List of Alcorn Commencement celebrities grows, Omarosa Manigault to attend

Omarosa Manigault (NBC photo)

LORMAN – The Reverend Omarosa Manigault, former star of the “Apprentice” and fiancée of the late Oscar-nominated star of “The Green Mile”, Michael Clarke Duncan will attend Alcorn’s 2013 Commencement Convocation.

Omarosa Manigault (NBC photo)

Alcorn announced in March that Marc H. Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League – the nation’s largest civil rights organization, will deliver the 142nd Commencement Convocation remarks on Saturday, May 11 at 8:30 a.m. in the Davey L. Whitney HPER Complex. The Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees will be presented to Morial during the ceremony.

During the Commencement Convocation President M. Christopher Brown II will bestow five President’s Honorarii Alcornite Societatis Awards. The awards are given in recognition of an individual’s “distinguished service within their profession, discipline or other human endeavor.” Selection requires sufficient evidence of both “the knowledge and character emblematic of Alcornites, as well as a demonstrated interest and commitment to the University,” explained President Brown.

Recipients include renowned attorney and leader Milton C. Davis; public servant Jimmy Hammock; a gifted educator and 24th National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Cynthia M.A. Butler-McIntyre; community servant Frenchye Harper Latham; and lifelong Lorman resident Jesse Morris, Jr.

The 2013 Baccalaureate Ceremony is scheduled for Friday, May 10 at 3:00 p.m. in the Oakland Memorial Chapel featuring the Bishop Millicent Hunter, founder and senior pastor of The Baptist Worship Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Recording artist Chrystal Rucker will perform during Commencement week activities. Over the years, she has become known for her spine-tingling renditions of Judy Garland’s “Over the Rainbow”. Choreographer, educator, and performing artist, Michelle Gibson will also entertain graduates and guests during commencement week.

On Wednesday, May 8, Mr. Darryl R. Matthews Sr., executive director of the National Medical Association, served as the guest speaker at the School of Business Pinning Ceremony at 11 a.m.; Dr. Boyce Courtney Williams, senior vice president for NAFEO, was the keynote of the School of Education & Psychology Teacher Induction Ceremony at 2 p.m.; and at 5 p.m. Dr. Adena Williams Loston, 14th president of St. Philip’s College, addressed Graduate Studies graduates.

Ceremonies begin at 9 a.m. Thursday, May 9, featuring Mr. Karis T. Gutter, deputy under secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, as the speaker for the School of Agriculture and Applied Sciences Congratulatory; Dr. Debra A. Toney, immediate past president of the National Black Nurses Association, will speak to graduates of the School of Nursing at 1 p.m.; Dr. Orlando L. Taylor, president of the Washington, DC Campus of The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, is slated to address graduates of the School of Arts and Sciences at 3 p.m.; and Dr. Jim Rosenblatt, dean of Mississippi College School of Law, will be the guest speaker at the International and Multicultural Student Congratulatory at 6 p.m.

The Army ROTC Commissioning Ceremony will be held on Friday, May 10 at 9 a.m. and Colonel (Ret.) Paul L. Willis will be the guest speaker.

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