Charleston Southern University’s spring 2006 graduates will receive words of wisdom from South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who will be the keynote speaker for the May 6 commencement.
More than 300 students are expected to receive associate’s, bachelor’s or master’s degrees during the 10 a.m. ceremony at the North Charleston Coliseum. Four graduates will be commissioned into the United States Air Force as second lieutenants.
Gov. Sanford, the state’s 115th governor, was elected on Nov. 5, 2002. He was sworn in and took office on Jan. 15, 2003. He will receive an honorary doctor of business administration degree from Charleston Southern.
Prior to being elected as governor, he served six years in the U.S. Congress. Gov. Sanford voluntarily stepped down in 2001 to honor a personal commitment to limit his time in Washington, D.C.
“We are excited that Gov. Mark Sanford will offer words of wisdom to our graduates,” said CSU president Jairy Hunter Jr. “Gov. Sanford has a respectable record in government leadership and solid business acumen. The principles and insight he’s gained and will share with our future leaders will prove invaluable.”
During commencement, the university will also recognize Wendell Estep, Darrell Coulter and Stephen Williams.
Estep, who will receive an honorary doctor of religion degree, is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Columbia. He has served on the university’s board of trustees as chairman of the enrollment committee.
Coulter, who will also receive an honorary doctor of religion degree, is pastor of Joy Baptist Church, Charleston, and has served on the university’s board of trustees as chairman of the student affairs/athletic committee. In 1996-97, he was an assistant football coach at Charleston Southern and worked with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Williams will receive the university’s distinguished service award. The former pastor of First Baptist Church, Kingstree, Williams now pastors First Baptist Church in Hartwell, Ga. He served as board chairman for South Carolina Baptist Ministries for the Aging, which oversees the South Carolina Baptist Convention’s two retirement facilities: Bethea Retirement Community in Darlington and Martha Franks Retirement Center in Laurens. He guided the two retirement centers through a period of great financial strain and established a more efficient management and operating system.