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First Female Bishop Inspires Graduates
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Wesleyan Honors 2 and Graduates 95 at its 2007 Commencement
May 12, 2007
Wesleyan College’s 95 graduating seniors anxiously awaited the call to action and inspiration of Charlene Payne Kammerer, the first woman to be ordained Bishop of the Southeastern Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church. The Wesleyan alumna (class of 1970) returned to her alma mater as the 2007 commencement speaker.
“We’re expecting great things from you,” Kammerer reminded the graduates, just as her grandmother reminded her years ago. “Follow your passion. Dare something new and untried,” she urged.
Kammerer knows from experience that the Wesleyan sisterhood and academic community are powerful life-long sources of support and encouragement, and she credited both for her many successes. As today’s graduates secure their places in the world, Kammerer inspired the women to courageously pursue leadership roles and to never allow gender to be an obstacle to achieving their fullest potential. The Bishop offered her experience as just one example of how women can successfully balance the many demanding roles of wife and mother--even grandmother--with professional leadership roles to achieve purposeful lives serving others.
Following the commencement address, Kammerer was presented with an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. Wesleyan College also presented an honorary Doctor of Laws degree to Frank Cater Jones, who has been on the College’s Board of Trustees since 1966, serving as chair from 1981-1987, and who in 2005 began his tenure as Emeritus Trustee. Through the presentation of an honorary degree, Wesleyan College desires to honor individuals for careers of extraordinary accomplishment that benefit society through intellectual, professional, and public service contributions consistent with the mission of the College.
Wesleyan College awarded degrees to 95 graduates, including 73 candidates for the bachelor of arts degree, 8 candidates for the bachelor of science in business administration, and 13 candidates for the master of arts during the 2007 commencement.
Wesleyan, as the first college in the world chartered to grant degrees to women, celebrates many historic “firsts for women.” Charlene Payne Kammerer is a pioneering woman of many “firsts,” including being the first woman ordained as a United Methodist minister in Florida; the first woman in the United States to be appointed as Minister to a University or Dean of a Chapel, serving in that capacity at Duke in 1983-84; and the first to be a District Superintendent in Florida, where she served the Tallahassee District from 1987 until 1993.
In 1996, she made history again in the United Methodist Church, becoming the first woman elected bishop in the nine-state Southeastern Jurisdiction, serving for eight years in the Western North Carolina Conference and currently in the Virginia Conference, where she displays courage, conviction, and compassion as the spiritual leader for hundreds of thousands of United Methodists and thousands of their churches and pastors.
She graduated from Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, with an A.B. degree in religion and philosophy in 1970. She obtained Master of Christian Education and Master of Divinity degrees from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. She was ordained deacon in 1975 and elder in 1977 in the Florida Conference. She received a Doctor of Ministry degree in 1991 from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio.
Bishop Kammerer's service in the church has included equal years in parish ministries and connectional ministries. Her longtime interests higher education, mission involvement, and the spirituality of administration. She has served as a director of the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women and as a director of the General Board of Global Ministries, including chairperson of the United Methodist Committee on Relief from 1992-1996. She has received the Outstanding Alumnae Award from both Wesleyan College and Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, and has been honored with Doctor of Divinity degrees from Bethune-Cookman College (FL) and Pfeiffer University (NC).
Macon resident Frank Jones was honored at the commencement for an exemplary career spanning more than fifty years. He stands as one of the preeminent lawyers in the United States and received the B.B.A. degree from Emory University in 1947 and the L.L.B. degree from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University in 1950.
Jones has consistently displayed his commitment to excellence, justice, and the highest ethical standards while practicing at the law firms of Jones, Cork and Miller in Macon from 1950 to 1977 and King and Spalding in Atlanta from 1977 to 2001. His stature as a highly regarded member of the legal profession throughout the United States is reflected in the numerous offices he has held, including President of the State Bar of Georgia from 1968 to 1969, President of the American College of Trial Lawyers from 1993 to 1994, a member of the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association for more than 20 years, and President of the United States Supreme Court Historical Society since June of 2002.
Jones has volunteered countless hours in service to his state and community and has been a loyal member of the United Methodist Church throughout his life. His family ties to Wesleyan date back several generations and he has guided Wesleyan College as a Trustee since 1966, serving as Chair of the Board, as Chair of the Development Committee, and as an active and deeply engaged counselor and fundraiser throughout his tenure, continuing to serve diligently and well in an Emeritus role since 2005.
Jones has shared his time, talent, and treasure with Wesleyan College in countless ways, notably as Chair of the highly successful Forever First Capital Campaign, which raised more than $44 million for the College under his superb leadership, where his gift and enthusiasm for organization, fundraising, and inspiration resulted not only in significant additions to the College’s endowment, facilities, and base of friends but also in recognition for Mr. Jones as the Georgia Fundraiser of the Year in 1998.
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