Charleston Mayor Joe Riley to speak at USC’s December graduation

University of South Carolina officials have announced that Charleston Mayor Joe Riley will speak at the winter commencement exercises on Dec. 14.

Riley, who will retire from his 40 year post at the end of this year, will speak to a crowd of 2,100 students from the Columbia campus, as well as 768 graduates of USC Aiken, USC Beaufort, USC Salkehatchie, USC Sumter, USC Union and USC Upstate.

The ceremony is scheduled to be held at 3:30 p.m. for baccalaureate, master’s and professional-degree recipients from the eight campuses at the Colonial Life Arena. USC officials said Walter Edgar, a distinguished USC professor emeritus of history, editor, speaker and radio show host, will receive the honorary degree of doctor of humane letters.

Riley, a graduate of The Citadel and the USC School of Law, has been an advocate for preserving Charleston’s historic charm, while also pursuing progressive steps to redevelop the city’s business district. He has been recognized as an expert on urban design and livability issues.

In 2015, President Barack Obama appointed Riley to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation as the agency’s representative for the nation’s mayors for a four-year term. In 2009, received the National Medal of the Arts at the White House for cultivating Charleston’s historic and cultural resources to enhance public spaces and for revitalizing urban centers.