Mahony leads first commencement as Winthrop president

In the space of a few feet on Saturday, almost 400 Winthrop University students were transformed into alumni.

As they walked across the stage at the Winthrop Coliseum – the reading of each name punctuated by shouts from at least a few people in the bleachers – the school’s newest graduates received their diplomas from Dan Mahony, who presided over his first commencement since he was named Winthrop’s 11th president this summer.

“I love commencement,” Mahony said. “It’s a great opportunity to recognize the students, but it’s also great to have all the friends and family here.”

Winthrop presentedits graduate and undergraduate degrees in a joint ceremony, the first of its kind since 2002. Saturday’s procession marked the first commencement of the university’s 130th academic year.

Jo Koster, the school’s 2015 distinguished professor, delivered a commencement address that referenced the person she called her favorite professor, Albus Dumbledore from the “Harry Potter” books, and his signature “transfiguration” class at the wizard school Hogwarts.

“The metaphor is appropriate. You provided the raw materials for the alchemical process and Winthrop provided alchemists,” Koster said. “It didn’t require a wand or a spell, but a community that showered you with new ideas and new concepts... and challenged you to grow.”

Mahony credited so many of the rest of the Winthrop faculty for turning out for the ceremony.

“There were three times as many as I’ve seen at some ceremonies, and I’ve been at institutions that were much larger,” Mahony said. “As a percentage of the turnout, it was much higher. I was amazed.”

Mahony presented business administration graduate Meghan Jones with the President’s Award for Academic Excellence after Jones scored the highest grade point average in her graduating class. This was the first time the new award was presented. It replaces the Tillman Award. Mahony and provost Debra Boyd paid for the new award.

Student Ebony Wilkinson credits Winthrop with allowing her to pursue an interdisciplinary degree. Rather than a traditional degree drawn from one academic field, Wilkinson graduated after drawing different components across disciplines to educate herself on women’s health and empowerment issues.

“I started as an exercise science major,” Wilkinson said, “but I wanted to work at a nonprofit, and this made me a more dynamic employee.”

For three semesters, Wilkinson left campus to complete an internship at the Bella Abzug Leadership Institute in New York City, where she helped develop leadership skills in young girls while completing the rest of her Winthrop coursework online. Next month, the she returns to New York City to start her career at the institute.

“I want to work on body confidence issues in the adolescent community,” Wilkinson said. “I’m very lucky to have this opportunity, because not a lot of people get jobs in line with their degrees.”

Mahony said he enjoyed a commencement where the speakers were concise and the ceremony moved along at a good pace, lasing little over an hour.

“If they can do all the ceremonies like that, I’ll be pretty happy.”

This story was originally published December 19, 2015 at 5:24 PM with the headline "Mahony leads first commencement as Winthrop president."