Contact: Sammy McDavid
Mississippi State graduates were urged Thursday to "be freshmen" for the remainder of their lives.
"This is not the first milestone in your career, nor will it be the last," Will D. Carpenter told the university's spring commencement audience during early afternoon ceremonies. A Mississippi native and MSU alumnus, Carpenter is a retired vice president of the St. Louis-based Monsanto Co.
"High school, B.S., B.A., master's, Ph.D., degrees all certainly deserving of recognition," Carpenter said. "It took me longer than it will you to understand that those accomplishments all started from the status of being a freshman or the equivalent. At each of those milestones in my career, there were friends and colleagues who turned off the learning switch when they met their accomplishment, then stagnated for the rest of their lives.
"What a shame; what a waste," he said. "It must not happen to you. Tomorrow, virtually every one of you will be a 'freshman' again as surely as if you were headed for freshman English, chemistry or biology. And that's good."
Carpenter, in addition to achieving success in the business world, also has gained accolades for his role in helping craft the 1993 international chemical weapons ban treaty. In recognition of his work in this area, the American Association for the Advancement of Science awarded him its Hilliard Roderick Prize in 1992.
Carpenter told the graduates that remaining a freshman requires only a two-step process.
"First, you must demonstrate to the world, and, more importantly, to yourself that you have the capacity for growth," he said. "Second, give yourself the greatest opportunity to reach your full potential, to achieve goals beyond your expectations and even beyond your hopes."
MSU took the occasion of spring graduation to award its first honorary doctorates since the state College Board last year approved reinstatement of the designation at the eight public institutions. Three alumni who have been major contributors to the university's growth and development received the special degrees from President Malcolm Portera.
Honored were West Point native John H. Bryan Jr., chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the Sara Lee Corp.; Leo W. Seal Jr., chairman and CEO of the Hancock Bank in Gulfport; and Harry Charles F. Simrall, former MSU dean of engineering.
More than 1,900 students were candidates for degrees at the conclusion of the spring semester.
Officials of the Registrar's Office also said a record 17--15 from Mississippi and one each from Louisiana and Alabama--of 1,400 seniors completed their studies with perfect 4.0 grade-point averages. Each received medallions from the campus chapter of Phi Kappa Phi honor society.