Welcome everybody. As Dean of the College of Education it is my distinct pleasure to preside over today's convocation ceremony. Let me begin by extending my congratulations to everyone here. Towards graduates: today is your day and we all applaud you, class of 2013. Graduates: Your accomplishments that we are celebrating today have been assisted by many people in your lives. Your parents, grandparents, siblings, partners, friends, and many others. Graduates: please take a moment to thank those who have helped you during your studies at the University of Georgia. In the College of Education we have 230 faculty members in nine different departments. They have taught and mentored you over the last several years I ask that everyone present thank our faculty. We also have 140 staff members in the college of education. These individuals - often without your knowing - have been instrumental in helping you earn your degree. I ask you to thank the staff in the departments of student services, information technology library, and many other areas. Now this is a day of celebration for your passion for learning and helping others. Convocation is a time-honored ritual that marks all that you have accomplished thus far in your lives. Please make sure and enjoy this moment. It is something that occurs once in a lifetime. You are now about to become alumni of the College of Education. You are now in member of a community that includes over 58,000 alumni. Many of these individuals have gone on to great accomplishments and made important contributions to Georgia and the nation and we expect no less from each of you. No pressure. We look forward in the future to hearing about the great accomplishments and important contributions made by the class of 2013. It is now my honor to introduce Dr. Cynthia Dillard, the Mary Francis Early Professor in Teacher Education. Dr. Dillard is an imminent and globally respected scholar who studies critical and multicultural education, spirituality in teaching and learning, and African-American feminist studies. Dr. Dillard is the author of two books and over 45 scholarly articles and she's a recipient of the American Education Studies Associations Critic’s Choice award for her book, On Spiritual Strivings. Dr. Dillard, please come to the podium to introduce our convocation speaker.

Thank you Dean Kennedy. I've been blessed with three names. The first, Cynthia B. Dillard, is the name given to me by my parents. It has an interesting history: when my mom went into labor, the woman she shared a room with at the hospital went into labor about the same time. Mom brought me back after delivery, all bouncy and full of myself, and the woman who was sharing a room with my mother's baby died at childbirth. They plan to name her Carolyn Bryanne: In her honor my mom named me Cynthia Bryanne. That is a name dedicated to the strength of the one who survived. In 2000 I built a community center in a little village called Mpeasem in Ghana, West Africa, that has a preschool and kindergarten, and currently we’re in the process of building an elementary school that may, as early as next year, serve as a student teaching site for our UGA early and elementary school students. For this work I was crowned and enstooled in that village and given my second name: Nana Mansa the Second, Queen Mother of Development. That is the second one, dedicated to the wisdom of education in developing a nation and its people. Last year I arrived here to UGA, bearing my third name: the Mary Francis Early Professor in Teacher Education. This is a name dedicated to her legacy of courage and grace. And Mary Frances Early’s legacy is a powerful story of both here at the University of Georgia, in the Atlanta Public School system, across the state of Georgia and beyond. Born and raised in Atlanta, Ms. Early attended Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University) and majored in music education. Given the unjust laws and oppressions for African Americans at that time, Ms. Early began her graduate school in the north at the University of Michigan. Seeing the unrest and challenges that Charlayne Hunter Gault and Hamilton Holmes were experiencing as the first African American students on the University of Georgia campus, she felt the need to walk in solidarity with them in her home state of

Georgia. Through the challenges here at UGA, she completed her Master's degree in music education and became the first African American to graduate from UGA in 1962. Later she received her second degree as a specialist in music education from UGA in 1967. Mary Francis Early’s accomplishments are many or, as we say in Ghana, “plenty”.

In her groundbreaking work as a teacher in the Atlanta Public Schools for 37 years, she was awarded the Star Teacher of the Year Award and is a two-time Teacher of the Year Award recipient. Her leadership both as the APS music coordinator and as the first African American to serve as the president of the Georgia Music Educators Association demonstrated her talent and made a way out of no way for many as my mother would say. Upon her retirement from APS in 1994, Ms. Early continued to impact education, this time in higher education, where she served as an adjunct professor of music at Morehouse and Spelman colleges and became the chair of the music department at Clark Atlanta University, her alma mater, in 1997. It is that this she retired for real in 2005 - but I find it difficult to keep up with the weekly schedule of Ms. Early’s many speeches, school visitations, musical performances, church activities, UGA campus visitations - she needs an apartment here actually - that she is involved in. Her presence - her legacy of courage - continues here at UGA through the annual Mary Frances Early lecture and this, my own professorship in the College of Education, named in her honor. Recently the UGA Alumni Association named her the 2011 merit award winner for her dedication and lifelong service to her many communities and many schools (baby cries out) - amen baby - including our own. For me, it's an honor and privilege to call her name Mary Frances Early; it's an honor and privilege to be a part of her legacy of courage and grace, and an honor and privilege to call her a dear friend. Ladies and gentlemen and graduates - soon to be graduates - of the College of Education class of 2013, I present to you Ms. Mary Frances Early.

Thank you Dr. Dillard for that lovely introduction. I am proud to call you not only friend but also the M.F.E. professor in the College of Education. Dean Kennedy, Dr. Marcotte, Dr. Dillard, other administrators, faculty, staff, parents, family, friends, supporters, and of course class of 2013, I am delighted to be here with you today. I'm as excited as you. As I thought about what I should say to you, the first thing I thought was “they don't want to hear the usual cliches and platitudes that people usually express during vocations like this.” I thought, “What can I say that they will want to hear and that they might remember some of?” And then I remembered that I really didn't remember what my graduation speech speaker said, so I won't be offended if you don't remember what I say. And I have to also remember that the ear can't take any more than the rear, so my remarks will be brief. I want to first of all thank all of the administrators and faculty and staff of the College of Education and the other colleges that are involved for the excellent job that you are doing in preparing all of these students to go out into the world of work, or to go on to graduate study. There is no more important job than that of education. I'm a lifelong educator and I believe in it, and I thank you all for doing a superb job opening the doors of knowledge to the students. But they had to step through those doors by themselves, and it's obvious that they did. And then I want to say to the families, parents, family members, supporters - thank you for supporting these students in many, many ways. A lot of credit goes to you because without you, they would not have succeeded in what they have accomplished. I think that often we forget sometimes that there's someone who has to encourage, someone who has to pay the bills, and their bills other than the usual ones that people don't know about when they come to college and university, and they also have to prod the students sometimes when they need a little push. You have done that, and I want to congratulate and thank you for your interest and support of these students. And finally to the class of 2013, I am so proud for all of you, and I know that you're excited because

you're about to receive that much long-awaited diploma and you're going to start on another path. Some of you undergraduates may decide that you're going to further your education and hone your skills further through graduate study, or you may have a good looking and exciting job. Graduate students you may already have a job or you may be going into another venture. But whatever the case, your future is yours to construct and I know that that's a cliche, but it's up to you as to where it goes. Last year I addressed Rite of Sankofa audience and students, and I told them that the name or the word Sankofa comes from a West African Akan language and it means “in order to move forward, we must go back and reclaim our past so that we can find out why we are here and how we came to be who we are.” And it also means that it's not wrong to go back and claim the past. Dr. Dillard, who just introduced me, wrote a wonderful book and its entitled Learning to Remember the Things We've Learned to Forget. And that is true - we often forget past - but all of us have one. If you look back on your path to where you are today, think back to why did you come to the University of Georgia? Why did you choose Georgia rather than another school? How did you fair academically in high school with your grades? Did you have a favorite teacher or counselor/mentor who encouraged and inspired you to move on to higher education? Some of you may have come from small communities, even a rural community. Others may come from a big metropolitan city. Some of you may be the first in your family to receive a college degree, and others of you may come from a long line of college university graduates. Whatever the case, this is your past, and we should not forget where we came from. I have a past here at Georgia too that I'm very proud of. I feel privileged and blessed to have been in, I guess, the right place at the right time, and to have become the first black graduate of the University of Georgia. That was in 1962, a long time ago. And most of you are probably not even that old. But the University of Georgia would never be the same again after 1962. Charlayne Hunter-Gault and Hamilton Holmes graduated in 1963, and then it began - a flood of African American students - and students of many other ethnicities. This diversity, this mix of people, has made the University of Georgia stronger. It has enhanced the university community - in fact - the University of Georgia is a microcosm of the world. The truth of the matter is that you are still constructing the past because students will come after you who will look at what you have done. You will leave a legacy that they will cherish hopefully, that they will try to emulate, and that's something that you can be proud of cause some of you may not be proud right now to be called part of the past.

But the truth of the matter is: you are. I hope that you will - as you move into whatever career, whatever path you choose - that you will also want to give back. One of my favorite quotes is one from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who said, “The time is always right to do the right thing.” And by that I think he meant that we need to devote ourselves to service to others because no matter what career you embrace, you can share your gifts with others, and if you do this to you will find that you will, you will receive abundantly. I said earlier that it's nice to get a job with a six-figure salary, but it's not always promised, and it doesn't always make you happy. But giving back to others will give you more than you can imagine. So please share and when you begin sharing as a proud alumni, please give back to the College of Education because whatever you become, remember that UGA helped you to get there. So, the present is now. You’re here, you're excited - as you should be - and you say, “Well you know what am I supposed to do?” I want to get back to greet tomorrow and what I say to you is: just as you should honor your past you should celebrate the future as Dr. Kennedy has said. But what about the future? What comes next? You've been embraced in this security here at UGA, now you get to move out on your own. All I can say to you is that you have everything that you need to do that. You have been prepared; you must step out with confidence. One of the things that I would say to you is live up to your passion. What is it that you want to do? You must, if you

have dreams, it doesn't make any difference if you realize your dreams if you still see you've got to be actively involved in life. You've got to approach life with, with passion, with self-confidence, with persistence, and with patience. Charles Dickens wrote a famous novel entitled Great Expectations. It’s a wonderful novel, and that's what people will have for you. They’ll have great expectations. But make certain what you want to do. Your passion, your dream, is what you want to do - not to live up to someone else's expectations. The world today is filled with problems, and you have a responsibility and a challenge to help make this world a better place. And if you do what I ask - that is to give back to others - you will not find it difficult to do. Because if you remember Dr. King's mantra of giving everything that you have in terms of service to others, you will find your life very rewarding. Though this world seems troubled, as I look out upon your beautiful faces, young faces, I see so much potential. I know that you can help to make this world a peaceful world and a world of prosperity for all. And I urge you to live up to that potential and bring it to fruition. I'm going to end with a story about famous man named Daniel Webster. Daniel Webster was walking along the street with a friend and they were passing by a group of young people. Daniel Webster stopped and tipped his hat to the young people. His friend, they walked on and his friend said, “Why are you tipping your hat to them? You’re the famous one, they should be tipping their hat to you!” But Daniel Webster said “Whenever I see a group of young people, I feel obliged to tip my hat to them because they are the hope of the future.” And so are you. In the spirit of Daniel Webster, though I'm not wearing a hat - I usually don’t - I tip my hat to you, class of 2013. I urge you to honor your past, celebrate the present, and set sails for the future because your future is very bright. Thank you and congratulations!

Thank you Ms. Early. And now with Ms. Early’s gracious wisdom in mind, we have the privilege of recognizing those of you who will receive degrees this semester from the College of Education. Some of you have earned bachelor’s degrees; some have earned master’s degrees; some have earned specialist degrees; and some of you here today are earning academia’s highest degree, the doctoral degree. Many of you have qualified for initial teacher certification, qualified to apply for licensure in another professional area, or added another area of certification to your credentials. Many of you have completed original research in the form of an undergraduate project, honors thesis, master's thesis, or doctoral dissertation. Others of you have provided important service to the community through your service-learning activities, and many of you have accomplished all this while maintaining a grade point average high enough that you were graduating cum laude, magna cum laude, and suma cum laude. Some of you have done this while working, taking care of your children or parents, or while blazing your own trail as the first person in your family to attend college. All of you have worked very hard, and that's what we call it earning a degree. We're very proud of all of you, and we are pleased to be able to recognize your work and your accomplishments here this afternoon. Now we will begin the convocation procession. The graduates will approach the stage from the audience’s right and be introduced in alphabetical order within each of the departments. I invite the audience to please hold your applause until all graduates have been introduced for a department. Introducing our graduates today is Dr. Ann Marcotte, Department Head and Professor of Communication Sciences and Special Education.

Our first group of graduates this afternoon - and I understand that it's a small group - includes all those who have earned degrees in the Department of Career and Information Studies, who’s workforce education faculty and who’s learning design and technology faculty are both ranked number one in the country in their respective areas. This department prepares undergraduates to become career and technical education teachers. Well, those completing graduate degrees typically assume leadership positions

within the instructional technology units of school systems, governments, businesses, or industry. All are prepared in the effective use of information systems with emphasis on creativity and innovation for today's careers and for those of the future. Congratulations to everyone who has earned a degree from the Department of Career and Information Studies.

Stephen Jack ArnoldTonia Anne DousayJennifer Faye Haynes The graduates from the Department of Career and Information Studies!

Come on out here! I happened to be at a graduate commencement once when there was someone who graduated from a particular department, probably I’m guessing thousands of people enormous, so I’m borrowing a line from President Adams. I thought it was wonderful. “Never let it be said at an institution as large as the University of Georgia cannot provide individual attention.” You're worth it. I'm very pleased to be introducing the young woman who has earned a degree from the Department of Educational Psychology. The department is composed of four graduate programs - what was yours? - including the most important, Applied Cognition and Development, and also including Gifted and Creative Education Quantitative Methods and School Psychology. These programs prepare professionals for careers as college teachers and university professors, educators of the gifted and creative, school psychologists, researchers, and test developers. It’s programs are perennially ranked among the nation's top twenty by US News and World Report, and the department is known for the quality of its outstanding graduate - outstanding graduates, including Miss Samantha Lynn Adair.

Our next good-sized group of graduates all come from the Department of Educational Theory and Practice. These outstanding graduates are prepared for positions as teachers, teacher leaders, teacher educators, or researchers in early childhood, elementary and middle school and social studies education. These programs routinely rank among the top ten in the nation according to US News and World Report and all of its graduates share the department's commitment to deepen society's understanding of the issues facing the next generation of learners and their teachers and to foster equity and social justice in education. Congratulations to everyone who has earned a degree from Department of Educational Theory and Practice

Christy Elizabeth AdamsJose S AlmodovaAshlee Lauren BaileyEmily Kaitlin BakerEmma Anne BartonDarryl Christopher BatsonKatie Diana BeckMolly Michelle BernsteinAshley Marie BoccolucciAllison Elizabeth BridgersMeredith Hope BryantSarah Caitlin BurtonKristin Elizabeth BushMeganne Taylor ButlerSarah Marie CampKellyNicole CervinoApurva ChakrabortiKatherine Marie ClineChelsea Allyn CohenJennifer Carol DanielDavid C Daniel

Alyssa Nicole DeFiestaEmily Caroline DennisAshley Kay DestefaniLansingh Alexandra DillardAshton Lesleigh EmmerichHaley Renee FangmannZachary Ryan FeldbergHannah Maria FradyMary Caroline FranksBritt Nichole GallmanRebecca Ruth GardnerMargaret Emiline GaskinsRachel Elise GloverCarly Elizabeth GrahamAshley Kay GriffinRebecca Joyce HackerShelby Loren HammondsCharles Edward Harmon IIIMollie Kate HarrisAbbey Lynn HedgepethLauren Elizabeth HeitmeierKera Lynn HoldenStephanie Doris HormanJessica Marie HowardJulia Elise HylinskiPaige Marie IsnerSarah Elizabeth JettJennifer Shaw JohnsCourtney Elizabeth JohnsonRachel Jill KastenMichelle Yun KimTracy Lynn KottwitzKaley Jan KrafkaKayla-Danielle Marcell KraftIlana Mallory KurlandMehak Siraj LalaniMadison Claire LamphereKaylee Miranda LanierAlicia Schenell LawsonAmelia Kaylin LedfordChelsea Ann LeeAbigail Cheryl LettsPrisca A LewisAshley Lauren LindseySabrina Susan LynnJenna Marie MacLeanLindsey Morgan MarshallJohn David McClureSarah Jean MillironMary Elizabeth MitchellAnnette Carla NaranjoElizabeth Bland NeSmithCaitlin Christine NortonMegan Marie O'ConnellRichard Arashi PavonePhilip Michael PeavyIsaac Robert PihaCharissa Renee PipeAlison Christine PraterRebekah Elizabeth ReynoldsWanda Louise Rice

Adrienne Michelle RiveraJennifer Anna RockecharliePaige Heisler SeymourCarolyn Rachel ShapiroJamie Dena SilverboardElizabeth Anne SkillingAshley Nicole SkinnerAlyson Leigh SmithDorothy Elizabeth SolstenMeghan Leeann SorrellsEmilee Noel SpringerAmy Michelle StanleyAudrey Veronica SteeleBethany Brook SwordsMagdalena SzymonikLynde Ann TaylorMollie Katherine ThorntonAshli Louise Tinius Collette K. ToneyJoanna Louise TroxelYesenia VargasKayla Janet WaltonTaylor Marie Way Nyshunda Jaressa WelchAudre Rebekah WilliamsAnna Marie WillifordSophia Jeemin YimJillian Hannah YontzLisa Mary Zielenske

Those are the graduates from the Department of Educational Theory and Practice!

We have a lovely group of graduates who have earned degrees in the Department of Kinesiology. The mission of this department is to enhance health and well-being for people throughout the life span through the creation, transmission, and application of knowledge related to physical activity, exercise, and sport. The department's bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs in Exercise Science, Physical Education, and Sport Management prepare students for careers as practitioners in allied health fields, in teaching and coaching, and in sport enterprises, and for careers as scholars and researchers in higher education, government, and industry. Congratulations to all of the graduates who have earned degrees in the Department of Kinesiology, including especially:

Jenna Elise AlbertAnna Elise AubeLauren Michelle BagleyEvan Thomas BeeverBrian Davis BerlKatherine Mae BickleyAmanda Leigh BriggsCeleste Jane BrownChristopher Andrew CarterKelsey Lee ChasonCarrie Elizabeth ColcordRobert Gregg ColeSarah Elizabeth ConradMacy Alexandra CookMargaret Faridah Dalton

Elizabeth Anne DanishEmily Anne DobbinsShannon Marie DooleyVanessa Monique DoileyJustin Phillip DrewTaylor Elise DugganKathleen Devan EarlyKelsey Patricia GaidKeller Williams GalpinElizabeth Ann GibbsKristen Noel GiddensKiara Jeniece GipsonBenjamin S GreenoughLaura Ann GuestScott Adam HaddockOlivia Catherine HaleBrianna Nicole HartJessica Lauren HawkesLaura Anne HawkinsSarah Christine HedrickChristopher John HeroldSarah Kathryn HicksLaura Elizabeth HollandPaige MacLaurin HopkinsCaitlin Ashley HowellKatherine Elizabeth HughesAmanda Marie HumerAshleigh Claire HutchingsNolan Joseph KeatleyPhilip Michael KennedyNicholas Andrew KinsleyMathew Lee KoenigRachel R LangmanInjae LeeEmily Catherine LloydEmilee Marie MasonAllyson Rose McGintyDaniel Patrick McGowanAustin Margaret McLendonAmanda Jane MoonFarshaad MostoufiEmily Victoria NashCatherine Inez OrrAnraya Gynee PalmerSarah Elizabeth ParkerCaroline Mary PfohlShannon Marie PhilippsClaire Nicole PhillipsRoss Alexander PhillipsKeenan Hannigan PillerMichelle Alyse PratherJennica Kannon RameyLauren Elizabeth Ring Christopher Alan RomanChristopher Thomas RossAdam Enrique SassoAlexandra Victoria SeaboltElissa Marie ShepardShepard Peary Stafford Perry Russell Strickland IIIKelly Irene Walsh

Whitney Caroline WaltersRebecca Louise WestbrooksHaley Raker WinstonKatelyn Macy WoodsSamantha Nicole YarcAlexis Josephine Yoculan

The graduates from the Department of Kinesiology!

Our final graduates this afternoon have all earned degrees from the Department of Lifelong Education Administration and Policy. This department contains three distinct programs: one in Educational Administration, one in Adult Education and Organization Development, and one in Qualitative Research Methods. The overriding mission of this department is to train professionals to administer the educational programs of our state, the southeast, and the nation based on rigorous evaluative techniques, whether these programs are focused on education for students in kindergarten through the 12th grade or on continuing education for adults. Congratulations to everyone who has earned a degree in the Department of Lifelong Education, Administration, and Policy including:

Kendall Dwayne DeasLeanne M Dzubinski

Congratulations to you both.

Thank you Dr. Marcotte. Thank you again families, faculty, and staff. Everyone has many reasons to be proud today. And I’m going to keep this brief because I know a lot of you have a lot to celebrate, so audience: I present you the class of 2013. This concludes the formal convocation event. Please enjoy the day and have fun.