By Steve Gilliam, University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-5371
Posted 4-21-09
Nido Qubein being hooded for his degree
Rebecca Lloyd's degree was awarded in absentia and accepted by Dr. Patricia W. Stewart
GREENSBORO, NC – UNCG will present two honorary degrees during commencement on Friday, May 15, to the president of an area university and to an alumna who helped found the honors college.
The 117th graduation exercises will begin at 10 a.m. in the Greensboro Coliseum with Gov. Beverly Perdue as the commencement speaker. UNCG will recognize students who have completed degrees at the undergraduate, master’s and doctoral levels.
Get more details at the Commencement Central website, including times and locations for school and departmental diploma ceremonies.
The recipients, who will each be awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters degree, are:
• Nido R. Qubein, president of High Point University, since 2005, was born in the Middle East in 1948 and came to America in 1966 with little knowledge of English and only $50 in his pocket. His life since has been a success story. His Qubein Foundation provides 48 scholarships annually, and to date has granted more than 600 scholarships worth over $4 million. He has authored two dozen books and audio programs which are distributed worldwide. In business, he is chairman of Great Harvest Bread Company, and serves on the boards of several national organizations, including BB&T and La-Z-Boy Corp.
As a professional speaker, Qubein was named top business and commerce speaker by Toastmasters International, which also awarded him the Golden Gavel Medal. He is a member of the International Hall of Fame and is the founder of the National Speakers Foundation. His honors include the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the Horatio Alger Award for Distinguished Americans, the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, an honorary Doctor of Laws degree, the Ambassador of Free Enterprise from Sales and Marketing International, Citizen of the Year and Philanthropist of the Year in High Point. Qubein receive the M.S.B.E. degree from UNCG’s Bryan School of Business & Economics in 1973.
• Rebecca A. Lloyd, a Greensboro native, now lives in San Diego. A 1950 graduate of Woman’s College (now UNCG), Lloyd spent 22 years in the U.S. Navy. Her service included four years working at the Naval Reactors Branch, the project that was headed by Adm. Hyman Rickover and ultimately produced the nuclear navy. Her love of travel grew out of a two-year tour in Yokohama, Japan, where she traveled on weekends and also visited Thailand, the Philippines, Okinawa and Guam. Her final location from 1964-73, was at the Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado, Calif., where she was comptroller first at the base and later on the staff of the Commander of the Pacific Fleet’s Amphibious Force. She retired at the rank of commander.
From 1972 to 1999, she was president of her own real estate firm, Rebecca Lloyd Inc. She served four years as elected president of the National Council of Exchangors, an association of real estate professionals specializing in working with investor clients. She was a member of the San Diego Problem Solvers, an association of real estate professionals, serving as a director in 1991. Her $4 million gift to UNCG in 2006 is providing an endowment to fund the Lloyd International Honors College, which was named in honor of her parents, Aubrey P. and Georgia Garrison Lloyd.
