posted 12-21-2012 06:30 AM               

Clemson University awarded 1,200 degrees Thursday, including the nation's first Ph.D. in automotive engineering earned by a woman and an honorary degree to a former astronaut.

...Retired Gen. Charles Duke Jr., a former NASA astronaut who was the 10th man to walk on the moon, received an honorary Doctor of Science degree.

Speaking to the graduates, he quoted from the Dr. Seuss story "On Beyond Zebra!" in which Conrad Cornelius O'Donnell O'Dell is teaching a young friend the alphabet. When he reaches the letter Z, he draws a new letter "he had never dreamed of before," according to the story.

"Most of my life I've lived beyond Z," said Duke, who went to the Naval Academy, then the Air Force before entering the Apollo program.

"No matter what career you've chosen, you need to look beyond Z; to seek new knowledge, stay current with technologies, set long-term goals to persevere," Duke said.

"It is up to each of us to build a better world," he said. "You'll be amazed at what you're going to do."