A note from the Chair:
Graduation occurred on Mother’s Day, but Mother Nature sent us rain this year. Jason Kilar, founder/CEO of Hulu, gave a moving commencement address. His own experience had taught him the great importance of perseverance, and we took his words to heart, persevering through the intermittent showers. As if on cue, though, the sun broke through for the conferral of degrees!
Immediately after the commencement ceremony, the Economics Department hosted a graduation reception for Economics majors in the Global Education Center atrium. Over 200 graduates attended, along with about 800 of their family and friends, and we recognized each graduate with a commemorative certificate. (The actual diploma comes from the Registrar.) It was a joyous event, with our graduates earning loud applause (and shouts-out) from their parents, siblings and friends.
The picture to the left illustrates our double-decker ceremony. The graduates gather on the second floor, while the families and friends wait downstairs. Each graduate takes the stairs down to the dais below, receives her (or his) certificate, and gets a rousing round of applause. It was undeniably a memorable day for all of us.
The Tar Heel cookies were a big hit (all 2000 of them), as were the gallons and gallons of Carolina-blue punch. Each of us in the faculty and staff was pleased to be able to honor our students in this way. We were especially pleased that we had received the private financial contributions that made this ceremony possible. We can hardly wait till next year!
Patrick Conway, Professor and Chair of Department