Fall 2024 Graduates: “The World Is Waiting for Your Light”

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Dec. 14, 2024) – In the midst of a frigid winter and facing an inconstant future, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University’s newest graduates are heeding the call to be a flame that warms, illuminates and transforms the world around them.

More than 1,200 students, including more than 300 graduate students, participated in two separate ceremonies Friday, Dec. 13, and Saturday, Dec. 14, at First Horizon Coliseum’s Main Arena – the first under the leadership of Chancellor James R. Martin II.

“I am honored to preside over my first – and what I hope will be many – A&T commencement ceremonies,” said Martin. “I want to take a moment to recognize what it means to be an Aggie. I’ve discovered that being an Aggie means belonging to a legacy of excellence that stretches back over a century built by trailblazers who have proven time and time again that Aggies know no bounds.

“Aggies don’t just accept challenges, they seek them out. Aggies don’t shy away from obstacles. Aggies face them head-on with grit, determination and strength to overcome whatever lies ahead. You are part of that rich legacy now, and it is yours to carry forward.”

Board of Trustees Chair Kimberly Gatling concurred in her greetings.

“As you move forward, know that you are part of a formidable Aggie network that spans the globe. Our alumni community includes groundbreaking leaders, industry pioneers and change agents who embody the spirit of Aggie excellence,” said Gatling. “Wherever this journey takes you, the strength and support of this network will always be there to uplift and inspire you.”

Brooke Scott, president of the Graduate Student Association, recognized her fellow graduates’ achievements as a testament to their late nights, breakthroughs and unwavering commitment to learning.

“Here at A&T, we embody Aggie Pride,” Scott said. “As graduate students, you have not only mastered advanced knowledge and skills but have paved the way for innovation and leadership in your field.”

Cynthia W. Turner ‘90, Ph.D., CPA, who served as keynote speaker for the graduate student ceremony Friday evening, expounded on Martin’s motif. A summa cum laude alumna with a B.S. in accounting, she is associate dean of access, engagement and outreach of The Ohio State University Max M. Fisher College of Business and an Ernst & Young LLP (EY) Faculty Fellow who is renowned for her dedication to inclusive excellence. She also is an ordained Christian minister and an 18-year breast cancer survivor. 

Turner exhorted her fellow A&T alumni and all in attendance “to cast a light in darkness, and to stand as a flame of hope when all else fades.”

“The world you enter, while brimming with potential, has its share of challenges and unlit places,” she said. “I believe that each of you here today has the power to be a light not by solving all the world’s problems all at once, but by starting right where you are.

In 1994, Turner received an M.A. in accounting from The Ohio State University and, in 1995, became the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in accounting at Ohio State. She spent 17 years on the faculty at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign before returning in 2013 to Ohio State where she became the first African American woman to join the leadership team at its Fisher College of Business in 2019.

Turner said education is often compared to light because it illuminates the mind, reveals hidden truths and provides guidance in the way light dispels darkness.

“And my fellow Aggies, if education was not such a powerful light, many of our ancestors would have not fought, bled and died so that you and I could have access to it,” she said. “It is our responsibility as graduates of the illustrious North Carolina A&T State University to be lights because our unique insights and contributions have the ability to create ripples that not only illuminate entire communities, but bring clarity to our nation and to the world around us.”

Turner said A&T’s beloved Dean Emeritus Quiester Craig, who led the School of Business and Economics (now the Willie A. Deese College of Business and Economics) for 40 years, taught this lesson throughout his life. Craig died Thursday, Dec. 12, at 88.

“Flames are contagious. The light you create doesn’t just brighten your life; it spreads,” she said. “By igniting hope in others, you become a part of something bigger, something enduring.”

“Be the flame. The world is waiting for your light.”

During Saturday’s morning’s undergraduate ceremony, Senior Class President Micah Downs said he and his fellow graduates are not just celebrating an achievement, but also embracing a responsibility.

“Your time here has prepared you to enter a world that will test you in ways you cannot yet imagine. But the truth is, you’ve already proven your resilience,” Downs said. “Let this be a reminder: You’re stronger than any obstacle you’ll ever face.”

Marques B. McCammon ’98, who delivered the undergraduate commencement address Saturday morning, said the ceremony marked one of the most momentous occasions of his life. Serving since 2023 as president of Karma Automotive in Irvine, California, the state’s only ultra-luxury automaker, he  graduated from A&T with a B.S. in mechanical engineering and earned an M.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan. His career spans nearly three decades of auto industry general management, product development, manufacturing, brand leadership and marketing experience and includes expansive knowledge of software-based automotive product advancement.

“My first charge to you is, I want you to learn to dream big. Specifically, I say, I want you to dream in IMAX,” McCammon said.

“See, too often, when it comes time to dream, our dreams are put into a box by the people who stand around us on the things that they think or believe can or should be possible for you,” he said. “But the reality is that a dream is intended to be unbounded. As a matter of fact, when you put a box around a dream, you fundamentally take away the essence of what it’s supposed to be. We’re supposed to look at those dreams, and we’re supposed to imagine the art of what hasn’t been done and make a way to it.”

McCammon said this attitude ultimately led him to serve in numerous leadership and management positions domestically and internationally for premier automotive companies and partners such as Ricardo, where he was global managing director, automotive & industrial, and president, North America; Intel subsidiary Wind River, where he was vice president, global automotive, and general manager and senior director, auto products; and Aptera Motors, where he was chief marketing officer.

McCammon’s second charge to the graduates is to look for challenge so that they can face challenge. Through a series of professional challenges, he put his engineering prowess to use in creating the Dodge SRT-4 (Street and Racing Technology-4 cylinder), crafting the blueprint for Chrysler’s SRT moniker and designing the first modern four-door convertible.

“And when you face challenge, I want you to lean into it,” he said. “When you go out from A&T, you have to go out with the mindset that I’m looking for the challenge that’s going to break me. Because once it breaks you, the resilience that you learned here will teach you how to stand back up.”

Finally, McCammon urged graduates to share their light, finding a way to give something back as they pursue their dreams.

“Find your way to pass the baton,” he said. “Take your piece of your race and run it as hard as you can, but keep your eyes (forward) because there’s somebody who’s waiting for you to pass them the baton.”

“God only knows what’s in store for me next. I might flame out tomorrow. But maybe, maybe, one of you heard that story, and you see me stretching out my hand with this baton and you know that it’s yours to catch and take it and keep running.”

In a world that is ever-evolving, Martin said, the degree each graduate has earned will stand as both a foundation and a springboard for what lies ahead.