Future ASU graduations will be held at the Civic Center

President Bloodworth and Janice Williams Whiting

Last month, as they crossed the stage to receive their diplomas at Christenberry Fieldhouse, 387 ASU students became the newest university alumni.

Janice Williams Whiting, professor of art, was the guest speaker at the commencement exercises on Saturday, December 11. Ms. Williams Whiting, chosen by colleagues and students as the 2004 Outstanding Faculty Member, provided graduates with her “Top Ten Tenets for Life.” She advised them to, among other things, learn to have faith in themselves, participate in their communities, and to pursue their life paths with passion.

The ceremony also marked the last time a December graduation will be held and the last time the program will take place at the Fieldhouse.

Future graduation ceremonies will be held in May each year and will be moved to the Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center. With the number of graduates increasing each year, the Fieldhouse simply cannot hold them and their guests without restrictions. In addition, because of limited parking at the Fieldhouse, guests are forced to park at Daniel Field and take a shuttle bus. The venue change eliminates that need.

The move will also be cost efficient because the university will be able to share set-up costs with the Medical College of Georgia, which will hold its spring ceremonies at the civic center the day before.

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Janice Williams Whiting's Top Ten Tenets for Life

10. Whatever you have chosen for your next step, do it passionately. Not for monetary rewards or praises, but because you love what you do. You have been given a gift – a gift of intelligence. Use it wisely, use it kindly – find your dharma, your duty.

9. Remember we live in a wonderful land of freedom and liberty, where Mr. Jefferson said we are all equal, and we all have the right to pursue happiness. What does that really mean? It means we all have rights, but not at the expense of others. If your right refuses another his or her right it ceases to be yours. Life is not always fair, but if you can make it fairer for someone, you should.

8. Strive to eliminate poverty, prejudice, and oppression, so that peace may prevail with justice and order, so that men and women from different cultures with differing talents may find with one another the fulfillment of their humanity.

7. Remember that while silence can be golden, to be silent while another suffers is to let fear win. In the midst of our struggles for justice and truth, confront one another without hatred or bitterness, and work together with shared patience and respect.

6. Listen to someone other than yourself.

5. Let the universe with all its marvelous order, its atoms, worlds, and galaxies, and the infinite complexity of living creatures continue to mystify and to inspire you. Protect our world. Let nature not suffer abuse because of our wants.

4. Learn to have more faith in yourself. An atmosphere of fear and anxiety will create an endured life rather than one that is lived. And life is meant to be lived.

3. Don’t be apathetic! Participate with your family, your community, your state, your country. Travel. Visit our world. Discover that there is more than one way to do something and to do it well. It is truly a magic carpet ride out there. Go exploring.

2. Seek to console, rather than to be consoled; to understand, rather than to be understood; and to love as to be loved.

1. Dance. Even if you don’t know how. And sing. Even if you only make a joyful noise.

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