By Steve Gilliam , University Relations
Posted: 4-3-07
GREENSBORO, NC – Betty Ray McCain, former North Carolina Secretary of Cultural Resources, will be the commencement speaker for The University of North Carolina at Greensboro on Friday, May 11.
UNCG’s 115th graduation exercises will begin at 10 a.m. in the Greensboro Coliseum. The university will recognize students who have completed degrees at the undergraduate, master’s and doctoral levels. Three honorary degrees also will be presented. For more information, visit the Commencement Central website.
McCain, who lives in Wilson, is a former member of the UNC Board of Governors, the UNC Chapel Hill Board of Trustees, a former chairman of the N.C. Democratic Party from 1976 to 1979 and co-chairman of Jim Hunt’s campaign for governor in 1976 and 1980, and was a volunteer in Hunt’s 1992 campaign for governor. In 1993, Hunt appointed McCain as secretary of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, a post she held until 2001.
Her state and community service includes Board of Trustees of the North Carolina Symphony and the Opera Company of North Carolina, director of the N.C. Institute of Medicine, co-chair of the campaign for the UNC-CH School of Education and president of the N.C. Museum of History Associates. She holds honorary degrees from UNC Chapel Hill, Wake Forest University, UNC Wilmington and Barton College. She also received the “Sam Ragan Angel of the Literary Arts Award” from the N. C. Writers’ Network.
A native of Faison, N.C., she grew up in a house which was built by her grandfather. Her father, Horace T. Ray, was a school principal and a lawyer for 41 years and her mother, Mary Perrett Ray, was a teacher for many years in Faison. McCain attended elementary and high school in Faison and was valedictorian of her class. She attended St. Mary's College in Raleigh and then UNC-CH, where she received an A.B. Degree in music. Afterwards, she attended Columbia University in New York where she received an M.A. degree in music.
