University announces commencement schedule

The University of South Carolina will hold commencement exercises for its Columbia campus May 9 – 10.

To accommodate the growing number of graduates attending the ceremonies, the university has added a third ceremony for bachelor’s and master’s graduates. That ceremony will take place Saturday afternoon.

Outgoing President Andrew Sorensen will address graduates of the first undergraduate ceremony, set for 3 p.m. Friday, May 9, at the Colonial Center.

Pete Dye, who has been called the “father of modern golf architecture,” will receive an honorary doctor of business administration degree at the ceremony, during which graduates of the Moore School of Business, the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies, the College of Nursing, the S.C. College of Pharmacy and the Arnold School of Public Health will receive degrees.

Barbara McConnell Barrett, the U.S. ambassador to Finland, will address both undergraduate ceremonies Saturday, May 10, in the Colonial Center. Those ceremonies are set for 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.

The morning ceremony is for graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Honors College.

The afternoon ceremony is for graduates of the College of Education; the College of Engineering and Computing; the College of Hospitality, Retail, and Sport Management; the Fort Jackson Military Base Program; Interdisciplinary Programs; the School of Music; and the College of Social Work. During that ceremony, Barrett, who was an officer and executive of two Fortune 500 companies by the time she was 30, will be awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters.

The weekend of ceremonies will get under way with commencement exercises for the School of Law at 9:30 a.m. Friday, May 9. That ceremony, due to the threat of inclement weather, has been moved from the Horseshoe to the Koger Center for the Arts. University trustee Mark Buyck, a prominent Florence lawyer and civic leader, will speak and receive an honorary degree. The law school will confer 204 degrees.

At 12:30 p.m., the School of Medicine will award 76 medical degrees during its commencement ceremonies in the Koger Center. School of Medicine alumna Dr. Virginia Eddy, who graduated first in her class in 1984, will speak.

The Columbia campus will award more than 3,400 baccalaureate and graduate degrees, including eight associate degrees, 2,320 baccalaureate degrees, 204 law degrees, 107 Pharm.D. degrees, 19 graduate certificates, 942 master’s degrees and 44 specialist degrees.

Commencement exercises for 161 doctoral degree candidates will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 10, in the Koger Center. Dr. Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, will speak.

Commencement exercises at the other campuses are as follows.

Beaufort -- 6 p.m. May 2, Helen and Brantley Harvey Plaza at the South Campus in Bluffton. Arthur Blank, co-founder of The Home Depot and owner and CEO of the Atlanta Falcons and the Georgia Force, will speaker and receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree. The Beaufort campus will award 13 associate and 87 baccalaureate degrees.

Lancaster -- 2:30 p.m. May 3, Charles A. Bundy Auditorium of the James Bradley Arts and Sciences Building. Former S.C. Gov. Jim Hodges, head of the Hodges Consulting Group, will speak. The Lancaster campus will award 123 associate degrees.

Union -- 7 p.m. May 3, Main Building Auditorium. Sorensen will speak. The Union campus will award 47 associate degrees.

Salkehatchie -- 7 p.m. May 5, Conference Center, West Campus. University Trustee Sam Foster will speak. Salkehatchie will award 53 associate degrees.

Upstate -- 7 p.m. May 6, Quad behind the Administrative Building. Sorensen will speak. Leonid Yakymovych Kovalchuk, rector of Ternopil State Medical University in Ternopil, Ukraine, will receive an honorary doctor of public service degree, and Ingo Angermeier, president and CEO of Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, will receive an honorary doctor of public administration degree. The Upstate campus will award 504 baccalaureate and nine master’s degrees.

Sumter -- 7 p.m. May 7, Nettles Building Auditorium. Former Houston Oilers player Ivory Gethers, district sales manager in Columbia for a pharmaceutical company, will speak. The Sumter campus will award 56 associate degrees.

Aiken -- 7 p.m. May 8, Convocation Center at in the Convocation Center. Mark Emkes, chair and chief executive officer of Bridgestone Americas Holding and Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire LLC, will speak and receive an honorary doctor of business administration degree. Prominent Aiken lawyers B. Henderson Johnson Jr. and Frampton Toole Jr. will receive honorary doctor of humane letters degrees. The Aiken campus will award 282 baccalaureate and 11 master’s degrees.