Four hundred sixty-nine undergraduate and 154 graduate students received diplomas May 7 during Charleston Southern University’s commencement ceremonies.

CSU graduation speaker Ling Chai.

Ling Chai, a former student leader in the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising and founder of Jenzabar software company, was the guest speaker. She was awarded an honorary doctor of public service degree.

Smuggled out of China in a cargo box after the Tiananmen Square massacre, Chai eventually made her way to the U.S. and completed master’s degrees at Prince-ton and Harvard. In recent years, she has become a Christian and has spoken out against “gendercide” in China. She formed the nonprofit group, All Girls Allowed, as a way to educate the public and to combat China’s forced abortions, sex trafficking and the country’s one-child policy.

“Each day in China, more than 3,500 forced and coerced abortions occur, and 500 women commit suicide,” said Chai. “More than 1 million babies are abandoned into society each year. That led me to see what would be my part. When I came to Christ, a group of brothers in Texas came to say, ‘Ling, you are called; this is your ministry.'”

Several faculty members received special awards. Rachel Walker, associate professor of experimental psychology, was the 2011 winner of the Excellence in Teaching Award. Three retiring professors were awarded professor emeritus status: Patricia Bower (education), Robert Tilidetzke (mathematics education), and A. Kennerley Bonnette Jr. (chemistry, and provost emeritus).