MONROVIA-Jim Wright, the Mission Director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has challenged graduates of the Cuttington University (CU) to go and change the narrative in the larger society.
Mr. Wright cautioned the graduates to join the others who are immensely contributing to the development of Liberia.
Serving as Keynote Speaker on the 61st Commencement Convocation of Cuttington University recently, Mr. Wright told the graduates that Liberia depends on them to change the narrative in terms of development.
Wright, who has been a Foreign Service Officer for 20 years and has over 30 years of experience in managing international development and relief programs, was sworn in as Liberia’s Mission Director on July 26, 2021, and told the Cuttington University graduates that only Liberians can develop their own country.
He admonished the graduates to raise their voices and put their words into action as a way of inspiring positive changes in Liberia, encouraging them not to limit themselves in society and to keep in mind their responsibility to the development of Liberia.
“Every Liberian has a collective responsibility to ensure the country is on the right path, and graduates of Cuttington University are no exception,” Wright added.
During the ceremony, Cuttington University President, Dr. Romelle A. Horton encouraged the graduates to see the need of contributing their services to the university upon graduation.
This, according to Dr. Horton, will help support CU to grow in the future. She reminded them of the uniqueness of their university as the oldest private
University in the country and it was a prestige for them to graduate from the nation’s premier institution as the oldest private, coeducational, undergraduate, and degree-granting institution in sub-Saharan Africa.
Meanwhile, Dr. Romelle A. Horton, the first female President of Cuttington University, who shattered the glass ceiling by launching the first Doctoral Program at the University in Liberia’s history again announced that classes for the first Doctoral Program in Ministry & Theology (DMin and ThD) will begin in December of this year which will enhance learning at the nation’s premier University.
There is a felt need for academic training at the post-graduate level that is accessible, affordable, and available right here in Liberia. Cuttington University is responding to the felt need and satisfying this important demand for post-graduate training in Liberia.
As a result, Cuttington’s leadership cast a vision to meet a felt need in the area of post-graduate education in Liberia.
She said a Doctor of Ministry program and a Doctor of Theology program, along with their core concentrations and research opportunities, will develop a new breed of leaders, expand the educational offerings of Cuttington, increase her appeal as a premier institution of higher learning, improve her capacity to provide jobs in a country where most of the Labor Force is unemployed and give Liberians the opportunity to do post-graduate study here at home.
Dr. Horton made the statement recently in Gbarnga, Bong County at the 61st Commencement Convocation of the Cuttington University where three hundred and eighty-three students graduated in various disciplines from its three campuses in Liberia.