MIAMI, May 9, 2025 (Newswire.com)
– Barry University will celebrate its 2025 Commencement with two days of ceremonies honoring distinguished leaders and graduates across a range of disciplines. Events begin on Friday, May 9, on Barry’s Miami Shores campus and continue on Saturday, May 10, at the Broward County Convention Center.
On Friday, May 9, the Doctoral Commencement Ceremony will take place on Barry’s campus, where the university will bestow an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters upon Honorable Billy Joel in recognition of his lifelong dedication to community service. A respected philanthropist and civic leader, Billy Joel has spent decades uplifting underserved communities across Florida, New York, and Israel.
“This honor belongs equally to the children who have risen above their challenges,” Joel said. “I hope it will encourage even greater efforts from others to create positive change.”
On Saturday, May 10, Barry’s undergraduate and graduate ceremonies will be held at the Broward County Convention Center, where the university will present an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters to Benjamín León Jr., a healthcare innovator and longtime community champion. As Founder and Chairman of the Board of Leon Medical Centers and Leon Health HMO, León has dedicated over five decades to improving access to care for seniors and underserved populations in South Florida.
“It is a privilege to receive this recognition from Barry University,” León said. “Education and healthcare are cornerstones of a thriving society, and it has been my life’s mission to contribute to both through service to our community.”
The May 10 morning ceremony for the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Business and Public Administration will feature keynote remarks from Dr. Marjorie Lozama (DNP ’24) and Jeff Lozama (MBA ’24), distinguished alumni and Haitian-American leaders in mental health, humanitarian outreach, and business development. Speaking at the undergraduate and graduate ceremony for the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Business and Public Administration, the Lozamas embody Barry University’s mission of service, scholarship, and social justice through their professional achievements and community leadership.
“As we celebrate the Class of 2025, we also honor the values that define the Barry community-resilience, service, and the power of education to transform lives,” said Dr. Mike Allen, President of Barry University. “Our graduates inspire us, and we are proud to share in their achievements and the legacies they continue to build.”
Contact Information
Katherine Doblee Office of Communications kdoble@barry.edu 305-318-0837
(FOX40.COM) — California State University Sacramento announced the return of its Winter Commencement ceremonies to recognize students who complete their degrees during the fall semester. • Video Above: Sacramento State sees record number of graduates
“We want to take the time to honor and celebrate them, and make sure they know we are proud of them,” said Sacramento State President Luke Wood.
During Wood’s “100 Days of Listening,” he said students expressed the need for winter ceremonies to make a comeback. The last Winter Commencement was in December 2017. He also acknowledged the challenges some students face when having to travel to the region months after completing all their courses.
The Winter Commencement is scheduled to return on Dec. 14 and 15 at the new event center inside The WELL on the university’s campus. Students expected to graduate in the summer or spring of 2025 will have spring ceremonies at Golden 1 Center in May.
SHE WAS ARRAIGNED THIS MORNING AND IS DUE BACK IN COURT ON DECEMBER 9TH. ONE NORTHWEST ARKANSAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE GRADUATE WILL BE CONTINUING HER HIGHER EDUCATION NEXT YEAR – – BEFORE SHE’S EVEN ABLE TO VOTE. 40-29’S VALERIE ZHANG IS LIVE AT THE WALMART AMP TONIGHT WHERE SHE CAUGHT UP WITH MANY EXCITED GRADUATES. VALERIE? YES, MANY AND…. THE YOUNGEST OF THE CLASS. WALKING ACROSS THE STAGE AT 14 YEARS OLD… SHE’LL BE CONTINUING HER STUDIES INTO NEUROSCIENCE. áYou started NWACC when you were… 11á <> “I moved here. In August of 2020 and shortly after 2020 and shortly after I began taking classes here and work before I started high school.” RAYANA HOLIKOVA SAYS SHE STARTED OUT WITH CLASSES LIKE COLLEGE ALGEBRA AND COMP. <> “I have a younger brother. He’s a genetic disorder, and he was born when I was seven years old, so I wasn’t quite old enough to just grasp the realities of the condition he had. But as I got older and as my education progressed, I kind of realized, like, how much gravity his condition had. And that just kind of like inspired me to pursue a path that was consistent with what I was interested in as a child.” “honestly graduating with an associate’s in with in as a child.” “honestly I just woke up one morning and I was in the car on my way to take the placer test. I didn’t really understand what was happening at the moment other than like online classes. And then I guess like last year, I began to realize that this is like an associate’s degree and be graduating with an associate’s in with my high school degree” HOLIKOVA IS ALSO A STUDENT AT BENTONVILLE HIGH. <> “the individualized self- paced nature of this college is so incredibly important and it taught me a lot about how to regulate like my own study habits.” SHE’LL BE GOING TO GEORGIA TECH THIS FALL TO GET HER BACHELORS DEGREE IN NEUROSCIENCE. <> “when I graduate college, I think it would be nice to know that there are a there’s a whole community of people that are just like watching you grow and that want you to succeed.” THIS WAS THE SECOND YEAR FOR THE NURSING PINNING, BUT THE FIRST TIME THE COMMENCEMENT WAS AT THE AM
14-year-old graduates from community college
14-year-old becomes youngest NWACC graduate this spring
Updated: 5:59 AM EDT May 19, 2024
The 14-year-old graduate from Northwest Arkansas Community College started taking classes at 11. Rayana Holikova moved to Northwest Arkansas in August 2020. Shortly after, she started taking classes at the community college. “I have a younger brother. He has a genetic disorder. He was born when I was 7 years old, so I wasn’t quite old enough to just grasp the realities of the condition he had, but as I got older and as my education progressed, I kind of realized how much gravity his condition had. And that just kind of like inspired me to pursue a path that was consistent with what I was interested in as a child,” Holikova said. Holikova will also be graduating from Bentonville High School. She’ll continue her studies into neuroscience at Georgia Tech University in the fall. “When I graduate college, I think it would be nice to know that there’s a whole community of people that are just like watching you grow and that want you to succeed,” Holikova said.It was the first time the nurse pinning was at the Walmart Amp and the second time for the commencement ceremony.
ROGERS, Ark. —
The 14-year-old graduate from Northwest Arkansas Community College started taking classes at 11.
Rayana Holikova moved to Northwest Arkansas in August 2020. Shortly after, she started taking classes at the community college.
“I have a younger brother. He has a genetic disorder. He was born when I was 7 years old, so I wasn’t quite old enough to just grasp the realities of the condition he had, but as I got older and as my education progressed, I kind of realized how much gravity his condition had. And that just kind of like inspired me to pursue a path that was consistent with what I was interested in as a child,” Holikova said.
Holikova will also be graduating from Bentonville High School. She’ll continue her studies into neuroscience at Georgia Tech University in the fall.
“When I graduate college, I think it would be nice to know that there’s a whole community of people that are just like watching you grow and that want you to succeed,” Holikova said.
It was the first time the nurse pinning was at the Walmart Amp and the second time for the commencement ceremony.
No valedictorian speech. No celebrity speakers. No main-stage ceremony, and no massive graduate walk to “Pomp and Circumstance” before tens of thousands of guests.
Instead, USC’s graduating seniors — whose traditional main graduation ceremony was canceled — were thrown an alternative party Thursday night: a “Trojan Family Graduate Celebration” at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on the eve of smaller campus commencement ceremonies where diplomas were set to be awarded at individual school events.
The USC cheerleaders perform at the Coliseum on Thursday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The Thursday night event was billed as an “electric atmosphere” — capped at six tickets per grad — featuring a drone show, fireworks and a “special gift” for the Class of 2024: a hat from rap star Travis Scott’s collegiate clothing brand.
The university had pitched the event as a “Southern California-style” celebration to compensate for the loss of the main-stage ceremony with a valedictorian, keynote speeches and the presentation of honorary degrees. But turmoil and campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war upended that ritual.
Thia Broido, a graduating senior who sat on a top row at the Coliseum with her parents and brother Thursday night, said she was saddened by the controversial cancellation of the main commencement.
Her high school commencement was upended by the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the graduation stage replaced by a “super cute” drive-in ceremony and social distancing, she said.
For her college graduation, she was glad to have the family-friendly event at the Coliseum, but she said it didn’t “remove anything that has happened” over the last few weeks.
“I don’t want to be a downer about it,” Broido said. “I’m happy for what we have. But what USC is doing is ongoing, and I can’t forget about that.”
Thursday night’s event included a drone show.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Citing unspecified safety threats, USC President Carol Folt last month rescinded pro-Palestinian valedictorian Asna Tabassum’s speaking slot and then canceled the main ceremony. After students set up a pro-Palestinian tent encampment and demanded that USC end its financial ties with Israel, Folt and her team called in the Los Angeles Police Department, and 93 people were arrested. On Sunday morning, police cleared a second encampment, but no arrests were made.
On Wednesday, Folt and Provost Andrew Guzman were censured by the Academic Senate, a body of representatives for USC faculty. The members cited “widespread dissatisfaction and concern among the faculty about administrative actions and decisions surrounding protests and commencement.”
Folt has defended her actions, and said in an interview with The Times that campus safety is her “North Star.”
“For me, I have a very clear North Star: that I am the person at the university, no matter how complicated the issue and how much I empathize with everybody involved — which has been true for me — I still in the end have to sit back and say, ‘What can I do to keep my campus and my people as safe as possible?’ ”
Among the entertainment was the Trojan marching band.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Typically, the annual Baccalaureate Ceremony — a nondenominational, interfaith celebration — is held on the eve of graduation at Bovard Auditorium in the center of campus. This year, there was an “in-person blessing” for the Coliseum bash, as well as an “online interfaith blessing” that could be viewed on a commencement website.
During the Student Recognition Awards Ceremony on Thursday afternoon, students clad in graduation gowns cheered at length when Tabassum was recognized. She laughed and pretended to check her watch as the applause continued.
“You may not know this,” the announcer joked, “but Asna is USC’s 2024 valedictorian.”
Her classmates then gave her a standing ovation.
Security at the Coliseum leading up to commencement has been tight.
On Thursday, access to USC’s campus, which was already restricted to the university’s students, faculty, staff and registered guests, became even stricter. Students and staff had to show USC identification, and anyone else trying to access campus needed a commencement ticket.
Grads gather before the event at the Coliseum on Thursday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Metal fences and black gates were posted around campus. Guests walked through metal detectors and were asked to carry clear purses or bags. Since the Sunday encampment sweep, officers from several law enforcement agencies have been stationed at the center of the USC campus.
They included officers from the Baldwin Park Police Department, La Habra Police Department, Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles Airport Police, according to David Carlisle, assistant chief of the university’s Department of Public Safety.
Officers were stationed near the Tommy Trojan statue, which had been cleaned after a protester — who organizers of the student encampment said was not affiliated with them — spray-painted “Stop Genocide” on its plaque.
No demonstrations disrupted Thursday night’s event, although speakers and attendees acknowledged the tense campus climate.
Inside the Coliseum, deejay duo Phantogram took the stage at 7:45 p.m. for a set before a sparse crowd of about 350. But attendance had grown substantially by the time the event began about 45 minutes later.
A campus spokesperson said more than 22,000 people attended.
Broido, the graduating senior, said she thought it was odd that the university would give out the Travis Scott hats — black caps with the words “USC Alumni” — which were distributed at a tent. She said she stopped being a fan of the rapper after 10 people were killed in a crowd crush at the 2021 Astroworld music festival in Houston.
“I think it’s ironic that USC would partner with him,” Broido said. “I like his music — it’s just mixed feelings.”
Varun Soni, dean of religious life at the university, delivered the invocation — a tradition typically held during the main-stage commencement.
“There are so many in our community who are wrestling with anger and grief,” he said.
The world, he said, is gripped by “five major crises” — war, justice, health, sustainability and joy.
“We have a full-blown crisis of joy,” he said.
The evening’s event, he said, was about celebrating the graduates and giving joy when it is needed the most.
A series of video messages were projected on a large screen, including remarks by late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
“This class,” he said, “has been through a lot. More than other classes have had to deal with.”
When the event concluded, the words “Class of 2024” and “Fight On!” were spelled in the sky by drones with red and white lights.
Jack Callahan, who was decked out in USC gear, flew out with his family from Buffalo, N.Y., to watch his daughter Kiera graduate. Callahan was glad the university hosted a “big event to celebrate the graduates” after the family was initially disappointed to learn about the main-stage commencement’s cancellation.
“I loved the camaraderie, the spirit and the drone show,” Callahan said. His wife, Liza, was equally thrilled with the drones, which she called “absolutely amazing.”
“When we graduated,” she said, “there was nothing like that. Technology has come so far.”
But Kiera, who studied psychology, would have preferred the real graduation.
“I thought it was cute,” she said. “It was nice that they did something. But it doesn’t replace commencement.”
Times photographer Gina Ferazzi contributed to this report.
When USC President Carol Folt called off the 65,000-attendee “main stage” commencement amid pro-Palestinian protests and anger over the cancellation of pro-Palestinian student Asna Tabassum’s speaking slot, USC promised that more than two dozen satellite graduation ceremonies for individual colleges would continue as planned.
But on Sunday, two high-profile speakers scheduled to address graduates of the USC Rossier School of Education said they were dropping out in dismay at the university’s actions, including calling in the Los Angeles Police Department to arrest 93 pro-Palestinian protesters — many of them undergraduate students — last week.
“To speak at USC in this moment would betray not only our own values, but USC’s too,” novelist C Pam Zhang and UCLA professor and author Safiya U. Noble wrote to Folt, Provost Andrew T. Guzman and university leaders. “We are withdrawing as commencement speakers.”
The pair, who posted their announcement on the Literary Hub website and also sent a copy to USC officials on Sunday, have called on the dozens of remaining keynote speakers at satellite commencements to join them in a boycott.
“Asna’s removal, the administration’s refusal to engage in dialogue with student protestors, and the decision to invite LAPD forces onto campus, represent a violent and targeted refusal to allow true diversity of expression to flourish on campus,” the letter said.
“Our withdrawal is in no way a condemnation of USC’s graduating class, who deserve to be celebrated; nor do we condemn the countless USC faculty, staff, students, and administrators whose views are not represented by university leadership’s authoritarian decision-making,” it said.
Zhang, an award-winning author of “How Much of These Hills Is Gold” and “Land of Milk and Honey,” was scheduled to speak at the May 8 education school doctoral hooding ceremony.Noble, a 2021 MacArthur Foundation Fellow and UCLA professor who wrote “Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism,” was supposed to speak at the school’s May 10 master’s ceremony.
The pair’s refusal to participate in commencement ceremonies is the latest fallout from USC‘s controversial April 15 decision to uninvite Tabassum from its main stage.
The university said it made the decision after receiving threats in response to a link on Tabassum’s Instagram profile. The link said Zionism was “racist” and that Palestinian freedom would require “the complete abolishment of the state of Israel” so that “both Arabs and Jews can live together.” Pro-Israel groups have called the statements antisemitic. Tabassum has said she is not antisemitic.
Protesters are detained by LAPD officers who were trying to clear the USC campus during a demonstration against the war in Gaza on Wednesday.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles)
On-campus protests followed and four days later, the university canceled its “main stage” commencement address by “Crazy Rich Asians” director Jon M. Chu and rescinded invitations to honorary degree recipients — including tennis star Billie Jean King — to appear on stage.
Then, on Wednesday, police arrested dozens of people after pro-Palestinian demonstrators encamped in the center of campus and demanded that USC disclose and divest in any financial holdings connected to the manufacture of weaponry used in the Israel-Hamas war.
On Friday, USC said the main ceremony was canceled because new security screenings would make it impossible to process crowds in time. It also instituted new ticket limits.
Several high-profile speakers are still scheduled to appear at satellite commencement events. They include Colombian American singer-songwriter Kali Uchis, who will speak May 10 at the USC Thornton School of Music, as well as actor and activist Sean Penn, who will talk the next day to graduates of the Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science.
Tensions rose on the USC campus Saturday after pro-Palestinian protesters returned with tents and reestablished an encampment in Alumni Park, where 93 people were arrested on Wednesday.
They beat drums and put up banners reading “Free Palestine,” “We are all Gaza,” and “Stop Funding Genocide.”
Shortly after 8 p.m., the university announced that it had closed its main campus to the public.
“Due to a disturbance, the University Park Campus is temporarily closed except for residents,” USC said on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.
The school said the disturbance was at the center of campus and urged people to “please avoid that part area until further notice.”
The university’s Department of Public Safety sent text alerts to students saying the campus “was temporarily closed except for residents.”
The Los Angeles Police Department, which had issued a tactical alert Saturday evening, sent dozens of squad cars to the campus Saturday night. They arrived with lights flashing, and students said the officers had handcuffs and zip ties.
Later, students said they saw the police leave the area, while dozens of protesters ate dinner and settled into their tents.
“Things have been quiet. Nothing has escalated. We’re anticipating it might, but it has been quiet,” Anusha S., a journalism student who posted updates on a live blog for USC Annenberg Media, said in an interview.
The student journalists reported that LAPD officers unfurled yellow caution tape next to the Seeley G. Mudd building and said the area was being turned into a potential “command post.”
Late Saturday night, LAPD confirmed that their “tactical alert” had ended.
The protests are aimed at supporting Palestinians in Gaza who have been suffering since Israel launched a retaliatory war on the territory in response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that killed 1,200 people, with another 240 taken hostage. Gaza health authorities say Israeli forces have killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, and the United Nations says roughly 2 million civilians there are now living in near-famine conditions.
Students who belong to a group called the Divest from Death Coalition have made demands including an immediate ceasefire, divesting from Israeli companies and protecting free speech on campus.
Earlier this week, a masked USC student who self-identified as Jewish said during a news conference with other coalition members: “We will continue to call for an end to USC’s ties to Israel and investments in militarism abroad.”
Amid the protests, a symbol of the university was vandalized on Saturday. Photos appeared on social media showing the words “Say no to genocide” in bright red on the granite pedestal of university’s iconic Tommy Trojan statue, and a video appeared to catch the spray-painting as it happened.
(In an initial photo posted Saturday afternoon, the word genocide was missing the final “e.” It was apparently added later.)
A man who witnessed the tagging recorded a video of a masked woman leaving the area. As she was walking away, he followed her and asked, “Why’d you tag Tommy Trojan, huh?”
She held up her middle finger and said, “Because I can.”
He replied, “No, that’s called vandalism.”
“I don’t really care,” she said as she walked away.
Times staff writer Jaweed Kaleem contributed to this report.
USC called off an appearance from director Jon M. Chu and other honorees at commencement in the wake of the university’s decision to cancel valedictorian Asna Tabassum’s speech over security concerns, the university announced in a memo Friday.
The university wrote that “given the highly publicized circumstances surrounding our main-stage commencement program,” it has made the decision to “release our outside speakers and honorees from attending this year’s ceremony.”
“We’ve been talking to this exceptional group and hope to confer these honorary degrees at a future commencement or other academic ceremonies,” USC wrote.
In March, USC announced that Chu, the filmmaker behind “Crazy Rich Asians” and an alumnus of the school, would deliver its May 10 commencement speech at its main-stage ceremony, which draws over 65,000 attendees.
The move cap a week of debate over USC’s cancellation of Tabassum’s speech.
On Monday, USC Provost Andrew T. Guzman cited unnamed threats that have poured in shortly after the university publicized Tabassum’s name. Guzman said attacks against the student for her pro-Palestinian views have reached an “alarming tenor” and “escalated to the point of creating substantial risks relating to security and disruption at commencement” in May.
Speaking to The Times on Tuesday, Tabassum defended herself and said she is not antisemitic. She said she supports the pro-Palestinian cause that has grown at college campuses since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and took about 240 hostage before Israel’s retaliatory war in the Gaza Strip. Gaza health authorities say the war has killed nearly 34,000 Palestinians. According to the United Nations, 2 million Gazans are in near-famine conditions.
“The university has betrayed me and caved in to a campaign of hatred,” Tabassum said of online attacks demanding that the university rescind its invitation for her to speak at the graduation.
She said that the university did not share any details with her about its security concerns and that it did not offer her an alternative method of participating in the commencement, such as a video appearance.
Saying “tradition must give way to safety,” the University of Southern California on Monday made the unprecedented move of barring an undergraduate valedictorian who has come under fire for her pro-Palestinian views from giving a speech at its May graduation ceremony.
The move, according to USC officials, is the first time the university has banned a valedictorian from the traditional chance to speak onstage at the annual commencement ceremony, which typically draws more than 65,000 people to the Los Angeles campus.
In a campuswide letter, USC Provost Andrew T. Guzman cited unnamed threats that have poured in shortly after the university publicized the valedictorian’s name and biography this month. Guzman said attacks against the student for her pro-Palestinian views have reached an “alarming tenor” and “escalated to the point of creating substantial risks relating to security and disruption at commencement.”
“After careful consideration, we have decided that our student valedictorian will not deliver a speech at commencement. … There is no free-speech entitlement to speak at a commencement. The issue here is how best to maintain campus security and safety, period,” Guzman wrote.
The student, whom the letter does not name, is biomedical engineering major Asna Tabassum of Chino Hills. USC officials chose Tabassum from nearly 100 student applicants who had GPAs of 3.98 or higher.
But after USC President Carol Folt announced her selection, a swarm of on- and off-campus groups attacked Tabassum. They targeted her minor, resistance to genocide, as well as her pro-Palestinian views and “likes” expressed through her Instagram account.
We Are Tov, a group that uses the Hebrew word for “good” and describes itself as “dedicated to combating antisemitism,” posted Tabassum’s image on its Instagram account and said she “openly promotes antisemitic writings.” The group also criticized Tabassum for liking Instagram posts from “Trojans for Palestine.” Tabassum’s Instagram bio links to a landing page that says “learn about what’s happening in Palestine, and how to help.”
The campus group Trojans for Israel also posted on its Instagram account, calling for Folt’s “reconsideration” of Tabassum for what it described as her “antisemitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric.” The group said Tabassum’s Instagram bio linked to a page that called Zionism a “racist settler-colonial ideology.”
In a statement, Tabassum opposed the decision, saying USC has “abandoned” her.
“Although this should have been a time of celebration for my family, friends, professors, and classmates, anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian voices have subjected me to a campaign of racist hatred because of my uncompromising belief in human rights for all,” said Tabassum, who is Muslim.
“This campaign to prevent me from addressing my peers at commencement has evidently accomplished its goal: today, USC administrators informed me that the university will no longer allow me to speak at commencement due to supposed security concerns,” she wrote.
“I am both shocked by this decision and profoundly disappointed that the university is succumbing to a campaign of hate meant to silence my voice. I am not surprised by those who attempt to propagate hatred. I am surprised that my own university—my home for four years—has abandoned me.”
In an interview, Guzman said the university has been “in close contact with the student” and would “provide her support.” He added that “we weren’t seeking her opinion” on the ban.
“This is a security decision,” he said. “This is not about the identity of the speaker, it’s not about the things the valedictorian has said in the past. We have to put as our top priority ensuring that the campus and community is safe.”
Another campus official who was part of the decision, Erroll Southers, said threats came in via email, phone calls and letters. Southers is USC’s associate senior vice president for safety and risk assurance.
Individuals “say they will come to campus as early as this week,” Southers said. He did not elaborate.
Pro-Palestinian groups, including the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, have called for USC to reinvite Tabassum to speak.
“USC cannot hide its cowardly decision behind a disingenuous concern for ‘security,’” CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush said in a statement.
In another statement, the USC Palestine Justice Faculty Group said it “unequivocally rejects” Tabassum being uninvited.
“The provost’s action is another example of USC’s egregious pattern of supporting anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim racism,” the group said.
Times staff writers Jenna Peterson and Angie Orellana Hernandez contributed to this report.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., March 18, 2024 (Newswire.com)
– Jennifer Byrne, co-founder and chief executive officer of Javara, a Triad-based company focused on integrating clinical research into clinical care, will provide the commencement address at Salem College on Saturday, May 4 at 10 a.m. in Salem’s historic outdoor May Dell amphitheater.
Internationally recognized for advancing the clinical research enterprise, Byrne has revolutionized the industry by accelerating access to research for patients, biopharma companies, and healthcare systems.
“Salem College is privileged to have Jennifer on campus to share her remarkable journey with our graduates during commencement this year,” Salem Academy and College President Summer McGee, Ph.D., CPH said.
“Jennifer’s resounding commitment to transforming the future of clinical research and how it improves health is deeply connected to our Salem College vision to advance health equity in society and our mission to create healthier and more equitable communities,” McGee added.
As a leader, Byrne has devoted her career to leading organizations, building teams, and cultivating partnerships centered on advancing clinical research to better connect patients and providers to clinical trials. Byrne co-founded Javara with a vision to engage innovative research partnerships and deploy comprehensive research services to bridge the gaps between healthcare systems and the research industry and to better connect empowered patients to clinical trials.
As the former chief executive officer of PMG Research, a national network of clinical research locations, and founder of Greater Gift, a non-profit founded to increase awareness of clinical research, Byrne’s involvement in the clinical research enterprise has been vast with her contribution to over 8,000 clinical trials.
“As graduates of the nation’s leading college dedicated to elevating and expanding the role of women in health leadership, the Class of 2024 is at the forefront of workforce evolution,” Byrne said.
“These young women are our future, the architects of a healthier and brighter tomorrow for all people. To address this forthcoming generation of leaders at their commencement is a true privilege,” she added.
Byrne has been recognized as a PM360 ELITE, CenterWatch Top 20 Innovator, PharmaVOICE Woman of Influence, and a Triad Business Journal Power Player two years running. Currently, she serves as board chair for both Javara and Greater Gift. In addition, Byrne serves as board director for Nmible, an advisory chair for the master’s in clinical research management with Wake Forest University, and additional advisory roles with Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine, FCA Health Innovations Fund, and the North Carolina Biotech of the Piedmont Triad. Jennifer graduated from Texas A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in scientific nutrition.
For more information about Salem’s commencement ceremony, visit salem.edu/commencement or inquire at salem.commencement@salem.edu.
The distinguished roster, comprised of all women, will be honored during May’s commencement ceremony
Press Release –
updated: Apr 26, 2017
Washington, DC, April 26, 2017 (Newswire.com)
– Howard University Board of Trustees today announced the 2017 list of recipients who will receive honorary doctorate degrees from the University. The roster, comprised of all women, will receive degrees in the diverse fields of communications, literature, civil rights, and government. The degrees will be granted during the 149th Commencement Convocation on the main campus of Howard University’s Upper Quadrangle at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 13, 2017.
Honorary recipients include anchorwoman Maureen Bunyan; Howard University graduate professor of English Eleanor W. Traylor; co-founder of the National Organization for Women and the first African-American woman ordained an Episcopal priest Anna Pauline Murray; and Howard University alumna and U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris.
“These remarkable honorees embody the spirit and aspiration that guides Howard’s mission of excellence in truth and service.”
Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick, Howard University President
“These remarkable honorees embody the spirit and aspiration that guides Howard’s mission of excellence in truth and service,” said Howard University President Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick. “We are pleased to honor for the first time a distinguished panel comprised of all women. As we celebrate our Sesquicentennial, we also embrace and recognize the sterling contributions of women all over the world and certainly here at Howard University. These women dedicated their talents and lives to improving the world and all lives.”
This year’s honorees include:
Senator Kamala D. Harris who will receive the President’s Medal of Achievement, having received the honorary Doctor of Laws in 2012. A lifelong public servant and civil rights leader, U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris was the first African-American and first woman to serve as Attorney General of California and the second African-American woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate in history. Harris served two terms as district attorney of San Francisco. Defeating a two-term incumbent, she was first elected DA in 2003 and was overwhelmingly re-elected to a second term in November 2007.
Maureen Bunyan will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. Bunyan is an award-winning journalist and news anchor who is a founder and board member of the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF), and a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ). Bunyan has been inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Washington Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Silver Circle of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) and the Broadcast Pioneers Club of Washington.
Anna Pauline “Pauli” Murray will be posthumously recognized with an honorary Doctor of Laws. Murray, a 1944 Howard University School of Law graduate, was a quiet force behind some of the most iconic civil rights and social justice events of the 20th century. Thurgood Marshall regarded her book, States’ Laws on Race and Color, as the “bible” in crafting his arguments for Brown vs. Board of Education. Along with Betty Friedan and 30 others, Dr. Murray was a founding member of the National Organization for Women. One of the last achievements of her remarkable life was to be the first African-American woman ordained as an Episcopal priest in 1977.
Eleanor W. Traylor will receive an honorary Doctor of Letters. Traylor is a graduate professor of English and acclaimed scholar and critic in African-American literature and criticism. Dr. Traylor obtained a B.A. from Spelman College; an M.A. from Atlanta University; and a Ph.D. from Catholic University, where she pursued her interests in African-American literature and mythology concentrating this focus in a dissertation on Richard Wright. She later received a Merrill Scholarship to the Stuttgarter Hochschule in West Germany and a research fellowship to study at the Institute of African Studies in Ghana and Nigeria.
Anthony D. Owens Assistant Director, Media Relations Howard University anthony.owens@howard.edu 202-870-9208
