May 12, 2012

Watts tells VCU graduates to welcome challenges

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By Tom Gresham

RICHMOND, Va. (May 12, 2012) – During spring commencement ceremonies today, former U.S. congressman J.C. Watts Jr. told Virginia Commonwealth University’s newest graduates that forgiveness, family and friends, generosity and a willingness to be challenged were critical principles to a stable, successful life.

Watts, a former star quarterback at Oklahoma, said that vigilant coaches who confronted him about his mistakes were essential influences in his development in college.

“Find someone in your life who can correct you,” said Watts, who represented the fourth district of Oklahoma in the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 2002. “Correction is not something that we accept easily, but it is necessary.”

Students received professional, graduate and undergraduate degrees at the ceremony at the Richmond Coliseum. Approximately 2,300 students attended the ceremony, and more than 4,900 degrees were conferred.

VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D., urged graduates “to use your education as a force of good in our world,” noting that VCU alumni are known as “people who make a difference.”

“They are innovators, leaders in their disciplines, visionaries who are laser-focused and committed to excellence in everything they do,” Rao said. “Our graduates do not just take jobs – they create them, and they create opportunities for others.”

Watts was awarded the Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, VCU’s highest form of recognition.

The Edward A. Wayne Medal, established in 1971 to honor individuals who have made outstanding contributions or provided exemplary service to VCU, was bestowed on James W. and Frances G. McGlothlin, longtime supporters of the VCU School of Medicine, and posthumously on Arthur Graham and Margaret Branch Glasgow, whose trust bequeathed a substantial gift to VCU in 2011 to support the cure and prevention of cancer and other degenerative disease.

The Presidential Medallion, established in 1984 to recognize individuals for extraordinary achievement in learning and commitment to the mission of VCU, was awarded to William L. Dewey, Ph.D., a longtime faculty member and administrator and currently the chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology.