Campus News, Chancellor, Community, Education, Events, Featured, Press Releases, Students - Friday, May 4, 2012 3:46 pm

McElveen-Hunter to UNCG grads: We keep what we give away

When Bonnie McElveen-Hunter was a child, her mother made her write the word can’t on a piece of paper. They put it in a shoebox and promptly buried it in the backyard.

“Can’t doesn’t exist,” was one of “mother’s pearls of wisdom” that McElveen-Hunter, founder and CEO of Pace Communications, former U.S. ambassador to Finland and current chairman of the American Red Cross, passed on to the 2,500-plus UNCG graduates who received their degrees Friday, May 4. Other “pearls” in her commencement address were reminders that time is precious, that work is a privilege, and that “failure is a comma, not a period.”

She warned them not to underestimate their parents, quoting writer and cultural critic Mark Twain. Twain confessed that at 18 he thought his father was “colossally stupid” but at 21 he was amazed at how much his father had learned in three years.

“You will never be able to love your parents the way your parents love you,” she told the crowd in the Greensboro Coliseum, “but remember today to tell them you love them anyway.”

This prompted shouts of “I love you!” that echoed across the arena.

Some excited graduates donned personalized mortar boards. “Official Teacher Status 2012,” “Thank God I Survived,” “Thanks UNCG,” “Blessed Beyond Any Measure” and “Take Care of All” were just a sampling of the messages they carried.

Chancellor Linda P. Brady conferred 1,888 undergraduate degrees, 552 master’s degrees (including the first degree awarded by the new Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering), 33 education specialist degrees and 49 doctoral degrees. McElveen-Hunter received an honorary doctorate.

Brady said UNCG is remarkable not only for academic excellence but for service. UNCG stands apart, she said, “for the difference our people make, for how the lessons learned are carried forward.” Full Story »