North Carolina Central University celebrated its 113th Commencement Exercises today with more than 900 graduates.

Chancellor Charlie Nelms set the tone of acknowledgement and respect for full-time students who had to struggle to earn their degree such as honors graduate in psychology Amber Brown.   Brown completed her degree while also working and caring for her ill mother and son. Nelms also mentioned summa cum laude business graduate Kingsley Ikharo and honors law graduate Mary Beth McLean, each the parents of seven children. 

McLean was abandoned by her husband and left with the children, each aged ten and under.  When she found no legal services or financial assistance available to her, she became determined to become a lawyer so that some day, she could help women in her circumstances.  She earned her bachelor’s degree in political science at NCCU with a GPA of 4.0 and went on to earn her law degree conferred Saturday, despite serious personal challenges.   She said, “I wish the people who keep saying it can’t be done would stay out of the way of the people who are doing it.”

Most recently, she suffered a car accident in which her daughter and her daughter’s friend were seriously injured.  McLean suffered a broken rib.

“It really wasn’t easy, but today, Mary McLean is walking across this stage to receive her degree in law with cum laude honors,” said Nelms.

Tiffany Buchanan’s degree program in chemistry was interrupted by her military service.  In Iraq, she earned her combat badge delivering the mail.  She struggled to regain her footing stateside after her deployment.  Returning to her studies at NCCU, she said, “I failed the first test in every class.  I almost wanted to quit.”  Buchanan got help and got back on track graduating with magna cum laude honors.

Commencement speaker Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, delivered an address about “The three B’s—the ballot, the buck, and the book.”  He praised the African-American turnout during the presidential election but warned that participation must continue to ensure decisions like “where the money goes” are made with the needs of the African-American community in mind.

He told his audience, “We must learn to respect money but not worship money,” and encouraged his audience to invest in appreciating, rather than depreciating, assets. 

Finally, Morial congratulated the graduates for earning their degrees and the opportunity to make four times as much money over the course of their lifetimes than a high school dropout. 

He implored them not to stay in their comfortable neighborhoods but to act as role models.  “Don’t let five years go by without returning to your community and high school,” said Morial.  He told them that they were the real leaders, the ones the young people needed to see.

Clarice Goodyear, representing the University of North Carolina Board of Governors, presented the Board of Governors’ Award for Excellence in Teaching to Dr. Virginia Politano of NCCU’s Department of Physical Education and Recreation.  A full professor, Politano has taught at NCCU for 24 years, and as chair, she revamped both the undergraduate and graduate curricula.  In addition to carrying a full teaching load, Politano established an afterschool program for disabled children in the community.  Currently, she is president-elect of the North Carolina Association of Athletics, Health, Physical Education and Recreation.

The NCCU awards for teaching excellence were presented to Dr. Sharron Hunter-Rainey of the School of Business; Dr. Jonathan Livingston in the Department of Psychology; and in absentia, Dr. Sandra Vavra in the Department of English and Mass Communication.  The NCCU Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award was conferred for the first time to Dr. Jiahua Xie, assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences. 

###


Cutlines:

Students.jpg – Students who have had to struggle to earn their degrees because of personal concerns were acknowledged at NCCU’s Commencement Exercises.  From left to right are chemistry graduate Tiffany Buchanan, law graduate Mary Beth McLean, business graduate Kingsley Ikharo, and psychology graduate Amber Brown.  All received honors despite huge personal challenges to obtaining their degrees.

Chancellor.jpg – NCCU Chancellor Charlie Nelms congratulated the speaker, Atty. Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, at Saturday’s Commencement Exercises.