Coker College’s 100th Commencement is May 3
Charles W. Coker to Deliver Keynote Address

Hartsville, S.C. — Coker College will hold its 100th commencement on Saturday, May 3 beginning at 9 a.m. in the Courtyard at Davidson Hall on campus. The centennial commencement address will be delivered by business leader Charles W. Coker, great grandson of the college’s founder, Major James Lide Coker. Joan S. Coker, a leader of educational and cultural organizations, will be awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters.

Also during Coker’s commencement, Rebecca Sparrow of Hartsville and graduating senior Demetrious McCoy of Darlington will receive the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award for excellence of character and service to humanity. Sparrow, a 1964 Coker College graduate, is a retired social worker and McCoy is a campus leader and community volunteer. The Class of 2008 will also announce the Master Professor and the Staff Person-of-the-Year awards.

Charles Coker is the retired Chairman of the Board of Sonoco, the Hartsville-based global supplier of industrial and consumer packaging and a provider of innovative packaging solutions.  Coker holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Princeton University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He began at Sonoco in 1958 and rose to the firm’s presidency in 1970. Coker assumed the duties and responsibilities of Chief Executive Officer in 1976 and was named Chairman of the Board in 1990. He retired from the board in 2005.

Coker is a past recipient of the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s highest civilian honor for outstanding service, and he is in the South Carolina Business Hall of Fame. Coker has served on the boards of Bank of America, Progress Energy, Sara Lee and Springs Industries. Among his many civic accomplishments, Coker has served as Chairman of the Board of the Hollings Cancer Center and on the board of the Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics Foundation.

A graduate of the University of North Carolina, Joan Coker is a former chairman of the ETV Endowment of South Carolina and she currently serves on its communications board. She also serves on the boards of South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities, the Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, as well as the Spoleto and Brookgreen Gardens boards. In 2000, Coker received the National Leadership Award from PBS. In 2007, she was awarded the Order of the Palmetto for service and friendship to the state of South Carolina.

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April 25 , 2008