April 27, 2007

Presbyterian College's Class of 2007 will be celebrated this spring as the college stages its 124th commencement exercises Saturday, May 5, on the West Plaza.

The college's traditional outdoor graduation ceremony begins at 10 a.m. and also will feature speeches by history professor Dr. Anita Gustafson, PC's Professor of the Year, and Outstanding Senior Katherine Bryant of Atlanta, Ga.

The college also will confer two honorary degrees.

The Doctor of Public Service degree will be conferred posthumously on the late Rev. John "Jack" Ballard Jr., the former pastor of Mount Carmel Christian Church in Stone Mountain, Ga.

A native of Ashland, Ky., he was a graduate of Cincinnati Bible Seminary (now Cincinnati Christian University), where he earned his alma mater's Distinguished Alumni Award. During his 43-year tenure at Mount Carmel Christian Church, Ballard lead his congregation into becoming the largest in the Christian Church denomination.

He also served as chairman of the executive committee for the Christian Church Foundation for the Handicapped, and organization that provides assistance for people with disabilities and their families and operates group homes in Louisville, Tenn., and Columbia, Ky. Ballard also was the founder of Church Builders, a 29-year program of Mount Carmel Christian Church that was responsible for building more than 60 churches in North America.

The Doctor of Humane Letters will be conferred on the Rev. Dr. Theodore J. Wardlaw, president and professor of homiletics at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin, Texas.

A 1974 graduate of PC, Wardlaw came to Austin Seminary from Atlanta, Ga., where he served as pastor of Central Presbyterian Church from 1991-2001. He also has served at churches in Setauket, Long Island, N.Y.; Sherman, Texas; and Germantown, Tenn.

A 1978 graduate of Union Theological Seminary, where he was awarded the Charles D. Larus Graduate Fellowship, Wardlaw earned his masters of sacred theology degree from Yale University Divinity School in 1979, where he graduate magna cum laude.

Wardlaw also has been a servant to the Presbyterian Church USA. In 2001, he served as moderator of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, as well as commissioner to the 213th General Assembly of the PCUSA, where he chaired the committee on church polity. He continues to serve as a member of the Pastors Working Group of the Louisville Institute and has served as editor-at-large of the Presbyterian Outlook and on the board of directors for the Journal of Reformed Liturgy and Music.

He has served as a trustee alumni board member for Union Theological Seminary and the Presbyterian School of Christian Education, and as a member of the board of visitors for Johnson C. Smith Seminary.

Wardlaw also will deliver the sermon at PC's baccalaureate service at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 4, in Belk Auditorium.

Commencement weekend will begin at 2 p.m. Friday, May 4, in Edmunds Hall with the traditional commissioning ceremony for Scottish Highlander Battalion graduates, the presentation of the Wysor Saber, and the induction of a distinguished soldier and PC alumnus into the college's ROTC Hall of Fame.

This year's ROTC Hall of Fame inductee is retired U.S. Air Force Col. Thomas Quaite Jones Jr., a 1939 graduate of PC.

A Wysor Saber recipient, Jones served as an instructor pilot during World War II and as an Airborne commander of 18 B-29 aircraft during 15 combat missions during the Korean War. During the height of the Cold War in the late 1950s, Jones also served as a squadron commander of a missile squadron at Bitburg Air Force Base in Germany.

Jones' award and decorations include the Air Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, the Air Force Systems Command, the Air Force Longevity Service Award with Silver Oak Leaf Cluster, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal with one Bronze Star, the Korean Service Medal, the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, and the Korean War Service Medal.

Established in 1988 to honor graduates of the college who, after completing the ROTC program, went on to distinguished military careers that brought credit upon themselves and the college, the ROTC Hall of Fame is located in the college's military science department in Jacobs Hall.

Inductees are nominated for the ROTC Hall of Fame and selected by a board that includes members representing the PC ROTC Alumni Association, as well as members of the college's alumni office, advancement office, and military science department.

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