The University of the Virgin Islands will hold its 47th Annual Commencement Ceremonies May 14 and 15, on the St. Thomas campus and the St. Croix campus, respectively. The St. Thomas campus ceremony will be held at 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 14, in the UVI Sports and Fitness Center. The St. Croix campus ceremony will be held at 4:30 p.m. at The Albert A. Sheen campus on Sunday, May 15.
The class speaker on the St. Thomas campus will be Derron Ambrose; the class speaker on St. Croix will be Sana Waleed Hamed. They are selected by members of their class.
The keynote speaker for both campuses is Johnnetta B. Cole, Ph. D., director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. Before assuming her current position, Dr. Cole had a long and distinguished career as an educator and humanitarian. She is president emerita of Bennett College for Women and Spelman College. She is also professor emerita of Emory University, from which she retired as Presidential Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Women’s Studies and African American Studies.
In 1987, Cole made history when she became the first African-American woman to serve as president of Spelman College. At her inauguration, Drs. Bill and Camille Cosby donated $20 million to the college, and during her presidency Spelman was named the number one liberal arts college of the South.
She has conducted research in Africa, the Caribbean and the United States, and has authored and edited several books and scores of scholarly articles. She is a fellow of the American Anthropological Association and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Admission to the St. Thomas campus Commencement Ceremony is by ticket only. Parking on the St. Thomas campus will be available in the parking lots of the Reichhold Center for the Arts, the Administration and Conference Center and the upper campus. Shuttle service will be provided from all parking areas to and from the Sports and Fitness Center. Only those with disability permits and who were granted prior special permission will be allowed to park in the Sports and Fitness Center parking lot.
The St. Thomas ceremony will be broadcast live on WSTA “Lucky 13” 1340 A.M. The St. Croix ceremony will be broadcast live on WSTX 970 A.M.
In respect to all of the graduates, their families and friends, the use of air horns, whistles and other noisemakers will not be permitted at either ceremony.