Honorary degrees

UC bestowed two honorary doctorates, its highest award, during the winter commencement ceremonies.

James E. Schwab, a longtime member of the UC Foundation Board of Trustees and the former president and chief executive officer of Greater Cincinnati nonprofit Interact for Health, received an Honorary Doctor of Commercial Science. 

Pulitzer Prize-winning author and U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey was presented an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts. 

In their words

“I moved from a small town in Kentucky to Clifton to attend UC. As the first person in my family to ever move away from home and a first generation college students, times were so hard and frustrating. Even when times were tough, I was so grateful to be given the opportunity to further my education. UC was the best thing that ever happened to me. The assistance given to me by the faculty and staff, as well as the opportunities given allowed me to blossom into the person I am today. I was able to join the Greek community, hold multiple leadership roles and even establish an organization on campus. I will forever be loyal to the University of Cincinnati!”
Casie Grammer, McMicken College of Arts and Sciences

“I am proud to say that I will have been the first in my family to achieve my college degree, a Bachelor’s in Finance a few months after turning 20 years old, which only took me two and a half years instead of four. I also achieved this while working full-time outside of school for nearly the entirety of my college career, and my GPA never fell below a 3.3 despite that.”
Alexandra Roelofs, Lindner College of Business

“I want to thank all the faculty members, staff and colleagues for making these past two years as a memorable and honorable experience. As the first generation of immigrants in the United States and the first generation in my family to obtain a higher education, I am very proud and grateful for the unique opportunity and honor to be graduating today. I do want to thank you my family for being my rock and my support. I would've not done it without them!”
Anastasia Thomas, Lindner College of Business

“I am a non-traditional student and the first in my family to earn an advanced degree. Between a full-time job, a family and school, I managed to complete my undergrad and masters in six years maintaining great grades. This has been more of a personal accomplishment than anything and I am forever grateful for my wife and kids and their continued patience as I worked through this process.”
David Janus, College of Education, Criminal Justice, & Human Services

“Coming from a small town, the school politics and everything that went along with it were reflected in my struggle in grade school. I was always the straight-C (with a few Ds) student. I hated school and felt like I never had the chance or the support to help get me over the hump to be an average achiever in high school. Then, I had this brilliant idea while I was a junior in high school to join the military. So, I joined the United States Air Force! I was looking forward to getting out of the small-town scene. My parents didn’t have the money for me to go college and I was looking forward to making my own way. You see, out of my whole entire family on my father’s side, the family had a history of dropping out of school to go to work full time. My family was always the ‘basic’ lower labor workforce and never had a dime to their name at the end of their life for retirement. They were barely educated. Growing up the way I did, I always wanted an education. To break those chains and to be able to move into the light from the shadows of my family’s past.

“As we all know and learn, life can throw a few curve balls. Getting married at a young age, having kids, raising a family and working lots of hours get in the way of starting college and actually finishing. My military days were good. I was able to travel around the world and see how blessed and fortunate we Americans really are. Along the way, Desert Storm broke out. I then began to realize all the things in life we take for granted and think about if we were ever going to make it home alive again. The adrenaline rush during those times of life or death. The feeling of the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom and everything that we stand for that is good and true…I volunteered again for a second term in the war of Desert Storm. I got out after the war, confused and needed an adrenaline rush. There was nothing to be found. But during the war, I decided if we made it home alive, I would never stop learning. To start and finish with a college degree would be my lifelong goal.

"Well, over 24 years have gone by with many of life’s 'curve balls' and here I am on December 10th being the first ever in my family to attempt and graduate from college. I never thought this day would come. During my four years at UC Clermont, my professors would always ask me in class, ‘Why are you doing this now at your age — finishing your degree?’ I would always answer with, ‘I’m a late bloomer.’ The chains are now broken. No one can ever take my education away from me. And still today, I don’t want to stop learning. I encourage everyone to never stop learning. Learn something until the day you die. I loved helping the kids in my classes be successful. Giving them the little things in life that will help them get where they needed to go. I enjoy school and wish that I could get my PhD! Don’t ever give up and never stop learning. And the most of all: Don’t ever let someone tell you that you can’t. Because you can. Look at me, The Late Bloomer, Keith Helms.”
Keith Helms, UC Clermont College

“I wasn't sure I could handle graduate school while working full-time and being a wife and mother to five children. Quickly, I found that not only could I handle grad school, but I kicked some grad school butt! Graduating with a 4.0 is a first-time achievement for me, but it didn't happen without a lot of hard work and perseverance. In addition to completing graduate school, a simple tweet to previous UC President, Dr. Ono, was the start of an opportunity to bridge the gap between distance learners and the university. Dr. Ono opened the door of opportunity to include me, a distance learner, on the university's e-Learning strategic task force committee. As the voice of distance learners, I was able to share our unique needs with the committee in order for future e-Learning design, technology, support, etc., would include the needs of the university's online students. For me, advocating to enhance the distance learner’s education was the highlight of my time at the University of Cincinnati!”
Stephanie Jerstad, College of Education, Criminal Justice, & Human Services

“I chose UC in 1997 as a Cincinnatus Scholar and first generation college student. However, after five quarters, I had to move out of state. It was my dream for 11 years to return to UC, and in 2000, it became a reality. I've held a full-time salaried job working 55-75 hours a week while attending UC, and have earned an A in every single class since I've been back. It was very difficult to balance work, life and school, which is why I'm so proud to be graduating cum laude with honors in my major. My advice to new students would be to get involved early on. I have enjoyed making connections with students and professors as the President of the Organizational Leadership Club. Participating in the Arabic club helped me forge amazing relationships and learn about culture from natives. I would also recommend asking for things… When I inquired about department scholarships, the department found that the endowments had grown enough to offer several small scholarships. I am the proud recipient of the Millard W. Mack Scholarship, which helped me to afford extra credit hours to take accelerated Elementary Arabic. When I inquired about research, I got to participate in a really cool project and present the results in Atlanta. I love UC so much that I plan to pursue my MBA here! It's the best program in the region.”
Amy Roberto, McMicken College of Arts and Sciences

“Pam Bach, I want to thank you for all the help you have given me over the course of the last three years. You have gone above and beyond what a routine librarian would do for a student. Being a doctoral student has been stressful and you have eased some of that stress frequently. I will miss you also and the library energy at Langsam. It feels so good to be in a building of ‘learning’ activity and I have enjoyed doing research and learning more and more each day.”
Chris Berry, College of Education, Criminal Justice, & Human Services

“I came to the University of Cincinnati to continue to pave the path that my father had started for me many years ago. Growing up in the Cincinnati area, I knew of many close friends and acquaintances who were attending the university as well. I knew that no matter where I went, my childhood friends would remain constant, but I wanted my new potential friendships to grow. I began joining organizations and met men and women from all walks of life who each taught me something about myself, my values and my goals. As this chapter of my life comes to a close, I want to offer the advice to never miss an opportunity to make a friend or a memory. There is always more room for another friendship, network and bond to be made.”
Cassidy O'Neill, College of Education, Criminal Justice, & Human Services

“My most remarkable achievement is truly achieving this associate's degree. It is one step closer to my goal. The advice I would give to incoming students would be just stay focused and stay organized. Math was definitely my worst part of college — very challenging for me. I've set goals and I am achieving them. That is all that matters.”
Taryn Lewis, UC Blue Ash College

“My UC story starts at Ohio State. I began my college career in Columbus as a Landscape Architecture major. After a few years, I realized my direction was wrong and that it was necessary that I move back to Cincinnati and take some time off from school. My dream was to own my own Landscape design and Installation company. Within that year off from school, I worked my days away. During the days I worked out in the field, building beautiful residential and commercial installations and when daylight faded, I moved myself inside to use what skills I had developed at OSU on my designs. All this work allowed me to reflect on my goals and aspirations. It was soon thereafter I realized I wanted to go back to school. I craved the atmosphere and reward from learning in class settings. After talking with my father (an alum of UC himself) I applied to UC with a focus in Business. My advisors steered me in the direction of Entrepreneurship. From that point, my business took off; I spent 80 hours a week grinding out my days, and went to school primarily at night. UC has given me the direction that I needed to succeed. It has also pushed me to apply to Graduate school with a Masters in Finance. UC has made me excited about my future and I could not be more grateful.”
Tyler Webb, Lindner College of Business

“My advice to all incoming students would be to embrace every moment. Don't worry about midterms, finals or homework, but instead focus on the good times. The long conversations, the goofy dancing and all the moments that cannot be replaced.”
Mackenzie Galbraith, McMicken College of Arts and Sciences