This image shows a graduate student receiving a graduate thesis award from Dr. Dick Rupp, dean of the Graduate School at Appalachian State University (1967-current) in May 1979. The Cratis D. Williams Graduate School was named after Cratis Williams, English professor and dean of the Graduate School from 1958 to 1975. Graduate courses were offered at Appalachian State in 1942 with degrees offered through the University of North Carolina, and a full graduate program was initiated in 1948. The School offers more than forty graduate study and research programs for master's and doctoral students. This image appears in the 1986 Rhododendron (p. 268).