Alyssa Nicole DeFiesta
Emily Caroline Dennis Ashley Kay Destefani
Lansingh Alexandra Dillard Ashton Lesleigh Emmerich
Haley Renee Fangmann Zachary Ryan Feldberg
Hannah Maria Frady Mary Caroline Franks
Britt Nichole Gallman Rebecca Ruth Gardner
Margaret Emiline Gaskins Rachel Elise Glover
Carly Elizabeth Graham Ashley Kay Griffin
Rebecca Joyce Hacker Shelby Loren Hammonds
Charles Edward Harmon III Mollie Kate Harris
Abbey Lynn Hedgepeth Lauren Elizabeth Heitmeier
Kera Lynn Holden Stephanie Doris Horman
Jessica Marie Howard Julia Elise Hylinski
Paige Marie Isner Sarah Elizabeth Jett
Jennifer Shaw Johns Courtney Elizabeth Johnson
Rachel Jill Kasten Michelle Yun Kim
Tracy Lynn Kottwitz Kaley Jan Krafka
Kayla-Danielle Marcell Kraft Ilana Mallory Kurland
Mehak Siraj Lalani Madison Claire Lamphere
Kaylee Miranda Lanier Alicia Schenell Lawson
Amelia Kaylin Ledford Chelsea Ann Lee
Abigail Cheryl Letts Prisca A Lewis
Ashley Lauren Lindsey Sabrina Susan Lynn
Jenna Marie MacLean Lindsey Morgan Marshall
John David McClure Sarah Jean Milliron
Mary Elizabeth Mitchell Annette Carla Naranjo
Elizabeth Bland NeSmith Caitlin Christine Norton
Megan Marie O'Connell Richard Pavone
Philip Michael Peavy Isaac Robert Piha
Charissa Renee Pipe Alison Christine Prater
Rebekah Elizabeth Reynolds Wanda Louise Rice
Adrienne Michelle Rivera Jennifer Anna Rockecharlie
Paige Heisler Seymour Carolyn Rachel Shapiro
Jamie Dena Silverboard Elizabeth Anne Skilling
Ashley Nicole Skinner Alyson Leigh Smith
Dorothy Elizabeth Solsten Meghan Leeann Sorrells
Emilee Noel Springer Amy Michelle Stanley
Audrey Veronica Steele Bethany Brook Swords
Magdalena Szymonik Lynde Ann Taylor
Mollie Katherine Thornton Ashli Louise Tinius
Collette K. Toney Joanna Louise Troxel
Yesenia Vargas Kayla Janet Walton
Taylor Marie Way Nyshunda Jaressa Welch
Audre Rebekah Williams Anna Marie Williford
Sophia Jeemin Yim Jillian Hannah Yontz
Lisa Mary Zielenske
Those are the graduates from the Department of Educational Theory and Practice!
We have a lovely group of graduates who have earned degrees in the Department of Kinesiology.
The mission of this department is to enhance health and well-being for people throughout
the life span through the creation, transmission, and application of knowledge related to physical
activity, exercise, and sport. The department's bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs
in Exercise Science, Physical Education, and Sport Management prepare students for careers
as practitioners in allied health fields, in teaching and coaching, and in sport enterprises,
and for careers as scholars and researchers in higher education, government, and industry.
Congratulations to all of the graduates who have earned degrees in the Department of Kinesiology,
including especially:
Jenna Elise Albert Anna Elise Aube
Lauren Michelle Bagley Evan Thomas Beever
Brian Davis Berl Katherine Mae Bickley
Amanda Leigh Briggs Celeste Jane Brown
Christopher Andrew Carter Kelsey Lee Chason
Carrie Elizabeth Colcord Robert Gregg Cole
Sarah Elizabeth Conrad Macy Alexandra Cook
Margaret Faridah Dalton Elizabeth Anne Danish
Emily Anne Dobbins Shannon Marie Dooley
Vanessa Monique Doiley Justin Phillip Drew
Taylor Elise Duggan Kathleen Devan Early
Kelsey Patricia Gaid Keller Williams Galpin
Elizabeth Ann Gibbs Kristen Noel Giddens
Kiara Jeniece Gipson Benjamin S Greenough
Laura Ann Guest Scott Adam Haddock
Olivia Catherine Hale Brianna Nicole Hart
Jessica Lauren Hawkes Laura Anne Hawkins
Sarah Christine Hedrick Christopher John Herold
Sarah Kathryn Hicks Laura Elizabeth Holland
Paige MacLaurin Hopkins Caitlin Ashley Howell
Katherine Elizabeth Hughes Amanda Marie Humer
Ashleigh Claire Hutchings Nolan Joseph Keatley
Philip Michael Kennedy Nicholas Andrew Kinsley
Mathew Lee Koenig Rachel R. Langman
Injae Lee Emily Catherine Lloyd
Emilee Marie Mason Allyson Rose McGinty
Daniel Patrick McGowan Austin Margaret McLendon
Amanda Jane Moon Farshaad Mostoufi
Emily Victoria Nash Catherine Inez Orr
Anraya Gynee Palmer Sarah Elizabeth Parker
Caroline Mary Pfohl Shannon Marie Philipps
Claire Nicole Phillips Ross Alexander Phillips
Keenan Hannigan Piller Michelle Alyse Prather
Jennica Kannon Ramey Lauren Elizabeth Ring
Christopher Alan Roman Christopher Thomas Ross
Adam Enrique Sasso Alexandra Victoria Seabolt
Elissa Marie Shepard Shepard Peary Stafford
Perry Russell Strickland III Kelly Irene Walsh
Whitney Caroline Walters Rebecca Louise Westbrooks
Haley Raker Winston Katelyn Macy Woods
Samantha Nicole Yarc Alexis Josephine Yoculan
The graduates from the Department of Kinesiology!
Our final graduates this afternoon have all earned degrees from the Department of Lifelong
Education Administration and Policy. This department contains three distinct programs:
one in Educational Administration, one in Adult Education and Organization Development,
and one in Qualitative Research Methods. The overriding mission of this department is to
train professionals to administer the educational programs of our state, the southeast, and
the nation based on rigorous evaluative techniques, whether these programs are focused on education
for students in kindergarten through the 12th grade or on continuing education for adults.
Congratulations to everyone who has earned a degree in the Department of Lifelong Education,
Administration, and Policy including:
Kendall Dwayne Deas Leanne M Dzubinski
Congratulations to you both.
Thank you Dr. Marcotte. Thank you again families, faculty, and staff. Everyone has many reasons
to be proud today. And I'm going to keep this brief because I know a lot of you have a lot
to celebrate, so audience: I present you the class of 2013. This concludes the formal convocation
event. Please enjoy the day and have fun.