FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / May 4, 2001
TWO CATAWBA COLLEGE ALUMNI TO SPEAK AT COLLEGE'S COMMENCEMENT EVENTS
SALISBURY, N.C. -- The mayor of Charlotte, Catawba College Alumnus Pat McCrory, will be the featured speaker during Catawba College's Graduation Exercise at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 12 on the lawn of the Abernethy Quadrangle.
Reverend Lawrence R. Bolick, pastor of Shiloh United Church of Christ in Faith, will speak during Catawba's Baccalaureate Service at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 11 in the Omwake-Dearborn Chapel.
McCrory, who graduated from Catawba in 1978 with a bachelor of arts degree in political science/education, is serving his third term as mayor of Charlotte. He has been employed by Duke Energy in Charlotte since 1978, and now serves as its manager of business relations.
Bolick, a 1970 graduate of Catawba with a degree in religion and philosophy, received his master's of divinity degree in 1974 from Duke Divinity School at Duke University. He is married to Dr. Edith McCanless Bolick, a professor of sociology and the associate academic dean at Catawba.
According to Catawba President J. Fred Corriher, Jr., this year's commencement activities have special significance because the college is celebrating its sesquicentennial. "It is only appropriate that two of Catawba's own play major roles in next weekend's activities," he said. "We can say with pride that the lives of both men clearly reflect Catawba ideals and values."
McCrory will receive an honorary doctorate during the May 12 graduation exercise before Catawba confers 250 bachelor's degrees and eight master of education degrees to its graduating students.
McCrory was elected to the Charlotte City Council in 1989 and served as mayor pro-tem between 1993 and 1995. In 1995, he was elected mayor, re-elected in 1997, and in 1999, became the first mayor of Charlotte in 22 years to be re-elected to a third term. In 1998, he was named Charlotte's Man of the Year by "Charlotte's Best" magazine.
Active in community affairs, McCrory is co-chairman of Charlotte's Fighting Back Commission and honorary chairman of both the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the Arthritis Foundation. At the national level, he is chairman of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Environmental Committee and chairman of the U.S. League of Cities International Task Force.
Born in Columbus, Ohio, McCrory grew up in Greensboro and attended Ragsdale High School. He is married to the former Ann Gordon.
Before his 1993 appointment to Shiloh UCC, Bolick pastored several churches in the Southern Conference of the United Church of Christ, including Hebron UCC in Winston-Salem and New Gilead Reformed UCC in Concord. He served as joint minister of Christian Education for Grace Reformed UCC in Newton and Trinity UCC in Conover and minister of Christian Education at Mt. Zion UCC in China Grove.
Bolick is also active in community affairs. At the local level, he is chairperson of Family Support Committee and a board member of Habitat for Humanity of Rowan County. He is past vice president of the Salisbury-Rowan Ministerial Association, past president of the Faith Civitan Club, and past president of the UCC Rowan District Ministerial Association.
As pastor of Shiloh UCC, he has coordinated two summer workcamps to Cherry Creek UCC on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation to construct a new church building. This summer, he will serve as a delegate at a meeting of the General Synod of UCC to be held in Kansas City.
Bolick and his wife have three children, Ross, a graduate student at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, Joan, a senior at Salisbury High School, and Jonathan, a junior at East Rowan High School.
For additional information, contact Tonia Black-Gold, Chief Communications Officer at Catawba College at 704-637-4393 or via e-mail at [email protected].
RSS