Mary Baldwin College holds commencement

STAUNTON — Sunday’s graduation at Mary Baldwin College had particular meaning for Alan Carter, because it came more than 30 years late.

The 55-year-old Staunton businessman earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy and religion with honors 38 years after starting his college career at Nyack College in New York state.

“To me, this was unfinished business,” said Carter, who runs University Instructors, a company providing tutors to k-12 students in Title I schools. “I didn’t need this for a job or work. But I love learning; I’m a lifelong learner.”

Carter said he thought it was also about time he finished college, since all four of his children have graduated. He wanted to finish before his daughter, McCall Carter, a 2007 graduate of Mary Baldwin’s Program for the Exceptionally Gifted, finished her law degree at Washington University in St. Louis.

Carter said he believes adult learners are more focused and have a history and background to fall back on. His own life experience, he said, proved valuable in the classroom the past couple of years at Mary Baldwin.

“I was able to write papers from experience, not theory,” he said. “I feel like I have my Ph.D. in business.”

McCall said her college experience was different. She was in the accelerated PEG program at Mary Baldwin, finishing college two years ago at age 18. And unlike her father, she lived on campus.

“We took two classes together and it was interesting to see our different perspective,” McCall said. Of her dad, she said, “We are all proud.”

Alan Carter’s quest for lifelong knowledge may not yet be at an end. He said it’s possible he will seek a master’s degree in education.

Mary Baldwin graduated 332 students — the most since 2005 — during the college’s 167th commencement on Sunday.

Commencement speaker Karen Sherman, executive director for global programs for Women International, works with women survivors of war-torn countries around the world.

She told the Mary Baldwin graduates that even in the worst of situations, she has seen women overcome their circumstances.

“I’ve worked with women who have truly lost everything — husbands, children, livelihoods and had their dignity stripped away by atrocities on a scale most cannot even imagine,” Sherman said. “Still, they smile, they dance and their stories of resiliency, courage and strength inspire me every day.”

Sherman told the graduates they should appreciate the opportunity to take risks and succeed.

“Embrace your choice, and celebrate your ability to have and make choices,” she said. “Remember, making life choices is a luxury that is not shared by too many women around the world.”