2018_Commencement_final.pdf 1 4/2/18 3:09 PM C M Y CM MY CY CMY K Commencement Undergraduate and Graduate Degree Candidates Spring 2020 “In celebration of our 134th academic year” A Message from the President Dear Graduate: Congratulations on earning a Winthrop University degree! I commend you on this outstanding achievement in light of all that is currently going on in our world. Who could have imagined when you began this academic year that your undergraduate experience would come to a conclusion via remote learning, video chats with professors, and digital contact with staff and your peers? I am proud that, despite the completely unexpected and substantially re-tooled last half of a single, culminating semester, you persevered and accomplished the task at hand. You rose to the challenge and graduated! When you look back over your time at Winthrop, you will undoubtedly recall evidence that you mastered the challenges of academic rigor, civic engagement, global awareness, personal responsibility, and career development. You met the demanding standards of your respective academic program. You forged relationships with mentors in the classroom and in the community, and, as importantly, you made friends for life. Through all of those experiences, you also gained the confidence that comes with giving your best to achieve your dreams. Just as it has in the last two months, that confidence will serve you well as you rise in your chosen career, pursue advanced studies, enter or re-enter the workforce, or simply explore a new direction for your life. I strongly believe that you will stand out as a leader in your community and your profession as a result of your varied and dynamic experiences at this university. I hope you will think of Winthrop as you set and pursue your future goals. Hold fast to your intellectual curiosity, your passion for achievement, and your sense of responsibility for self and for others that you honed here. Over time, I believe you will continue to value this important association with your Alma Mater. There are ample opportunities to connect with your fellow alumni and to give back to Winthrop. I hope you will make the most of them. We need you as we plan for the university’s future. Again, I am proud to celebrate this day of achievement with you and to call you one of Winthrop’s own. All who have had the good fortune to be a part of your experience here join me in wishing you the very best. With warm regards, George W. Hynd, Ed.D. Interim President 2 Table of Contents Awards 4 Academic Regalia 6 University Marshals and Key to Symbols 7 History 8 Candidates for Degrees 10 Honor Societies 38 Graduating Members of Honor Societies 39 Alumni and Career Services 41 Winthrop University Boards and Committees 42 Alma Mater 43 3 Awards President’s Award for Academic Excellence This award is the highest academic award Winthrop University presents to a student. It is awarded to the student(s) with the highest grade point average in the graduating class. Outstanding Junior Professor Dr. Crystal Glover is the 2020 Outstanding Junior Professor, an honor which recognizes excellence among faculty members at the rank of assistant professor. The former elementary teacher started work at Winthrop in 2014 and has proven to be a remarkable teacher, scholar and steward. Her students benefit from her positive and energetic engagement and her emphasis on higher order thinking. An assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Dr. Glover champions diversity and has piloted a new advising approach by holding weekly meetings with minority freshmen and sophomores in the early childhood education program. She has been involved with Head Start Centers in Charlotte, North Carolina, providing training to support efforts that help low- income and diverse populations. Dr. Glover also was instrumental in the college’s development of a master’s degree in teacher leadership program. She actively supported the university’s China internship program and accompanied two students to Shanghai, China, to help them get settled into their new setting. Crystal Glover Her scholarly contributions exceed what is typically achieved by a junior faculty member. She is the co-editor of a peer reviewed journal, called Perspective and Provocations, published by the National Council of Teachers of English. Elected as vice president of the Kappa Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, an international organization to empower female educators, Dr. Glover has worked to bring area high school seniors who may be interested in majoring in education to visit Winthrop. In 2017, Dr. Glover was awarded the Richard W. Riley College of Education's Stewardship and Service Award. She holds a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction – urban literacy from the University of North Carolina Charlotte. She also earned a master’s degree in reading education and a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, both from Winthrop. Distinguished Professor Dr. Brad Witzel is the 2020 Distinguished Professor, which is the highest honor the Winthrop community can bestow on a faculty member. An education professor and program director of special education, Dr. Witzel has excelled at teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level. He is a highly productive scholar with a national reputation for designing programs to diagnose and address students’ behavior, mathematics and reading needs. State departments of education, federal agencies and individual school districts are among those who seek his expertise on mathematics. Dr. Witzel joined the Winthrop faculty in 2002 as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in 2008 and to full professor in 2014 in the Department of Counseling, Leadership and Educational Studies. An energetic teacher and mentor to other faculty members, Dr. Witzel has taught 31 different courses and designed multiple online courses for the Wiley online program sequence for those seeking a master’s degree in special education. He was instrumental in helping transform the university’s Brad Witzel graduate program to help school and district-based interventionists better assist those with special needs. Dr. Witzel is a prolific scholar, having written nine books with another in progress. One of his books has been translated in Arabic and another in Turkish. In addition, he has authored many peer reviewed book chapters and articles and presented at more than 500 education workshops and professional conferences. In 2019, Dr. Witzel won the Richard W. Riley College of Education’s Outstanding Professor for Scholarship Award. He holds a Ph.D. and M.Ed. in special education from the University of Florida and a bachelor’s degree in psychology and special education from James Madison University. 4 Awards LaRoche Graduate Faculty Award Adriana Cordis, an associate professor of accounting in the Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics, is the 2020 Jane LaRoche Graduate Faculty Award recipient. Dr. Cordis has built an impressive list of accomplishments during her tenure at Winthrop and is widely recognized as an emerging leader in the College of Business Administration. Administrators say she stands out for her work in student intellectual development, scholarly activity and professional stewardship. She joined the Winthrop faculty in 2013 as an assistant professor and was promoted in 2018 to an associate professor. She also has taught at the University of South Carolina Upstate and Clemson University, and she was a transfer pricing consultant for Ernst & Young. At Winthrop, Dr. Cordis teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in cost and Adriana Cordis managerial accounting. Incredibly organized with formidable administrative skills and a keen eye for details, she works to develop the analytical thinking and problem-solving skills of her students. Dr. Cordis is the department representative on important committee and policy-changing groups and constantly displays her commitment and passion to enhancing graduate education and governance at the university level. For instance, she has contributed to developing an innovative M.B.A. accounting and analytics program to meet emerging demands and worked to develop three graduate certificates in accounting analytics, advanced accounting and risk assurance. A prolific researcher, Dr. Cordis publishes high quality articles that are frequently downloaded on the Social Science Research Network or are cited in outlets such as the Harvard Business Review and the Wall Street Journal. She won the College of Business Administration’s Springs Industries Research Excellence Award in 2014 and 2017. She also received the Peter Brownell Manuscript Award for best paper in the Accounting and Finance Journal in 2017. Dr. Cordis holds a Ph.D. in economics from Clemson University, a master’s degree in public services management and a bachelor’s degree in public administration, both from Babes-Bolyai University in Romania. 5 Academic Regalia The academic regalia worn in college and university ceremonies today have their origins in the Middle Ages. Monks and students wore them to keep warm in the medieval castles and halls in which they studied. From these practical beginnings, the traditional caps, gowns, and hoods have come to symbolize scholarly achievement. Winthrop is authorized to grant the first two of the following three generally recognized degrees—the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral. The bachelor’s degree, the baccalaureate, takes its name directly from the medieval practice of “bachelors” wearing a garland of bayberries. Their gowns have a long pleated front, which may be worn either open or closed. The master’s degree was equivalent to a license to teach and sometimes was followed by the phrase “Licentia Docendi.” The gowns for master’s degree candidates are similar to those of the bachelor’s, but a hood is added, bearing the colors of the institution conferring the degree. The doctor’s degree was originally a title of respect and recognition of great learning.