United States Secretary of Transportation, Anthony Foxx, will be the speaker for the upcoming North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University 2016 Spring Commencement.
Anthony Foxx received a law degree from New York University’s School of Law as a Root-Tilden Scholar. He earned a bachelor’s degree in History from Davidson College. After serving as mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina—from 2009 to 2013—Foxx joined the U.S. Department of Transportation. As mayor, he made efficient and innovative transportation investments, which is the centerpiece of Charlotte’s job creation and economic recovery efforts. These investments included extending the LYNX light rail system—the largest capital project ever undertaken by the city; expanding Charlotte-Douglas International Airport—the sixth busiest in the world; working with North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue to accelerate the I-485 outer belt loop using a creative design-build-finance approach; lastly, starting the Charlotte Streetcar project.
Universities in North Carolina are scheduling inspiring and successful speakers to provide insightful and encouraging words for the graduating seniors. N.C. A&T, NCCU, WSSU are just some of the surrounding schools that have influential black professionals coming to tell their story.
North Carolina Central University will have Senator of New Jersey, Cory Booker, and Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University President, Elmira Mangum.
As a Senator, Booker has tackled some of the most difficult issues facing our country, such as reforming our broken criminal justice system, expanding economic opportunity for New Jerseyans, and improving our nation’s infrastructure. Prior to his time in the Senate, Booker served as the mayor of Newark, where he presided over the city’s greatest period of economic growth since the 1960’s. Throughout his seventeen years in public service, Booker has established himself as a creative problem solver who seeks bipartisan solutions.
Mangum, making history as the first permanent female president in the University’s 128-year legacy, Elmira Mangum, Ph.D. began her tenure as the 11th president of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University on April 1, 2014. Dr. Mangum has served at the executive level for nationally recognized organizations of higher learning for more than 30 years. She is focusing her administration at FAMU on “Building a Brand that Matters in the 21st Century and Beyond.”
Winston-Salem State University invites Award-winning author and noted scholar, Melissa Harris-Perry—the author of Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought, and Sister Citizen: Shame. She is the Maya Angelou Chair at Wake Forest University. There, she is also the executive director of the Pro Humanitate Institute and founding director of the Anna Julia Cooper Center on Gender, Race, and Politics in the South. The Center supports, generates, and communicates innovative research at the intersection of gender, race, and place, and works to advance equity through teaching, research, and community engagement. Harris-Perry received her B.A. degree in English from Wake Forest University and her Ph.D. in political science from Duke University. She also studied theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Harris-Perry previously served on the faculty of the University of Chicago, Princeton University, and Tulane University. She is the former host of Melissa Harris-Perry on MSNBC.
Spring 2016 Commencement will take place at the Greensboro Coliseum, located at 1921 West Gate City Boulevard, on Saturday, May 14, 2016. Line-up will be at 8:00 a.m. and the processional will begin promptly at 8:30 a. m. The Coliseum doors will open at approximately 7:30 a.m.
