Wofford College awarded 421 baccalaureate degrees during its 170th Commencement Exercises on May 19.
The Hon. Costa Pleicones ’65, a member of the college’s board of trustees and retired chief justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court, delivered the keynote address to the Class of 2024.
“The capacity to communicate, to create, to think and to adapt are the hallmarks of the liberally educated person,” Pleicones says. “These are the skills and capacities Wofford has instilled in you.”
During the ceremony in the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium, the college conferred honorary degrees to three individuals: Betty James Montgomery, Dr. Daniel B. Morrison Jr. ’75 and Tony L. Thomas.
Special teaching awards were presented to Dr. Kimberly Hall, associate professor of English, and Dr. Natalie Spivey, associate professor and chair of the Department of Biology. Hall received the Philip Covington Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Humanities and Social Sciences. Spivey received the Roger Milliken Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Science.
The college presented the prestigious Algernon Sydney Sullivan Awards to Jack Galbraith ’24 (student recipient) and Craig Burnett ’68 (non-student recipient). The student recipient of the Mary Mildred Sullivan Award was Arnise Wright ’24. The non-student recipient was J. Ruth Littlejohn.
HONOR GRADUATES
The Class of 2024 included 10 Honor Graduates who were recognized for earning a perfect 4.0 GPA throughout their college careers. 2024 Honor Graduates were:
Olivia Barrett Babb
Sarah Ann Buford
Tucker Hutchens
Couch Matthew
Phillip Yu Discaya
Alice Austin Givens
Meredith Estelle Hoff
Taylor Nikita Pirttima
Julia Marie Richardson
Alec Cade Schrader
Daiven Shub Sharma
RETIRING FACULTY
The following faculty members have collectively served Wofford College for 147 years and have been granted professor emeritus status by the college’s board of trustees.
Dr. Alan Chalmers
Professor of English 19 years of service
Dr. John McArthur
Reeves Family Professor of Economics 34 years of service
Dr. Bob Moss
Larry H. McCalla Professor of Biology 32 years of service
Gary McCraw ’77
Professor of Music 42 years of service Dr. Li Qing Kinnison Professor of Chinese 20 years of service
ROTC COMMISSIONING
The college recognized four Wofford students who were commissioned as second lieutenants in the U.S. Army on Saturday, May 18. They are:
George Carl Anderson
Yazmin Chavez Medina
John Dean Gaskins Jr.
Jason Alexander Kellinger
CLASS OF 1974
Members of Wofford’s Class of 1974 celebrated their 50th reunion during Commencement Weekend. During their first year, the college’s board of trustees voted to admit women as day students and the late Robert Bernard Leach, former assistant dean of students, became Wofford’s first Black professional staff member. In the fall of 1973, Eddie Coffey was named a Rhodes scholar, the college’s first since 1947.