Retiring professors Greene, Gombert to lead May 3 Baccalaureate service at Maryville College
April 21, 2024
Between them, they have more than five decades of service to Maryville College, which makes retiring faculty members Dr. Carl Gombert and Dr. Jenifer Greene ideally positioned to deliver the traditional sermon at the MC Baccalaureate service, scheduled for 4 p.m. Friday, May 3, in the Clayton Center for the Arts.
Gombert, a professor of art, and Greene, a professor of management, announced their intentions to step down from MC earlier this academic year. The pair plan to collaborate on a common theme that will tie their two sermons together, Gombert said. But while the title is “Unsolicited Advice,” the wisdom imparted won’t necessarily be unwelcomed, he added.
“We’ve met, and we have some ideas kicking around,” Gombert said. “It will be gentle advice, I guess would be one way of saying it. As for me, I’d like to talk about some things I wish somebody had told me a little earlier than they did. I’d like to think it will be inspirational, and that no tear will be left unjerked!”
A Baccalaureate ceremony is a tradition at many educational institutions, during which graduating seniors gather to mark the rite of passage that will take place shortly thereafter. Commencement is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, May 4, on the campus grounds, weather permitting, and will feature speaker Theresa Pierno, president and CEO of the National Parks Conservation Association.
The Baccalaureate service will be a more intimate and reflective affair in which Gombert, who began his Maryville College career in 1993, will likely provide the occasional clever insight or humorous aside, and Greene, who began teaching at Maryville College in 2002, will offer a more reverential counterbalance.
“I’m considering what I want students to take from Maryville College as they leave,” Greene said. “I’m a person of faith and would like to share that God is with you, no matter what … even when your faith is tested. There are many paths and many faiths, but when you find yours, you can embrace that blessing that you are never alone.”
For Greene, the Baccalaureate sermon — which will be livestreamed via the College’s website and Facebook page — will serve as something of a Last Lecture, a tradition by some retiring faculty members who choose to make public an afternoon of remarks and observations. Gombert delivered his Last Lecture on Wednesday, April 17, and both will depart Maryville College at the conclusion of the 2023-24 academic year.
Greene will return to South Carolina where she and her husband, Walt, have family, while Gombert will still make the occasional appearance on campus, he said.
“I’m already signed up to teach a class on world cultures at Maryville College in the fall, so I’ll still be around,” he said. “Plus, I only live 500 yards away, so I plan on coming up to watch sporting and cultural events!”
In addition to the joint sermon, the service will include scripture readings — Kelton Bloxham ’24, president of the MC Student Government Association, will read from Ecclesiastes 5:18 and 7:15-17, and Isaac Anderson Scholar Amelia Shelton ’24 will read from Pslam 121:1-2 and 23. The program will also feature the traditional Remarks from the Senior Class by Mackenzie Wright ’24, senior class president and a Psychology (counseling track) major from Franklin, Tennessee; and Kyler Long ’24, a Mathematics major representing the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, will lead the assembly in the Lord’s Prayer. The service will also feature music by the Maryville College Concert Choir, two members of which will be featured soloists: Gavin Lester ’24 on the anthem “I’ll Make the Difference” by Moses Hogan, and Connor Goins ’24 on the choral benediction, “We Are Not Alone” by Peter Choplin.
The Baccalaureate service takes place at 4 p.m. Friday, May 3, in the Ronald and Lynda Nutt Theatre of the Clayton Center for the Arts. (Lineup for students and staff members begins at 3:30 p.m. in the Lambert Recital Hall.) The service is open to the public.