Seventy-seven students will graduate from Voorhees University during commencement exercises set for Saturday, May 6th in the Leonard E. Dawson Health & Human Resources Center. Included among the graduates are seven students who will receive the first ever graduate degrees offered by the university. They will receive the Master of Education Degree in teaching and learning.
Birmingham, Alabama’s mayor, the Honorable Randall Woodfin, will deliver the commencement address at 11:00 a.m. A rising star in the Democratic Party, Woodfin is the youngest elected mayor of Birmingham in over 120 years. His mayoral focus has been to revitalize the city’s ninety-nine neighborhoods by fostering a climate of economic opportunity for all residents and leveraging public-private partnerships to improve the quality of life. He is currently serving his second term as the city’s CEO.
Voorhees University President Ronnie Hopkins lauds this year’s commencement exercises as both historic and groundbreaking. “We are excited that our first cohort of graduate students receiving degrees will be able to return to their communities better equipped to shape and mold the young minds in their classrooms,” he said. “It is gratifying to know that all our graduates, at both the baccalaureate and master’s levels, are entering their next level of excellence in pursuit of their personal and professional endeavors,” he added.
University officials also announced that noted pastor, evangelist, theologian, and community activist, Reverend Gregory Myles Williams will serve as keynote messenger for the Baccalaureate/Hooding Ceremony, which will be held at 6:00 p.m., Friday, May 5th, in the university’s St. Philip’s Chapel. Williams is pastor of the Power of Good News Community CME Church in Lithonia, Georgia.
The Class of 1973 will be celebrating their 50th anniversary class reunion at both events.
