UNC Asheville Celebrated Spring 2024 Graduates at Commencement

The University of North Carolina Asheville's spring Commencement ceremony on May 11, 2024, marked the graduation of over 450 Bulldogs. Held at Kimmel Arena, the event was presided over by Chancellor Kimberly van Noort, with a livestream available on the University's YouTube channel.

With this important chapter of their lives now complete, they are ready to go out into the world," van Noort said. "I am confident they will make a difference for good by building successful careers and living lives of purpose and meaning."

This diverse graduating class ranged in age from 19 to 60, with 92 percent of the graduates from North Carolina. Also graduating were two international candidates representing Norway and Turkey.

Psychology and Environmental Science were the two most popular majors, with 57 and 37 graduates, respectively. Health and Wellness, Biology and Art rounded out the top five. The average class cumulative GPA was an impressive 3.39.

The full Class of 2024, including summer and winter graduates, is 678 students, including 673 undergraduates and 5 graduates.

Ona Elkins, a political science and international studies double major, with a minor in Asian Studies, the 2024 valedictorian, recipient of the Manly E. Scholarship Award, and this year's student speaker.

Elkins referenced her high school graduation being derailed by COVID, a common experience for most of this year's graduates. She said the circumstances of the pandemic and surrounding social justice movements pushed them to be conscious of their place in society.

"UNC Asheville students are uniquely situated to respond to these demands. We are united in a mutual spirit of advocacy and the desire to make the world a better place. We, as a campus community, believe in the right of all people to be free, to live in peace and security, and to live joyfully," Elkins said. "Our graduation today marks an incredible opportunity to make a change in the world that we are about to enter. So go boldly, Class of 2024, and become the people that will make our world a better place."

The University also recognized three honorary degree recipients: Oscar Wong, Walter Ziffer and David Holt, who was also the recipient of the 2024 UNC Asheville Chancellor's Medallion.

Wong, dubbed the "Godfather of Asheville craft beer," opened Highland Brewing Company, the largest family-owned brewery that originated in the Southeast, in 1994. Wong has earned every major recognition in his field, served two terms on the UNC Asheville Board of Trustees, and was awarded the highest civilian honor in North Carolina in 2023, The Order of the Long Leaf Pine, for extraordinary service to the state.

Ziffer spent several years in concentration camps after being taken from his native Czechoslovakia by Nazis at the age of 14. With degrees in both engineering and theology, he taught at European universities before moving to Asheville in 1993, offering classes at UNC Asheville and Mars Hill University. Among his scholarly works on religion and antisemitism, Ziffer wrote a memoir on his experiences as a Holocaust survivor, "Confronting the Silence: A Holocaust Survivor's Search for God," recognized as a personal and profound reflection on this dark period of human history.

"You are the makers of the future - a challenging prospect, to be sure, but one worthy of your creativity and goodwill," Ziffer said. "I wish you peace - salaam, shalom in your coming all important enterprise."

Holt is renowned not only as a talented Grammy award-winning musician but also a historian, storyteller, and Emmy-nominated television host. He founded the Appalachian music program at Warren Wilson College, hosted many popular public television programs including "Folkways" and "David Holt's State of Music," and collaborated with the legendary Doc Watson, with whom he earned two of his four Grammy awards.

"I found a letter recently that I had written to my parents when I was graduating from college and told them that I didn't think that the job I was looking for had not been invented yet," Holt told the graduates. "That was hard for my dad to take, but as it turned out, it was true. And it will be true for many of you as well."

After his remarks, Holt closed with an old mountain tune, "Whiskey Before Breakfast," played on his harmonica.

Trey Adcock, associate professor of interdisciplinary studies, international studies, and the director of American Indian and Indigenous Studies, was honored with the Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching. This prestigious award recognizes exceptional teaching and honors outstanding tenured faculty members from each of North Carolina's public universities.

"Dr. Adcock embodies extraordinary teaching at UNC Asheville. From offering student-centered classes and serving as a mentor both in and out of the classroom to bringing attention to current issues facing Indigenous communities, his work is essential to UNC Asheville's mission," said Kellie Hunt Blue, a member of the UNC Board of Governors.

UNC Asheville also awarded its yearly Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award to Jackie Langille, associate professor of environmental studies, for her dedication to guiding undergraduate students in environmental exploration.

UNC Asheville May graduates will be going on a wide array of journeys after graduation, including cybersecurity, mechatronics engineering, medical school, geological research and journalism. Learn more about these graduates and their post-college plans by visiting UNC Asheville Stories.

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