Former Congressman Wayne T. Gilchrest Delivers Keynote at Graduate Commencement

August 02, 2009 |

Former Congressman Wayne T. Gilchrest, who served nine terms for Maryland’s First Congressional District, will be the keynote speaker at Goucher College’s graduate programs Commencement.

The ceremony will be held Sunday, August 2, at 3 p.m. in Kraushaar Auditorium and will honor the achievements of 137 expected graduates enrolled in programs through Goucher’s Robert S. Welch Center for Graduate and Professional Studies.

The college will award the following degrees: (The number of expected candidates follows each degree.)

• Master of Arts in Arts Administration (8)
• Master of Arts in Historic Preservation (11)
• Master of Arts in Teaching (32)
• Master of Education (63)
• Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction (23)

Gilchrest began his political career in 1988 when he ran against an incumbent for Maryland’s First Congressional District seat. A government and history teacher at Kent County High School in Chestertown, Gilchrest was hoping the election would serve as a lesson to his students. He lost that election by a slim margin. Two years later, he ran again and won. For the next 18 years he served Maryland’s First Congressional District, earning a reputation as a political maverick.

A Republican, Gilchrest refused to let himself be influenced by party politics. He championed environmental issues, fighting for the health of the Chesapeake Bay. He co-sponsored the National Aquatic Invasive Species Act of 2002 and pushed for a government response to climate change while he served as the co-chairman of the Congressional Climate Change Caucus.

He co-sponsored the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which would have repealed the “don’t ask, don’t tell policy,” and opposed the No Child Left Behind Act because he feared it would weaken local schools’ autonomy.

As the Iraq War grew more violent, Gilchrest was a among a small group of Republicans who stood up to the Bush administration by supporting the Iraq Study Group Report and calling for a timetable for troop withdrawal.

Since leaving office in January 2009, Gilchrest has begun working with civic and school groups teaching them about the ecology and early history of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. He is also planning to start a “living library” in Kennedyville, MD, where he lives with his wife.

Gilchrest holds an associate’s degree from Wesley College in Dover, DE, and a bachelor of arts degree from Delaware State College.

Gilchrest will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters at Goucher’s graduate programs Commencement.

Goucher’s Master of Arts in Arts Administration, Master of Arts in Historic Preservation, and Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction are limited-residency programs. Designed for working adults, classes are offered primarily online with a required two-week, on-campus residency. Because of the flexibility the programs provide, students enroll from all parts of the country and often from other countries.

The Master of Education program offers specializations in athletic programs and leadership, education for at-risk students, middle school education, reading instruction, school mediation, school improvement leadership, and urban and diverse learners.

The Master of Arts in Teaching is a certification program designed to prepare graduates with no teaching background for careers in elementary, middle, or special education.

Goucher also recently launched a new limited-residency Master of Arts in Cultural Sustainability program. The program—the only one of its kind in the country—brings together tools from anthropology, history, communications, business and management, linguistics, and activism, and teaches students how to sustain cultural traditions in an era of increasing homogeneity and globalization.