Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 2, 1993 TAG: 9305020021
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
For instance, she began the formal part of her presentation with, "My fellow registered voters . . ."
And she told the 2,131 graduating seniors, "Like many of you, I'm unemployed and looking for work."
Terry resigned from her second term as attorney general Jan. 28 to seek the Democratic nomination for governor. Since she was still attorney general when she accepted Radford's invitation to speak, she said, she offered to step aside, lest it be perceived as inappropriate or political.
But she wanted to attend the graduation anyway, she said, "so I played it safe and I only offered to resign an hour ago."
Terry said the recession of the 1990s would require tough choices by policy-makers, including programs for colleges and universities. "They're likely to get tougher in the future, rather than easier, for all of us."
But she also said education will determine how Virginia fares in the new world economy.
"We're in a new economic world, the outlines of which have not yet hardened," she said. "Education and progress go hand in hand," and Virginia's progress will be determined by its human capital, "the skills and knowledge and abilities of the labor force."
Terry said it would suit her if every choice in the coming years was determined by just one criterion: "How it would affect the children who come after us . . . I think our future has the capacity to be good, better than our past, but it depends on us, our attitudes."
She recalled advice given to the graduates earlier in the ceremony by Marion T. "Tommie" Jones, rector of the university's Board of Visitors, "Your attitude toward the events in life is more important than the events themselves in determining your future."
Other aspects of the graduation included Robert G. Dixon, president of the graduating class, presenting university President Donald Dedmon with a check for $41,000. Class members raised the money for an addition to Radford's John Preston McConnell Library.
Leonor A. Ulloa, professor of foreign languages, was announced as winner of the 1991 Donald N. Dedmon Award for Professorial Excellence. John E. Davis, professor of history, won the Radford University Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching. Each award comes with a $1,000 check.
Thousands of people attended the outdoor ceremony, many armed with cameras or video recorders. Several women kept handing their cameras up to a man who climbed atop a wall near the speakers' platform for a better angle.
When someone joked that he charged $5 to snap someone else's camera, one mother replied cheerfully, "Hey, I waited five years for this. It's worth it!"
Other Virginia schools also held commencement ceremonies Saturday:
Averett College in Danville featured H. Douglas Lee, president of Stetson University, as commencement speaker.
Bluefield College awarded 132 degrees.
Marymount University in Arlington awarded 703 degrees at a ceremony held at Wolf Trap Farm Park.
Some information in this story came from The Associated Press.
by CNB