UC-Beckley has their first ever commencement - WVVA TV Bluefield Beckley WV News, Weather and Sports

BECKLEY – Over 150 University of Charleston students participated in history as they walked in the first-ever UC-Beckley Commencement on Saturday.

Students from 14 states as far away as California converged on the Raleigh County Convention Center to receive their degrees. In all, 322 students applied for May graduation from UC regional locations (UC-Beckley, UC-Martinsburg and UC-Net).

"This Saturday is very special for everyone at the University of Charleston," said UC President Ed Welch. "Faculty, staff and students at each of our UC locations have worked extraordinarily hard this semester to make it a success and we commend them for their diligence."

Dr. Welch served as Saturday's commencement speaker. He holds degrees from McDaniel College (formerly Western Maryland College) Boston University School of Theology, and Boston University Graduate School. Dr. Welch studied International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Higher Education Administration at the Harvard Institute for Educational Management. Before arriving at UC in 1989, he worked in the Executive Office of the President in the White House (1961-71), as a professor at West Virginia Wesleyan College and as Provost at Wartburg College in Iowa.

The 2012-13 academic year marks UC's 125th anniversary as an academic institution. UC was founded in 1888 as Barboursville Seminary, renamed Morris Harvey College in 1901, moved to Charleston in 1935 and was renamed the University of Charleston in 1978.