MORGAN GRADS CELEBRATING APPROACH OF 129th COMMENCEMENT

- University Celebrating Another in Series of “Firsts” -

The 129th Commencement at Morgan State University is this Sunday, May 15, 2005 at 10:00 a.m. in the W.A.C. Hughes Memorial Stadium on the main campus.

This year’s commencement speaker is the Honorable James E. Clyburn of the Sixth Congressional District of South Carolina. Congressman Clyburn, a native of Sumter, South Carolina, has been a member of the U. S. House of Representatives since 1992. He is vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, the Subcommittee on Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, among others, and is a graduate of South Carolina State University.

“The sun never shines brighter on the campus of Morgan State than on the third Sunday in May every year,” says Morgan President Earl S. Richardson. “It is the day when many of our students will finally realize their dream of receiving a college degree.”

As many as eleven hundred students are expected to receive degrees at Commencement 2005, including baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral degrees. Among the graduates will be two candidates in the doctoral program in Higher Education. They represent the first graduates to receive their Ph.D. in Higher Education at Morgan.

“It is a remarkable achievement for a program that is so young,” says Dr. Howard Simmons, director of the Higher Education Doctoral Program. “It is one of the jewels in Morgan’s crown. These two students started at the University of South Carolina, finished at Morgan, and will go on to be presidents or other top administrators at colleges and universities around this country.” Morgan’s doctoral program in higher education began in the fall of 2001.

The University will also award two honorary Doctor of Public Service degrees during Commencement 2005 to Congressman James E. Clyburn, and Tyrone Taborn, President and CEO of Career Communications Group (CCG), which publishes U. S. Black Engineer and U. S. Hispanic Engineer magazines.

As is Morgan’s tradition, individual degrees will be conferred at separate school ceremonies immediately following the 10:00 a.m. main commencement exercises at various locations around campus.

Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a coeducational institution offering more than 60 academic programs leading to bachelor’s degrees as well as programs at the master’s and doctoral levels. As Maryland’s premier public urban university, Morgan serves a multi-ethic and multi-racial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as possible to as many as possible. This year, Morgan State University is celebrating its Twenty-year Renaissance and the twenty year tenure of its current president, Earl S. Richardson. For more information, visit www.morgan.edu.