Undergraduate Commencement:
David Crabtree
Chief Executive Officer and General Manager
PBS North Carolina
David Crabtree joined PBS North Carolina as its CEO in April 2022. Crabtree’s devotion to public service dovetails with PBS North Carolina’s goal of elevating the state’s communities to brighter tomorrows. Serving the third largest public media market in the United States, PBS North Carolina’s portfolio includes in-person engagement, four over-the-air channels and a growing portfolio of digital content.
A broadcast journalist at WRAL from 1994 to 2022, Crabtree’s distinguished career has been recognized with numerous awards and accolades. He won the prestigious Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award, garnered thirteen Emmy Awards and was selected the Radio-Television News Directors Association’s reporter of the year four times. Crabtree is a member of the North Carolina Media & Journalism Hall of Fame and the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters' Hall of Fame.
Among his most memorable assignments, he lists the election of Pope Francis, the funeral of Nelson Mandela, and the funeral of Mother Teresa. His profound belief in bringing compassion and dignity to his stories is clearly evident in his interviews with Holocaust survivors, North Carolina migrant workers, and victims of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. While working at WRAL, Crabtree has covered most major news events at home and abroad.
Crabtree’s devotion to public service includes serving on the boards of Hospice of Wake County, Duke Raleigh Hospital, Duke Children’s Hospital, the North Carolina Symphony, and The Divinity School at Duke University.
A native of Nashville, Tennessee, Crabtree holds a bachelor’s degree from Middle Tennessee State University and a master’s degree in theological studies from Duke University’s School of Divinity.
Graduate Commencement:
Dr. Ryan Anderson
Professor, Department of History
2024 Recipient of the Board of Governors' Award for Excellence in Teaching
Dr. Ryan Anderson, a professor of history at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, was selected as the recipient of the 2024 UNC Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching.
He has mentored countless UNCP students by investing time to ensure their success. His popularity among students as a demanding yet encouraging professor and his faculty colleagues’ respect for his skills as an educator are some attributes that set him apart.
Dr. Anderson joined the UNCP faculty in 2007 as assistant professor of history, eventually earning the rank of professor in 2018. He was awarded the UNCP Outstanding Teaching Award in 2010 and 2020, and the UNCP Student-Athlete Advisory Committee’s “Most Valuable Professor Award” seven times. Anderson is also a member of the Esther G. Maynor Honors College Faculty. His teaching has been featured on the C-SPAN program, Lectures in History. From 2014 to 2019, he served as the Pembroke Undergraduate Research and Creativity Center (PURC) director, which had a profound impact on his teaching as it reshaped how he mentors students in classes that include “American Civilizations II,” “The Gilded Age and Progressive Era,” “Interwar America,” “Growing Up American,” and the “History of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Students in these courses work as historians, practicing the scholarly pursuits that make them capable thinkers and leaders.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in social science education from Florida State University, a master’s in history from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and a Ph.D. in history from Purdue University.
His scholarly endeavors explore the histories of youth, masculinity and popular culture in America between 1877 and 1945. His book, Frank Merriwell and Fiction of All-American Boyhood: The Progressive Era Creation of the Schoolboy Sports Story, explores the historical roots of what Americans consider a “normal” childhood. His essays, talks, reviews and online writing consider a range of topics from advertising, gender, race, kids’ books and more. He is working on a history of Pinehurst Resort’s young black caddies.