OU's president details the illustrious career of one of the college's first graduates.e
This Founder’s Day, Ohio University celebrates the 200th anniversary of our first Commencement. Contrary to our present-day undergraduate Commencement ceremonies, which annually graduate more than 3,000 students, Ohio University’s first Commencement had a class of two: John Hunter and Thomas Ewing. Following the untimely death of Hunter just one year later, Ewing became the sole alum of Ohio University’s inaugural class.
I believe that being the first graduate of Ohio’s first university would definitely add pressure to a person’s Commencement day. Can you imagine the weight that Ewing must have carried knowing that his future would be forever tied to the history of his alma mater? Knowing that generations of alumni to follow would look to him as a testament of the prominence of an Ohio University degree? Perhaps this is similar to the pressure shouldered by John Newton Templeton, a former slave who became Ohio University’s first and the nation’s fourth African-American graduate in 1828 (35 years before the Emancipation Proclamation!). Perhaps Margaret Boyd also felt this sense of responsibility as the first woman to graduate from Ohio University in 1873.
As a 1970 graduate of Ohio University, I can certainly relate to this sense of obligation. I was not the first in my family to pursue higher education, but I had been given an opportunity that many of my friends and relatives never had. I was determined to make my degree count. I owed it to my family, my friends, my fellow African-American classmates and to future generations of African-Americans who became alumni of Ohio University. This sense of responsibility was a driving force as I journeyed toward my dream of becoming a college president.
As the hope of Ohio University’s inaugural class, Ewing did not disappoint. His graduation from Ohio University served as a springboard for a life of impact … as a United States Senator, as Secretary of Treasury, as Secretary of Interior and as an advisor to four United States Presidents. Two centuries later, his example continues to be a point of pride for our University community and an inspiration to the millions of graduates who have followed in his footsteps.
I suspect that when your name is called at our Commencement, you will feel a sense of accomplishment and pride in your Ohio University journey (as I did). But I hope you also will feel a sense of responsibility — to your family and friends, to your neighbors and communities, and to the generations of Bobcats that will follow in your footsteps. Like Ewing, I hope that you will reach for the highest star as a graduate of Ohio University. Like Ewing, I hope that your Ohio University degree serves as a springboard for a life of impact.
Happy Founders Day, OHIO!
Roderick J. McDavis is the President of Ohio University.
