Westminster to hold commencement Saturday

The Westminster College campus in Fulton is seen in this file photo.
The Westminster College campus in Fulton is seen in this file photo.

Westminster College will put the finishing touches on its school year when it conducts commencement exercises for the 2021 graduating class at 11 a.m. Saturday in a socially-distanced outdoor ceremony in front of the school's historic Columns.

In adhering to COVID-19 safety protocols, graduates and all other ceremony participants will wear face masks and will be seated in a roped-off area on what is traditionally referred to as "the Hill," adjacent to Westminster Avenue.

Family members and other guests - who are also encouraged to wear face masks - will watch the ceremony behind the reserved section.

Welcoming remarks will be given by Interim President and Chief Transformation Officer Donald P. Lofe Jr., who will officially assume those titles July 1.

"The past academic year will be recorded as one of the most memorable in Westminster history," Lofe said in a news release. "I am grateful to our faculty and staff for ensuring a successful academic year so our graduates could celebrate the conclusion of the education they worked so hard for, and I look forward to the conferral of their degrees this week, as well as welcoming our esteemed speaker and honorary degree recipients."

G. David Gearhart - chancellor emeritus and professor of higher education at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville - will deliver Saturday's commencement address.

Gearhart is a highly regarded Westminster alumnus from the Class of 1974 and a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He graduated from the college with degrees in political science and speech, before launching a prestigious career spanning decades in higher education.

He holds a law degree and doctorate of education degree from the University of Arkansas. A Fayetteville native, he served as chancellor at Arkansas from 2008-15 after 10 years as vice chancellor for university advancement.

As chancellor and vice chancellor, Gearhart was credited with overseeing a number of institutional improvements at Arkansas. They included the first tuition freeze in 24 years, a $700 million campus capital plan and the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century - the most successful capital campaign in Arkansas history, which raised more than $1 billion for academic programs.

He received the Black Caucus Lifetime Achievement Award and was named an Outstanding Teacher, Outstanding Faculty Member and Outstanding Alumnus by multiple departments at Arkansas. He also co-founded the university's National Lab for the Study of the College President.

Early in his career, Gearhart served as director of development and assistant to the president at Westminster. He was named a distinguished Westminster alumnus in 1992 and was a member of the college's board of trustees from 1998-2001.

Westminster Board of Trustees Chair James C. Morton Jr., Vice President and Dean of Faculty David Roebuck and Senior Class President Samantha Henderson, from Louisiana, Missouri, will also address graduates Saturday.

During the ceremony, William E. Reller (class of 1956), from Palo Alto, California, and Monroe E. Trout from Appleton, Wisconsin, will receive honorary Westminster degrees.

Saturday's commencement will also include the Columns Ceremony, a Westminster tradition. Having walked through the columns onto campus as freshmen, graduates will walk the opposite direction Saturday through the columns and out into the world.

For those who are unable to attend Saturday's commencement, it will be livestreamed on Westminster's website, Facebook and YouTube pages.