The College of Charleston’s spring commencement ceremonies for undergraduates will be held on Saturday, May 7, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. in the historic Cistern Yard. The morning ceremony will include the School of the Arts, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and School of Languages, Cultures and World Affairs; the afternoon ceremony will include the School of Business, School of Education Health and Human Performance, and School of Sciences and Mathematics. Dr. Richard Besser, the senior health and medical editor for ABC News, will be the College of Charleston undergraduate commencement speaker.
The commencement ceremony for The Graduate School of the College of Charleston will be held on Friday, May 6, 2011 at 5:30 p.m. in the Carolina First Arena. Jose Miguel Insulza, Secretary General of the Organization of American States, will be the commencement speaker at The Graduate School ceremony.
Dr. Besser came to ABC News in 2009 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where he was responsible for all of the CDC’s public health emergency preparedness and emergency activities. He also served as the acting director for the CDC and acting administrator for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. As the senior health and medical editor at ABC News, he now provides medical analysis and commentary for all ABC programs including “World News with Diane Sawyer”, “Good Morning America” and “Nightline”.
Insulza was named Secretary General in May 2005. The Chilean politician has an accomplished record of public service in his country. In 1994, he joined the administration of President Eduardo Frei, serving as Under- Secretary of Foreign Affairs and later as Minister of Foreign Affairs. In 1999, he came Minister Secretary General of the Presidency and was appointed the following year to the post of Minister of the Interior and Vice President of the Republic.
Dr. Besser, Secretary General Insulza, John Zeigler, and Tony Meyer will receive honorary degrees at the ceremonies.
Zeigler operated the Book Basement from 1946 to 1971 at 9 College Street in a building that is now part of the College campus. Yet Zeigler didn’t just sell stories, he created them, too. In later years, he produced two books of poetry, Alaska and Beyond (1984) and The Edwin Poems (2007). Before their publication, he served during World War II as a Navy radioman, stationed in Yakutat, Alaska, and aboard an attack transport in the South Pacific. The longtime Charleston resident has also been one of the College’s strongest and most consistent supporters of the arts.
Meyer, the first of his family to attend college, played varsity basketball at the College and graduated in 1949 with degrees in English and history. He earned a Master’s in Counseling from Appalachian State University and a graduate of the Human Sexuality Program at the Institute of Sex Research at Indiana University. Tony Meyer joined the faculty of the College of Charleston in 1954 as a physical education instructor and coach; he coached basketball, tennis and track and field as well as serving as the athletic director for the College, the dean of men, director of student activities and residence halls and was chair of the Department of Health and Physical Education. In 1961 he became the executive secretary of the College of Charleston Alumni Association and, in 1975, he was awarded the Alumni Award of Honor, the highest honor given by the Alumni Association. He is a member of the College’s Athletic Hall of Fame as was also named Honorary Past President of the Alumni Association. The Alumni Scholarship is endowed in his name.
The graduate school ceremony will be held in the Carolina First Arena and the undergraduate ceremony will be in the Cistern Yard.
