Joseph Ferrell to participate in final UNC commencement before retiring as secretary of the faculty Posted May 6, 2016 When Joseph Ferrell stepped to the Kenan Stadium podium for his first commencement as secretary of the faculty in 1996, he realized something was a bit amiss. “I started reading and the students started reading along with me. “As soon as I realized what they were doing I started reading the sentences in a different sequence. They didn’t know what sentence I was going to read next.” (UNC.edu)