MURFREESBORO
— Smyrna, Tennessee, residents Barbara Adkerson and Amber Morton will
enjoy an extra-special Mother’s Day after both earned master’s degrees Friday,
May 6, in MTSU’s inaugural College of Graduate Studies commencement ceremony.
With 15 family members from as far away as Virginia
and Ohio joining them in Murphy Center for the ceremony, mom Adkerson, 55,
received her Master of Business Administration, and daughter Morton, 28, earned
her master’s in education in teaching English as a second language.
“This just has been a bond-strengthening thing for
us,” said Morton, who plans to continue teaching ESL in grades K-1 at La Vergne
Primary. “I’ve been thinking how great the semester has been.
“It is awesome that we’re graduating on a weekend
that emphasizes the bond between a mother and her children.”
The women were part of an afternoon ceremony that
saw 349 students presented with graduate degrees, including 316 master’s
candidates, 16 education-specialist degree recipients and 17 doctoral
candidates. Four graduate students also received graduate certificates.
Friday’s event was the first in a two-day spring
2016 commencement celebration at MTSU that will see a total of 2,383 students
receive their degrees. On Saturday, May 7, 2,034 undergraduates will accept
their MTSU diplomas at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. ceremonies; you can get more details
about that event at http://ow.ly/4nb1Jq.
Noting that MTSU has been conferring master’s
degrees since 1952 and doctorates since 1970, university President Sidney A.
McPhee said this first-time ceremony for graduate students, independent of MTSU’s
undergrad event, reinforces the importance of the university’s mission.
“It’s long been my belief that the graduation
ceremony is the single most important event at this university,” McPhee said,
commending the students for their dedication.
Dr. Carroll Van West, director of the MTSU Center
for Historic Preservation and Tennessee’s state historian, served as graduate
commencement speaker. He’s taught at MTSU since 1985, working regularly with
graduate students, and had the opportunity Friday to present one of his
doctoral students in public history, Thomas Robert Flagel, with the colorful Ph.D.
hood.
“You students who have come here wanting to
achieve, you’ve done it, you’ve been committed to the field, and you deserve
every great round of applause, cheers, whatever it takes tonight. You’ve earned
it. Congratulations,” he told the crowd.
“It’s time for you guys to go out and make a
difference in the professions that you’ve chosen in the communities we serve.
As you do so … be what you aspire to. Be better than we ever were. Be a leader
not only for yourself but for us here at MTSU.”
New graduate Adkerson, a Tennessee Department of
Education employee, took advantage of her free-class-per-semester benefit to
cover her graduate education expenses. This spring, however, she paid for a
second class in order to graduate with her daughter.
“It was worth it to me — financially and
emotionally — to pay for a class,” said Adkerson, who’s a child care program
evaluator working in Coffee, Bedford, Cannon, Franklin and Grundy counties and
part of Rutherford County.
Adkerson said her late mother, Loyce Adkerson, was
an inspiration to her; the older woman graduated from Belmont University at age
60 in 1993. Barbara Adkerson said she now plans to retire from the state and
move into the human resources field.
Adkerson’s youngest daughter, Emily Johnson, earned
her undergraduate degree from MTSU in 2011.
Morton, who also is an MTSU undergrad alumna, is
mother to Joanna Morton, 3, and Benaiah Morton, 2, and is expecting a third
child in August. Amber Morton spent three semesters as a graduate assistant in
the University Studies’ developmental reading program.
A PDF copy of the complete spring 2016 commencement
program, which includes all the student graduates, is available at http://ow.ly/H9Pc30008Q5. You can
see an album of photos from the event at http://ow.ly/10HA30008DO.
During Saturday’s undergraduate commencement,
Nashville Mayor Megan Barry will speak at the 9 a.m. ceremony, while Home Box
Office network division president Kary Antholis will address the 2 p.m. event.
Graduation information is available anytime at http://www.mtsunews.com/graduation-info.
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