UNC Asheville Announces May 7 Commencement Speaker and Honorary Degree Recipients

Virgil L. Smith, former publisher of The Asheville Citizen-Times and UNC Asheville Trustee Emeritus, will deliver the commencement address at the May 7, 2016 ceremony on the Quad.

The ceremony, which begins at 9 a.m., will recognize the 2016 graduating class and confer honorary degrees on Smith, local entrepreneur John Cram, and pioneering businesswoman Julia Ray.

Virgil L. Smith

A talented manager and publisher, Virgil Smith worked for 24 years with The Gannett Company. He spent a decade as president and publisher of the Citizen-Times – the first African American publisher of a mainstream newspaper in North Carolina – where he enjoyed the longest tenure of any publisher in the newspaper’s history. He positioned the newspaper as an influential force for government accountability and positive change for the community and its residents.

He retired in October 2015 to start a coaching and consulting firm, Smith Edwards Group LLC based in Atlanta, which specializes in executive, career and life coaching, as well as executive search services and consulting in diversity and strategic planning.

Smith was a member of the UNC Asheville Board of Trustees from 2007-15, serving as chair of the audit committee, and he currently serves on the board of advisors of Morgan State University School of Global Journalism and the University of North Texas Mayborn School of Journalism. He is a trustee of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and holds memberships in the National Hispanic Journalism Association, National Association of Black Journalists, Asian American Journalism Association, Native American Journalists Association, and the Society of Human Resources Officers.

For his work in establishing the Asheville-Buncombe Education Coalition Smith was named Partners in Education Volunteer of the Year Award by the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce. He also received the 18th Annual Dr. King’s Legacy of Peace, Justice and Community Award from the Asheville-Buncombe Community Relations Council; the Robert L. Mason Distinguished Service Award from the North Carolina Association for Community Education; the 2000 Service Award for Early Education from Children First; and the Beat the Odds Community Award for dedication and commitment to educating children, from the Asheville Alumnae Chapter Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

Smith was awarded the annual Ida B. Wells Award from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and the National Association of Black Journalists for distinguished leadership in increasing access and opportunities to people of color in journalism, and improving the coverage of communities of color in American media. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Asheville-Buncombe Community Relations Council.

John Cram

Creative entrepreneur John Cram moved to Asheville in the early 1970s, and over the course of two decades he founded New Morning Gallery in Biltmore Village and the Blue Spiral 1 fine art gallery on Biltmore Avenue downtown. He followed that by buying and rehabilitating the Fine Arts Theatre next door. Cram also started the Village Art and Craft Fair which now brings more than 120 artists to Biltmore Village each August.

Cram has been called an influential figure in political and conservation arenas and a leader in the renaissance of the Asheville community. In 2013, he received the state’s highest civilian honor, the North Carolina Award for fine arts. Most recently, he was designated a “Downtown Hero” by the Asheville Downtown Association.

Julia Ray

Centenarian Julia Ray has more than half a century of local business ownership and acumen to her name. She founded the Jesse Ray Funeral Home with her husband in 1938, and at 101 she maintains her license as a funeral director, though her son Jesse Ray, Jr. now operates the family business. She is well known on UNC Asheville’s campus as well, having established The Julia G. Ray Endowed Scholarship to support one student each year.

In addition to being a local business leader, Ray was the first African American on the Board of Trustees of Mission Hospital, and she served as trustee for both UNC Asheville and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNC Asheville (then called the NC Center for Creative Retirement). She also served on the Friends of the YMI and helped to establish the Goombay Festival.

Among other honors, Ray is the recipient of the Mission/MAHEC Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award for her pioneering service to the Asheville medical community. She was named a “Living Treasure” by Asheville’s Living Treasure Committee in 2013.

For more information about UNC Asheville’s May 7 Commencement, visit news.unca.edu/commencement.