OXFORD, Miss. – Renowned civil rights activist and author Myrlie Evers-Williams is set to return to the University of Mississippi May 11 to deliver the main address at the university’s 160th Commencement.
Evers-Williams, who worked for more than 30 years to seek justice for the 1963 murder of her well-known civil rights activist husband, Medgar Evers, is a former chairwoman of the NAACP and is widely credited with restoring the organization’s reputation and saving it from bankruptcy. Most recently, she delivered the invocation at the second inauguration of President Barack Obama, becoming the first woman to deliver a prayer at a presidential inauguration.
The Vicksburg native speaks to graduating students, their families and other guests at 9 a.m. in the Grove. This year’s graduating class includes nearly 2,500 spring candidates for undergraduate and graduate degrees, plus more than 900 August 2012 graduates.
“Over the years, we have had many renowned and influential figures on campus for our commencement addresses, but it is hard to name many who match Myrlie Evers-Williams as inspirational leaders,” Chancellor Dan Jones said. “Over her career, Ms. Evers Williams has demonstrated a tenacity and commitment to her ideals that serve as an example for us all. She is a powerful motivator, and her insights and experience should be valuable for everyone.”
Recipients of doctor of philosophy degrees are to be hooded by their major professors in a 7:30 p.m. ceremony May 10 in the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts. The Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College ceremony begins at 4 p.m. at the same location.
A shuttle service for handicapped and elderly visitors is available Saturday before the main ceremony. Shuttles will pick up people needing assistance at the UPD tent in front of Coulter Hall on University Avenue and take them to the seating area. (Wheelchairs, if needed, must be provided by families.) Visitors needing assistance after the ceremony should tell their shuttle driver.
In case of rain, the ceremony will be moved to Tad Smith Coliseum. If the weather is threatening, a decision on moving the ceremony indoors will be made by 8 a.m. and announced through media outlets, text messaging and the Ole Miss website.
Following the main ceremony, individual schools and the College of Liberal Arts hold ceremonies at various times and locations to present baccalaureate, master’s, doctor of pharmacy and juris doctor degrees and awards. The schedule is as follows:
– College of Liberal Arts master’s degrees – 11 a.m., Fulton Chapel
– Patterson School of Accountancy – 11 a.m., Ford Center
– School of Applied Sciences – 11 a.m., Indoor Practice Facility
– School of Business Administration – 11 a.m., Tad Smith Coliseum
– School of Engineering – 11 a.m., Lyceum Circle
– School of Education and Bachelor of General Studies – 11 a.m., Grove
– School of Law – 11 a.m., Grove
– School of Pharmacy – 2:30 p.m., Indoor Practice Facility
– Meek School of Journalism and New Media – 2:30 p.m., Ford Center
– College of Liberal Arts – 2:30 p.m., Tad Smith Coliseum
In case of rain, the College of Liberal Arts master’s degree ceremony will be moved to 11 a.m. in Nutt Auditorium. The School of Education ceremony will be moved to 5 p.m. in Tad Smith Coliseum; Engineering, 11 a.m. in Fulton Chapel; and Law, 5 p.m. in the Indoor Practice Facility.
Besides Evers-Williams’ address, the main ceremony also includes remarks by the senior class president, recognition for the university’s outstanding teacher and announcements of the the Frist Student Service Awards and the Distinguished Research and Creative Achievement Award.
Evers-Williams has been a frequent visitor to campus in recent years. In March 2012, she delivered the keynote address for the university’s “50 Years of Integration” observance, and she participated in a panel discussion of her late husband’s life and work April 5 at the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics.
After her husband’s death in 1963 in Jackson, Evers-Williams moved her family to California, earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Pomona College and ran for Congress. She worked as director of community affairs for the Atlantic Richfield Co., in Los Angeles and was appointed by Mayor Tom Bradley as a commissioner on the Board of Public Works. She also continued her work with the NAACP, rising through the ranks to become a member of the organization’s board before her election as chairwoman in 1995.
After her term as chairwoman, she founded the Medgar Evers Institute in Jackson and wrote her autobiography, “Watch Me Fly: What I Learned on the Way to Becoming the Woman I Was Meant to Be,” in 1999, and co-edited “The Autobiography of Medgar Evers: A Hero’s Life and Legacy Revealed Through His Writings, Letters, and Speeches,” in 2005. She continues to lecture, write and work for equal rights for all people across the nation.
For more information on commencement activities, go to http://www.olemiss.edu/commencement/. For assistance related to a disability, call 662-915-7234.