The University of North Carolina Asheville celebrated nearly 200 graduates at its fall Commencement ceremony on Friday, Dec. 9, 2022. The newly graduated Bulldogs, the first class of 2023, gathered in Kimmel Arena for the event presided over by Chancellor Nancy J. Cable. The event was livestreamed on the University’s YouTube channel.
In her remarks to the graduates, Chancellor Cable reminded them of their resilience, even in our current age of chaos, be it from the impact of “challenging times in our nation’s democracy and our world globally” or due to “COVID and its complexities.”
“You rose above the chaos, remained focused on your aspirations, and have gone the extra mile to reach this goal of graduation,” said Chancellor Cable. “Determined perseverance is one of the longstanding hallmarks of University of North Carolina Asheville graduates, and your achievement in our liberal arts and sciences education will benefit you forever.”
Fall graduates ranged in age from 20 to 59, with 93% hailing from North Carolina. Their majors spanned the liberal arts and sciences, with 26% majoring in the humanities, 32% majoring in the natural sciences and 42% majoring in the social sciences. Environmental studies and psychology had the most graduates at 12.4% each, with English, management and biology rounding out the top five most popular majors.
Student Government Association President Lauren Braswell, a biology major with a minor in Africana studies, greeted her fellow students with a booming “Congratulations!” Her address encouraged graduates to embrace being unique and acknowledging that the journey is hard but to celebrate every step—even the little things—and she implored the first class of 2023 to have their “to-be… always take priority over your to-do.”
Kate Zubko, National Endowment for the Humanities Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies and recipient of the 2022 Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching, delivered the keynote address.
In her address, Zubko asked the graduating class about the “kind of structures we want to create in our lives” as she expanded on UNC Asheville’s core value of equity. “We can find ways to relate to each other, we can embrace differences in ourselves and others, we can learn how to make a place that is better for every one of us, as our whole selves,” Zubko said. “But we have to do the work, we have to practice, we have to learn, we have to grow.”
She encouraged the new graduates to “learn from our communities” and “create the conditions in which what we can imagine, and bring into reality, is greater than any one of us can do on our own.”
“Making room for failing, addressing any harm we cause, and trying again in more informed ways, takes time,” she acknowledged, “[b]ut learning how to be in the present, honor the past, and imagine the future leads to transformative collective growth.”
By embracing the journey and taking the time to “listen to nature, to our senses, to our communities,” Zubko concluded, “we will know when to take action, how to take action, and be our whole selves as we do.
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