Spring 2021 Commencement Exercises
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ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIXTH ANNUAL SPRING 2021 COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES MAY 30, 2021 9:00 A.M. CRAMTON BOWL 1022 MADISON AVENUE MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA 36107 SPEAKER: BAKARI SELLERS, j.D. CNN POLITICAL ANALYST AND FORMER REPRESENTATIVE FROM SOUTH CAROLINA Tuskegee University History Marked by more than a century of tradition since its founding Memorial Hospital, treated and served African-American patients through the efforts of former slave Lewis Adams and former slave (especially for polio) from the southeastern states, as well as owner George W. Campbell, Tuskegee University today is known Alabama patients with other orthopedic conditions. Further for being among the nation’s premier historically black colleges and acclaim resulted from the university’s Civilian Pilot Training universities (HBCUs) — and for its openness to all. Its mission Program (which began in 1939) that eventually led to the remains service to people, not merely education for its own sake. formation of the 99th Fighter Squadron of Tuskegee Airmen in Stressing the need to educate the whole person, that is, the hand June 1941. and the heart as well as the mind, founding principal Booker T. Washington’s new school was soon acclaimed — first by Alabama The organization of the College of Arts and Sciences, the and then by the nation — for the soundness and vigor of its elimination of several vocational programs, and the development educational programs and principles. of engineering programs marked the tenure of fourth president, Dr. Luther H. Foster. His tenure also included the turbulent years Founded as the Tuskegee Normal School for Colored Teachers of the Civil Rights Movement, during which time the university through the passage of Alabama House Bill 165 on July 4, 1881, maintained an attitude of open dialogue by allowing a variety of Tuskegee University traces its modest beginnings to a one- controversial speakers — such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm room shanty located near Butler’s Chapel AME Zion Church. X, Stokely Carmichael, Julian Bond and Alex Haley — to visit Under Washington’s leadership, however, the Tuskegee Normal campus. In 1960, Arts and Sciences Dean Charles Gomillion and Industrial Institute (as of 1893) soon rose to national filed a lawsuit leading to the groundbreaking Supreme Court prominence. A highly skilled organizer and fundraiser who case Gomillion vs. Lightfoot concerning Tuskegee’s black citizens counseled U.S. presidents, Washington was a strong advocate who had been illegally gerrymandered out of their right to vote. of black farmers and businesses. Student enrollment was not Tragically, on Jan. 3, 1966, Tuskegee freshman Samuel Younge limited to rural Macon County and the South, but was global in Jr. became the first black college student killed as a result of composition. Every student’s educational experience combined his involvement in the civil rights movement. The university’s vocational classes with coursework toward general diplomas, significance in our nation’s history has twice been celebrated by the which included mathematics, English and history. To that end, U.S. Department of the Interior’s National Parks Service: first, in Washington recruited the best and brightest available within the 1966, when it became the first HBCU designated as a Registered black community, including famed researcher George Washington National Historic Landmark; and again in 1974, when it became Carver and architect Robert R. Taylor. the nation’s only HBCU designated as a National Historic Site. Tuskegee’s prominence as a black school of higher learning Through fifth president Dr. Benjamin F. Payton’s participation continued after Washington’s passing in 1915. President Robert on the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Legacy Committee, the R. Moton actively solicited for modern buildings and equipment university established the National Center for Bioethics in to teach the trades, more comfortable faculty and student housing, Research and Health Care as part of the government’s apology and enlarged and improved recreational, health and academic for its participation in the “U.S. Public Health Service Study on facilities. By 1927, his efforts had helped to elevate Tuskegee’s Syphilis” conducted at Tuskegee from 1932 to 1972. Payton’s high school-level academics to full four-year college status with commitment to education was further exemplified when, in 1985, bachelor degrees in agriculture, home economics, mechanical Tuskegee attained university status and began offering its first industries and education. In addition, it donated land in 1923 for doctoral programs in integrative biosciences, materials science the Tuskegee Veteran’s Administration Hospital — the first and and engineering. only one staffed by black professionals. He continued institutional relationships with financiers such as Julius Rosenwald, which in The decade following Payton’s presidency — under the leadership turn created programs for underprivileged portions of society and of presidents Gilbert L. Rochon and Brian L. Johnson — marked the education of blacks. a greater emphasis on Tuskegee’s research capacity and physical campus through the construction of new education, science and Tuskegee would establish itself as a leader in veterinary medicine residential halls, as well as improvements to existing facilities. Each education in 1944 when President Frederick D. Patterson founded also contributed significantly to broader integration of arts and the Tuskegee Institute (as of 1937) School of Veterinary Medicine. In cultural programs in the growing STEAM (science, technology, the same year, he helped co-found the United Negro College Fund, engineering, arts and mathematics) movement throughout the U.S. which continues today to advocate on behalf of and provide financial support for a consortium of HBCUs — Tuskegee among them. On July 1, 2018, Tuskegee University marked a new leadership milestone as Dr. Lily D. McNair began her tenure as its eighth During the 1940s, although the rest of the world was embroiled – and first female – president in 137 years. Currently, Tuskegee in war, Tuskegee continued to better opportunities for blacks University is under the leadership of Interim President Char- nationwide. The Infantile Paralysis Center, which opened on lotte P. Morris, who began another term of service during the Jan. 15, 1941, as part of Tuskegee University’s John A. Andrew 2020 fall semester. 3 Tuskegee University Spring 2021 Commencement Exercises CommencementSunday, May Thirtieth Programme Two Thousand and Twenty One Nine o’clock in the Morning Presiding Charlotte P. Morris, Ph.D. Interim President THE PROCESSIONAL…….......Theme from “Pomp and Circumstance” (March No. 1) .........................Edward Elgar THE WELCOME ............................................................................................................ Charlotte P. Morris, Ph.D. Interim President THE INVOCATION ............................................................................................... Gregory S. Gray, Ph.D., M.Div. Dean of the Chapel THE GREETINGS ......................................................................................................................Norma B. Clayton Chair, Tuskegee University Board of Trustees Lawrence Haygood Mayor, City of Tuskegee, Alabama Micah Grey President, Student Government Association, 2019-2020 and Cedric Davis President, Student Government Association, 2020-2021 Joseph Bannerman Senior Class President, 2020-2021 MUSICAL SELECTION ...............................“He’ll Bring It To Pass” ............................................arr. Joseph Joubert Fernandez Hunter, ’21, tenor THE INTRODUCTION OF THE SPEAKER................................................................ Charlotte P. Morris, Ph.D. Interim President THE COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS ...................................................................................... Bakari Sellers, J.D. CNN Political Analyst and Former Representative from South Carolina MUSICAL SELECTION ..............................“The Impossible Dream” ................................................... Mitch Leigh Fernandez Hunter, ’21, tenor 4 THE AWARDING OF THE HONORARY DEGREE.................................................... Charlotte P. Morris, Ph.D. Interim President Heshmat Aglan, Ph.D. Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs DOCTOR OF HUMANE LETTERS David K. Wilson, Ed.D., ‘77, ‘79 President of Morgan State University THE CONFERRAL OF ACADEMIC DEGREES .......................................................... Charlotte P. Morris, Ph.D. Interim President Heshmat Aglan, Ph.D. Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Doctor of Philosophy Master of Science Bachelor of Architecture Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of Science THE RECOGNITION OF COMMISSIONED OFFICERS ......................................... Charlotte P. Morris, Ph.D. Interim President United States Army United States Air Force United States Navy ADMINISTERING OF GRADUATES’ ALUMNI OATH ..................................................................Lillie Lanier President, Tuskegee National Alumni Association, Inc. THE ALMA MATER ........................................“The Tuskegee Song” .............. Paul Laurence Dunbar/N. Clark Smith THE BENEDICTION ............................................................................................. Gregory S. Gray, Ph.D., M.Div. Dean of the Chapel THE ACADEMIC RECESSIONAL Platform Party Council of Deans President’s Cabinet and Administrative Staff Council