Two Wofford graduates helped the college begin the 2025-26 academic year at Opening Convocation on Aug. 28 in Leonard Auditorium.
Attorney Donovan Hicks ’16 was Wofford College’s Opening Convocation speaker, and the college conferred an honorary degree on Joyce Payne Yette ’80, retired attorney and the first female alumna to serve on the Wofford College Board of Trustees.
Classes began Wednesday, Aug. 27. Opening Convocation as the official start of the academic year is a tradition that goes back to at least the 1960s at Wofford. To watch the livestream or a recording of Opening Convocation, visit https://wofford.edu/opening-convocation.
During his address, Hicks emphasized the importance of serving others. Among his experiences with the generosity of others included an offer from President Nayef Samhat to purchase Hicks a suit as an incentive to stay focused after winning the Truman Scholarship.
“Come senior year, I had forgotten. Samhat had not,” Hicks says. “Weeks from graduation, he said to me, ‘Donovan, be sure to get on my calendar to get that suit.’”
Samhat ended up buying Hicks two suits! Hicks also shared the story of his great-grandmother’s 20 years of service to the Spartanburg County public schools and service opportunities he was afforded through the Bonner Scholars program.
“Reaching beyond the comfort of your circle can be daunting,” Hicks says. “Yet the best, and only, advice I can give to you as you begin what will be a remarkable four-year journey is that if you only serve those with whom you have the most in common, you will have wasted your time.”
Hicks received his Juris Doctor degree from Stanford Law. After graduating, he landed clerkships for prominent federal judges — one on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where he currently clerks; and another for Judge J. Michelle Childs, who was last year’s Constitution Day speaker at Wofford and serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Hicks was also an associate with Jenner & Block, an internationally recognized law firm, where he drafted briefs that were filed at every level of federal court. He was the first Wofford graduate to be named as a George J. Mitchell Scholar, which selects 12 American leaders each year to receive a fully funded scholarship to study in Ireland. He earned his Master of Philosophy in sociology at Trinity College Dublin.
A native of Spartanburg, Hicks graduated from Wofford with a dual B.A./B.S. in government and finance. He was elected student body vice president, chosen by his peers as Campus Union’s most outstanding member and inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He also received the William James McLeod Award.
Yette retired as chief legal officer for Promontory Financial Group, an IBM company, after 15 years of service with the global consulting firm, which specializes in helping companies manage complex risks and meet regulatory compliance requirements.
Yette began her career at Covington & Burling in Washington, where she specialized in commercial real estate. She later was associate general counsel for the Washington Area Transit Authority.
Yette graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from Wofford with degrees in economics and government. She was among the first group of women residential students when she enrolled in 1976. A first-generation college graduate, Yette has mentored other first-generation college students, including those at Wofford, to help ensure their successful transition from school to work to community service. She chaired the enrollment committee during her service on the Wofford College Board of Trustees.