Former Charleston Mayor Riley to Address MUSC Graduates

Contact: Heather Woolwine
843-792-3621
woolwinh@musc.edu

May 12, 2016

CHARLESTON, SC – Approximately 625 graduates will receive degrees from the Medical University of South Carolina’s six colleges during commencement exercises scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday, May 20, at the Horseshoe on the MUSC campus.

Former 10-term Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. will deliver the commencement address to the graduates.

Riley retired from public office Jan. 11 after serving 40 years as mayor, the city’s longest-serving top executive and one of the longest such tenures in the nation. He is largely credited with revitalizing the city’s urban district through such major projects as Charleston Place, the South Carolina Aquarium and Waterfront Park. He also received much praise for his leadership following the city’s devastation from Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and the racially motivated slayings of nine black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church on June 17, 2015.

He remains actively involved in plans for an African-American museum on Charleston Harbor, the port of entry for an estimated 40 percent of captive Africans during the slave trade.

Honors he has received during his tenure as mayor include:

President of the National Association of Democratic Mayors.
Municipal Leader of the Year by American City & County.
Thomas Jefferson Award from the American Institute of Architects for Public Architecture.
One of the 25 most dynamic mayors in America, Newsweek magazine.
Recipient of The National Medal of Arts.

In the event of inclement weather, commencement exercises will move to McAlister Field House on the campus of The Citadel, beginning at 11 a.m.

MUSC also will confer honorary Doctor of Humane Letter degrees on:

Pamela Lackey, president of AT&T South Carolina.
Susan Pearlstine, former owner and director of Pearlstine Distributors Inc. and member of the MUSC Foundation board of directors who established the Susan Pearlstine Sarcoidosis Center of Excellence at MUSC.
State Rep. W. Brian White, a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives since 2001 and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
State Rep. Kenneth A. “Kenny” Bingham, a member of the House of Representatives since 2001 and chairman of the House Ethics Committee.

This academic year – August 2015 through May 2016 – MUSC has graduated approximately 982 health care professionals, more graduates than in any previous academic year.

Breakdown of graduates by college and demographics (totals include August and December graduates in addition to May).

About MUSC

Founded in 1824 in Charleston, MUSC is the state's only comprehensive academic health system, with a unique mission to preserve and optimize human life in South Carolina through education, research and patient care. Each year, MUSC educates more than 3,200 students in six colleges – Dental Medicine, Graduate Studies, Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy – and trains more than 900 residents and fellows in its health system. MUSC brought in more than $300 million in research funds in fiscal year 2023, leading the state overall in research funding. MUSC also leads the state in federal and National Institutes of Health funding. Learn more about our academic programs.

As the health care system of the Medical University of South Carolina, MUSC Health is dedicated to delivering the highest-quality and safest patient care while educating and training generations of outstanding health care providers and leaders to serve the people of South Carolina and beyond. Patient care is provided at 16 hospitals (includes owned or governing interest), with approximately 2,700 beds and four additional hospital locations in development, more than 350 telehealth sites and nearly 750 care locations situated in all regions of South Carolina. In 2023, for the ninth consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report named MUSC Health University Medical Center in Charleston the Number 1 hospital in South Carolina. Learn more about our patient services.

MUSC has a total enterprise annual operating budget of $5.9 billion. The nearly 26,000 MUSC family members include world-class faculty, physicians, specialty providers, scientists, students, affiliates and care team members who deliver groundbreaking education, research, and patient care.