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News and Event Releases > William Winter Speaks at Millsaps College Commencement

William Winter Speaks at Millsaps College Commencement

Full transcript of William Winters' Commencement address (PDF)

Former Mississippi Governor William F. Winter told members of the Millsaps College Class of 2010 on Saturday that opportunity awaits them to make improvements to society.

"It is in times like these that we have the greatest opportunity to make corrections. We have a good reason to set aside some of the worn-out, wasteful ways of the past," he said.

This year, 211 undergraduates and 56 graduate students received degrees during the ceremony at Christ United Methodist Church in Jackson. The ceremony was the 116th commencement of the college.

Winter said the most important office in the U.S. political system is that of private citizens. "We weaken democracy if we overlook that," he said.

Winter suggested graduates become lobbyists for the public good and issues such as healthcare, public education, the environment and responsive government. He said cynicism and apathy can be overcome by graduates with integrity, optimism, persistence, competence and compassion.

He characterized Millsaps as "one of the great liberal arts colleges in America, an intellectual oasis, a place where people can seek the truth without fear of being intimidated."

Honorary degrees were bestowed upon Sister Mary Dorothea Sondgeroth, president and chairman of the Board of St. Dominic Health Services, Inc.; Fred L.  Banks Jr., former presiding justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court; Christy Gilliland Dunaway, a Millsaps alumnus and director of LIFE (Living Independence For Everyone of Mississippi); and Rt. Rev. Duncan Gray Jr., former bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi.

The Millsaps Founders' Medal, awarded to the graduating senior with the highest grade point average for their entire college course of study and a grade of excellent on the comprehensive examinations, went to Laura Heather Litton of Collierville, Tenn. She received a B.B.A. in accounting.

James W. Walley Jr. of Brooklyn, Miss. was honored for his essay on the value of a Millsaps liberal arts education with the Frank and Rachel Ann Laney Award. He received a B.A. in English.

The Don Fortenberry Award, which recognizes the graduating senior who has demonstrated the most notable, meritorious, diligent and devoted service to the college with no expectation of recognition, reward or public remembrance, was given to Brittany Nicole Tait of Pensacola, Fla. She received a B.A. in religious studies.

Kristina L. Stensaas, associate professor of chemistry, was named recipient of the Distinguished Professor Award.