1988

The University awarded 1,121 degrees to students in commencement exercises at 9:30 a.m. on May 16 on the University Plaza in front of Wait Chapel.

“I can tell you what the future holds: success is staring you smack in the face.”

David Wayne Calloway (’59), chairman and chief executive officer of PepsiCo Inc., challenged 1988 graduates to go out into the world and “knock its socks off.”

“You are the right people, this is the right time, and nothing can stop you,” Calloway said. “For you, success is a cakewalk.”

Calloway, who said he was honored to give the commencement address at his alma mater, said the trick to success is recognizing it when it arrives.

“Beware of those three imposters: wealth, fame and power,” he said. “Ignore the critics and press on with your hopes and dreams. Your success is not only possible, it’s probable.”

Calloway received the President’s Volunteer Action Award for heading a Dallas-based task force that found jobs for former Braniff Airlines employees after the airlines declared bankruptcy.

A long-time friend of the University, he has served as a trustee, a member of the Alumni Council, and national chairman of the University’s Sesquicentennial Campaign.

Ten retiring members of the Reynolda Campus faculty were honored:

  • Shasta M. Bryant, professor of romance languages;
  • Dorothy Casey, associate professor of health and sport science;
  • Cyclone Covey, professor of history;
  • Ralph S. Fraser, professor of German;
  • Christopher Giles, associate professor of music;
  • Paul M. Gross Jr., professor of chemistry;
  • Emmett Willard Hamrick, professor of religion;
  • A. Thomas Olive (’53), associate professor of biology;
  • John W. Sawyer (’38, ’43 MA), professor of mathematics;
  • and W. Buck Yearns Jr., professor of history.

Retiring members of the faculty of the Bowman Gray School of Medicine are:

  • Courtland David Jr., professor of neurosurgery;
  • Richard T. Myers, Faculty Professor of surgery;
  • M. Frank Sohmer (’52 MD), clinical assistant professor of medicine (gastroenterology);
  • and Henry S.M. Uhl, professor of medicine (general medicine/geriatrics).

Published in Wake Forest Magazine.