The Wofford Alumni Association honored three alumni and a community leader during the college’s annual Homecoming Weekend, Oct. 20-21. The annual awards ceremony was held in the Jerome Johnson Richardson Theatre in the new Rosalind Sallenger Richardson Center for the Arts. 

Shawan Gillians ’04

RISING STAR

Gillians, interim treasurer for Santee Cooper, South Carolina’s state-owned electric and water utility, graduated from Wofford with high honors as a double major in economics and religion. A native of Moncks Corner, S.C., she graduated from the College of William and Mary School of Law and returned to the Charleston area to join the law firm of Buist Moore Smythe McGee. In 2011, Gillians left private practice to join the legal department of Santee Cooper, where she was associate general counsel-corporate affairs until March 2017. After receiving her MBA from the University of South Carolina, she was named to her current position.

She is a member of the board of trustees for the Coastal Community Foundation, a member of the Community Engagement Review Council for the Trident United Way and a member of the vestry of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Charleston. She is a graduate of the Riley Institute at Furman University, Diversity Leadership Initiative and is a member of the Liberty Fellowship Class of 2018.

The Rising Star Award is presented to a member of the Wofford Alumni Association who has demonstrated professional accomplishment and continued growth as an emerging leader in his or her community.

William McGirt ’01 

PRIDE OF WOFFORD

McGirt, the 2016 Memorial Tournament champion, grew up in Fairmont, N.C., playing baseball and golf, earning scholarships in both. He chose Wofford and golf. Named the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year, McGirt’s college career brought several major wins, including the prestigious Augusta State Invitational in his junior year and the 2001 SoCon Championship as a senior.

After college, he won the 2003 North Carolina Amateur and the 2003 Cardinal Amateur. He turned professional in 2004, spending years playing several mini-tours and the 2010 season on the Nationwide Tour. He finished tied for second at the 2010 PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, securing his PGA Tour card. McGirt, who lives in Spartanburg with his wife, Sarah Bagwell McGirt ’03, and their two children, Mac and Caroline, supports several charities, including the Walking for Kids Foundation. He is a board member of the Bobby Chapman Junior Invitational.

The Pride of Wofford Award is presented to a member of the Wofford Alumni Association who has brought honor and distinction to Wofford through outstanding professional achievement.

Charlie Gray ’72

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD

Gray joined the college’s Admission staff right after graduation, rising to lead the Admission program starting in 1977. He moved to head the Alumni and Parents Programs in 1995 and became the director of continuing education in 2015, creating the college’s popular Lifelong Learning at Wofford program. During his time working at the college, he influenced the beginning of intercollegiate soccer, helped grow the racial and ethnic diversity of the student body, and sponsored, counseled and mentored thousands of students and their organizations. 

He is a two-time Paul Harris Fellow with Rotary International, has been a volunteer for Mobile Meals of Spartanburg for decades and has been recognized several times by Wofford’s Association of African-American Students (now the Association of Multicultural Students) with their Martin Luther King Jr. Award. Gray and his wife, Susan, are the parents of three adult children, Charles, William and Ginny Gray Pryor ’05.

The award Gray received has now been named the Charles H. Gray Jr. Distinguished Service Award in his honor.

The Distinguished Service Award is presented to a member of the Wofford Alumni Association who has distinguished himself or herself through dedicated service and commitment to Wofford College.  

Carlos Gomez-Agnoli

DISTINGUISHED CITIZEN AWARD

Gomez-Agnoli located the company he founded, Dellfrio, a major importer of commercial refrigeration, in the Northside community of the city of Spartanburg because he wanted to be a part of a neighborhood that would benefit from a viable business. The Medellin, Colombia, native learned his entrepreneurial skills from his mother, father and grandfather, all of whom built businesses, from local to international, that sustained the family.

Now, Gomez-Agnoli serves on the board of directors and the housing committee of the Northside Development Group, and he supports arts funding at Cleveland Academy of Leadership. He hires students from Wofford College as interns to assist with valuable hands-on training in international business. He is a life supporter of the PAN Foundation, founded by his late father, Carlos Gomez-Uribe, to support homeless children in Colombia.

The Distinguished Citizen Award is presented to a non-alumnus or alumna who has served a distinguished career and has contributed extraordinary service to humanity, reflecting honor on both the recipient and Wofford.

  

by Laura Hendrix Corbin