Distinguished Professor of Playwriting Charles Smith is giving remarks at the inaugural December commencement ceremony Dec. 12.
The speaker for Ohio University’s first fall commencement is no stranger to campus.
Distinguished Professor of Playwriting Charles Smith is giving remarks at the inaugural December commencement ceremony, which students who have met graduation requirements during the Summer or Fall semesters can participate in.
The ceremony will be held Dec. 12 in The Convo, and approximately 800 students are expected to attend. The university expects to spend approximately $80,000 on the ceremony, Caitlin Barnhardt, associate director of event management, said in an email.
Upon learning he had been selected as the commencement speaker, Smith said he was absolutely delighted, although nervous about the responsibility.
"After I got over being flattered, I realized I had a responsibility to actually say something … to evoke a little thought," Smith said. "And then I became terrified.”
Smith is head of OU’s Professional Playwriting Program and the OU Presidential Research Scholar in Arts and Humanities, according to an OU press release. He also recently completed a playwright-in-residence at the Tony Award-winning Victory Gardens Theater.
“His tremendous personal success in theater and in the classroom is a shining example of what can be achieved at Ohio University,” OU President Roderick McDavis said in the release. “I know his perspectives and words of encouragement will be deeply meaningful to our graduates.”
Smith, a graduate of the University of Iowa Playwrights Workshop, has written plays that explore contemporary issues of race, identity and politics in America and have been produced around the nation, according to the release.
Smith has also earned numerous awards during his career, including the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, the Illinois Arts Council Governor’s Award and an NBC New Voices Award, among others. He was given the Distinguished Professor Award by OU in 2010, which is the highest permanent recognition attainable by faculty at the university.
The ceremony will give students from any campus or e-Learning program a chance to walk in graduation after completing their coursework in the Summer or Fall semesters, including undergraduates, master’s students and doctoral students, the release said.
Adam Luck, a 29-year-old from Columbus who is enrolled in an online master’s program, is making the trip to Athens for the ceremony. He said he probably would not have walked in the spring commencement because too many people come to Athens for that ceremony.
Timing was also factor for Luck.
“It would have felt weird to celebrate something six months after I was done,” he said. “It just feels more realistic.”
Luck, who graduated from OU in 2008 with bachelor’s degree in communication, said he expects this commencement to be more important than his undergraduate one.
“This one feels a lot different to me than undergrad, I think because this degree was a lot more difficult for me,” Luck said. “I really want to go through all the pomp and circumstance because it was so difficult.”
Smith said he feels like commencement is an important ceremony.
“(The ceremonies) represent a public acknowledgement of accomplishment,” Smith said. “Like most accomplishments like a degree, there’s a large degree of personal satisfaction you get when completing a degree program. It’s nice to get that public acknowledgement … and you get to invite family and friends to celebrate.”
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