VCU honors newest graduates

By Tom Gresham

Robert J. Grey, Jr., a prominent attorney and Virginia Commonwealth University graduate, urged the spring graduating class at VCU on Saturday to embrace the challenges of the digital age with character and intellect.

Grey, the immediate past president of the American Bar Association, spoke of the immediacy of communication and the rapid pace of advances in science, medicine and engineering, and challenged graduates to seek leadership opportunities in that environment.

“The next chapter is being written,” Grey said. “Ladies and gentlemen of the class of 2006, you are the authors. You are the next generation of leaders.”

Grey also told graduates that “the character of people making decisions” is critical.

“It will be soon be your turn to make the decisions – the decisions that will change the world,” Grey said.

Students received professional, graduate and undergraduate degrees during the ceremony, which was held at the Richmond Coliseum. Grey, a partner at the Hunton & Williams law firm, recalled sitting in the audience at his graduation from VCU in 1973.

“It is here at this university that I got my legs to be who I could be,” Grey said. “It is VCU that I am proud of when I think of what I have become.”

Also at the ceremony, Grey and Del. Harvey Morgan, an alumnus of the School of Pharmacy who has served in the Virginia House of Delegates since 1979, each received an honorary doctor of humane letters. The award, which is VCU’s highest form of recognition, acknowledges those who have made outstanding contributions to society through scholarship, humanitarianism, science, art and public service.

The graduating class of 3,269 represented 123 counties and cities from across Virginia, 40 of the 50 states and Washington, D.C., and 38 countries from around the world.

VCU President Eugene Trani, Ph.D., said the class had made important contributions to VCU’s emergence as a nationally prominent university. He cited the school’s physical transformation, including approximately $1.5 billion worth of capital construction completed or under way since 1990, but also noted other advancements, such as the scholarly achievements of faculty and students, breakthroughs in research, increases in research and private funding and the introduction of new programs and schools.

“For more than a decade, VCU has been undergoing an incredible transformation – a transformation that each of you has informed and been a part of by virtue of being students here,” Trani said.

However, Trani reminded graduates that the measure of their education still remained.

“The real test of our success as an institution of higher education is seen through your success,” Trani said. “My wish for all of you is that you indeed realize your full potential, and, in so doing, find a means of contributing back to society in a way that’s meaningful to you.”

Two couples who have demonstrated a tireless commitment to VCU were honored with the Edward A. Wayne Medal, which recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions or provided exemplary service to VCU. The award winners were Steven and Katherine Markel and Stanley and Dorothy Pauley.

In addition, three members of the university community received a Presidential Medallion for their extraordinary achievement in learning and commitment to the mission of VCU. The recipients were JoAnne K. Henry, Ed.D., director of VCU Community Nursing Organization and professor, School of Nursing; Rupert K.A. Schmidt-Ulrich, M.D., founder of VCU’s radiation biology oncology program and former associate director for clinical affairs at the VCU Massey Cancer Center (posthumous); and Paul W. Timmreck, senior vice president for finance and administration, who is retiring this summer.