ASU Spring Commencement May 9 and 10

Price, Beck, Jordan and Morton To Speak

Story by Sam Calhoun

More than 1,800 students are expected to receive their degrees during May commencement at ASU. Each of the university’s seven degree-granting colleges or schools will host individual ceremonies on Saturday and Sunday, May 9 and 10.

Ceremonies
The Reich College of Education will host ceremonies on Saturday, May 9, at 9:00 a.m. in the George M. Holmes Convocation Center. The ceremony will include a video featuring graduates reflecting on their experiences in the Reich College of Education.

The Cratis D. Williams Graduate School will host ceremonies on Saturday, May 9, at 12:30 p.m. in the Holmes Center. Graduates and guests will view a video about graduate student research.

Graduates of the Walker College of Business will participate in ceremonies on Saturday, May 9, at 4:30 p.m. in the Holmes Center. They will hear from alumnus and banker Kim Price.

Ceremonies for the College of Arts and Sciences and University College will begin at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, May 10, in the Holmes Center. ASU alumnus Gill Beck will be the speaker. Beck is a brigadier general in the Army Reserve and chief of the civil division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of North Carolina in Greensboro.

The Hayes School of Music will host commencement on Sunday, May 10, at 1:00 p.m. in Broyhill Music Center. James Jordan will be the guest speaker. Jordan is an associate professor of conducting at Rider University.

Graduates of the College of Fine and Applied Arts will hear from Hugh MacRae “Crae” Morton III during ceremonies on Sunday, May 10, at 4:00 p.m. in the Holmes Convocation Center. Morton is president of Grandfather Mountain.

Speakers

Graduates of the ASU Walker College of Business will hear from alumnus and banker Kim Price while participating in ceremonies on Saturday, May 9. Photo submitted

Kim Price
Price is president and CEO of Citizens South Bank in Gastonia. He captured the media spotlight with his creative plan to use $20.5 million in Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) funds to spur the sales new homes that have been constructed by builders who financed the construction through Citizens South.

Price began his banking career immediately after graduating from ASU in 1977. He started his career with First Citizens Bank and also worked with 1st Home Federal, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta and First National Bank of Shelby before joining Citizens South in 1997.

During the course of his career, Price has witnessed the ups and downs of the economy, but he says this recession is the most difficult he has ever seen.

A newspaper article about incentives that potential homeowners said would persuade them to purchase a home was the catalyst for Price’s plans for the TARP funding.

ASU alumnus Gill Beck, a brigadier general in the Army Reserve and chief of the civil division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of North Carolina in Greensboro, will be the speaker for the commencement ceremonies for the ASU College of Arts and Sciences and University College on Sunday, May 10. Photo submitted

Gill Beck
Beck graduated with a degree in English from ASU in 1978. As chief of the civil division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District, he is responsible for the prosecution and defense of civil litigation involving the United States and federal agencies in the state’s 24-county Piedmont region. He also has served as an assistant U.S. attorney and received the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award for his participation in the recovery of $182 million as part of Operation LABSCAM.

Beck joined the Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG) with the 1st Infantry Division after earning a law degree from Duke University. He also served with the Third Armored Division, 82d Airborne Division and the Army Litigation Division in the Pentagon.

While in the Reserve, Beck was deployed as staff judge advocate of Task Force 134 (Detainee Operations), Multi-National Force-Iraq at Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq, during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

He is the first graduate of ASU’s ROTC program to attain the rank of brigadier general.

James Jordan, an associate professor of conducting at Rider University, will be the guest speaker for the ASU Hayes School of Music spring commencement on Sunday, May 10. Photo submitted

James Jordan
Jordan is the conductor of The Westminster Williamson Voices at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. For 12 years, he served as conductor of The Westminster Chapel Choir. He is also the conductor of Anam Cara, a 20-voice professional choral ensemble based in Philadelphia.

Jordan is recognized and praised in the musical world as one of the nation’s preeminent conductors, writers and innovators in choral music. His career and publications have been devoted to innovative educational changes in the choral art that have been embraced around the world.

A master teacher, Jordan’s pioneering writing and research concerning the use of Laban Movement Analysis for the teaching of conducting and movement to children has dramatically changed teaching in both of these disciplines. Called the “Father of the Case Study,” he was the first researcher to promote the idea of the case study as a viable and valuable form of research for the training and education of teachers.

Graduates of the ASU College of Fine and Applied Arts will hear from Grandfather Mountain President Hugh MacRae “Crae” Morton III during ceremonies on Sunday, May 10. Photo submitted

Hugh MacRae “Crae” Morton III
Morton was named president of Grandfather Mountain Inc. in June 2005. He represents the fifth generation of the MacRae/Morton family to steward the mountain since 1885.

Morton grew up in Wilmington and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. He spent much of his early career as a radio producer, including three seasons with the Dallas Cowboys radio network.

He has taught and been a guest speaker at ASU and has directed internships for students in the university’s recreation management and communication programs.

Morton recently worked with North Carolina officials to make Grandfather Mountain the newest state park and convert the nature attraction to nonprofit status. On March 31, N.C. Gov. Beverly Perdue signed the legislation that created this new status for the mountain. The Morton family made the decision to turn the property into a public entity to protect the land from development, creating conservation easements and allowing the land to be preserved for future generations.

Parking
ASU parking officials suggest that attendees arrive 45 minutes prior to the respective ceremonies.

Event parking signs will direct attendees to parking areas on May 9 and 10. There will be no charge to park at the Rivers Street Parking Deck provided that attendees are attending the commencement ceremonies.

Before and after the commencement ceremonies, park-and-ride bus transportation will run continuous loops between the Raley Hall Parking Lot, Broyhill Inn and Conference Center and the Holmes Convocation Center. Shuttles will begin running at 8:00 a.m. on both Saturday, May 9, and Sunday, May 10.

For more information, click to www.registrar.appstate.edu/graduation/parking.