Mary Louise “Mel” Bringle, 1975 Guilford alumna and current professor of philosophy and religion at Brevard College in western North Carolina, is the invited speaker for commencement of the class of 2005.
Commencement celebrates accomplishments and welcomes transitions of student’s lives as these students sweat through their robes, listening anxiously to the advice and wisdom of someone else.
The Convocation and Celebration Committee Selection of Commencement Speakers sorted through suggestions from the college community on a speaker. They narrowed the choice down to four alumni: Warren Mitotsky, James Childress, Ronnie Lownstein and Bringle.
Seniors and faculty were able to vote on one of these four individuals or the option of having no invited speaker. Next the committee discussed the results of the vote, the speaker’s availability and willingness, as well as the cost. President Kent Chabotar made the final decision to invite Bringle.
Bringle will guide students through what she describes as, “the ‘necessary pain’ we inflict on people who are about to pass from college life into the so-called real world. In most cultures I can think of, status-transition rituals require an element of pain-a scarring.”
She describes the invitation as a mixed blessing. After having sat through many graduation ceremonies, her doctoral robe has come to represent these feelings, fading from its original blue to a purple.
“Over the course of those mornings, I have heard a lot of commencement speeches. I must admit that I remember very few,” said Bringle.
Bringle attributes her vagueness concerning speakers to the fact that it’s the graduates who are being remembered. “The big event of a day of commencement, after all, is the transition ritual for the graduates-to-be,” said Bringle. “I am always flattered to be invited to come and talk to a group of people and particularly honored to be chosen out of a group of very distinguished graduates of Guilford College as the person with the privilege of addressing the graduating class of 2005.”
Of the speakers since 1991, only Marian Wright Edelman (founder and president of Children’s Defense Fund) is from outside the Guilford community. Edelman spoke during commencement in 1994.
“Sticking with someone connected to Guilford has been tradition,” said Anne Lundquist Dean for Campus Life and Chair of Convocation Celebration Committee. “Bringle is an alumna and she’s most engaging.”
“A speaker should be able to connect with the graduates and their families, and should give a talk that will be memorable for them,” said Ty Bucker, Director of College Relations. Buckner was also involved in decision of the commencement speaker. “A person who is involved in higher education, whether at Guilford or otherwise, is in a good position to achieve that objective.”
As a professor of religion and religious studies major from Guilford, Bringle will provide an appropriate launch for next year’s theme of spirit and spirituality.