PC celebrates 131st Opening Convocation

September 8, 2010

CLINTON – Presbyterian College’s 131st Opening Convocation on Sept. 7 honored the community’s biggest winners – and posed questions about becoming the biggest loser.

At the formal opening of the 2010-11 academic year, PC presented awards to two prominent Clinton citizens. The Martha Anne Green Service to Church and College Award, presented jointly by PC and First Presbyterian Church of Clinton, was awarded to James A. Roberts, the founder of Laurens County’s Good Shepherd Free Medical Clinic. An honorary doctorate of humane letters was presented to Rufus E. Sadler, a local pharmacist and civic leader.

But this year’s convocation address, delivered by inaugural dean of religious life the Rev. Dr. Jeri Parris Perkins, focused instead on losing.

Pointing to the popular television show, “The Biggest Loser,” Perkins said she admired the program’s participants for having the guts to put their weight issues in front of a national audience.

“I respect them for admitting their need to lose that which weighs them down and holds them back from fully embracing and totally immersing themselves in this ‘one wild, precious life’ of ours, as poet Mary Oliver describes it,” she said. “I really admire those big losers and all the work it takes to get them there.”

Perkins said this academic year at PC – with the opening of the Cornelson Center for the Exploration of Christian Practice and the opening of the new School of Pharmacy – the entire community is challenged to become big losers – “to lose the things that weigh us down and hold us back.”

“In this family of faith and learning we can let go of our preconceived notions about other people and places and ways of doing things and see them for who and what they really are and can become,” Perkins said. “We can lose our sense of self-righteousness and our notions of self-sufficiency and remember that only God can make us right and satisfy our hungry hearts.

“In this place we are able to lose the world’s ethic: that ‘it’s every one for themselves’ and remember ‘we’re all in this together’ – locally and globally. Here and now we can let the dead weight go and take on that which fills us, sustains us, and frees us for real life, true love and lasting relationships.”
Sharing a story about her grandmother – “the biggest loser and the richest person I’ve ever known” – Perkins said she hopes all will embrace the idea of gaining what God has to offer by losing those things people place between themselves and the Creator.

“I pray that this year and all the days beyond we will reach out and take all we need from God and each other and, in turn, give all we have to God and to the waiting world in desperate need of big losers – disciples just like us – who will lay aside every weight that clings so closely and run with perseverance the race that is set before us – looking to the biggest loser of them all – the One who spent everything for us and for the world,” she said.

Following Perkin’s address, college president Dr. John V. Griffith and William Shearer, chairman of the PC Board of Trustees, introduced a new tradition at PC. This year, at Homecoming in October, the college will bury two time capsules – one each for the Class of 2011 and the Class of 2014. Inside them will be envelopes for each member of the class in which they are being asked to give $1 and a short statement on what each students hopes to do with his or her life and what each would do if the $1 was $1 million. The time capsules will be opened, said Dr. Griffith, at the classes’ five-year reunions.

Interim provost Dr. Anita Gustafson introduced the college’s new faculty and administrators.

They include:

• Dr. Shannon R. Alford – Assistant Professor of Chemistry
• Mercedes A. Bracco – Visiting Assistant Professor of Spanish
• Dr. Rebecca L. Davis – Assistant Professor of Religion
• Dr. Cynthia B. Lucking – Associate Professor of Economics and Business Administration
• Benjamin N. Narvaez – Assistant Professor of History
• Alan G. Shackelford – Visiting Assistant Professor of History
• Dr. Tarren J. Shaw – Assistant Professor of Biology
• J. Tobin Turner – Instructor of Economics and Business Administration
• Dr. Thomas D. Wacker – Assistant Professor of Secondary Education
• Brian Reese – Director of Athletics

Dr. Dick Stull, dean of the PC School of Pharmacy, introduced the school’s newest faculty members.

They include:

• Dr. Jaime A. Foushee – Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice
• Dr. Katherine R. Gerrald – Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice
• Dr. Nancy H. Hope – Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice
• Dr. Kayce M. Shealy – Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice
• Dr. Margaret A. Franklin – Associate Professor of Pharmacy Administration
• Dr. Nancy G. Pedigo – Associate Professor of Pharmacology

Gustafson announced the winners of three prestigious student awards. The Freshman Academic Award was presented to Jeanette Love Traver, a sophomore from Aiken, S.C. The Fraser Bible Award and the Freshman Writing Award was presented to Edward J. Patrick Kennedy II, a sophomore from Greer, S.C. The Hay Religion Award was presented to Luke Robert Thomas, a junior from Trenton, S.C.

written by Hal Milam