Former Spelman Prexy Cole is PVAMU Commencement Speaker

Commencement day is one of the most important days in the life of the college graduate and one to be remembered for a lifetime. What makes it more memorable if you can be inspired from the speaker who is noteworthy or with a short and lively speech.

Well the graduating class of Prairie View A&M University will get that opportunity when Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole will deliver the keynote address at the University’s 25th Fall Commencement on for December 16.

Dr. Cole, anthropologist, educator and museum director, made history in 1987 when she was named the president of Spelman College, the first African American woman to lead the country’s oldest historically black women’s university. During her tenure at the college, she was credited with increasing enrollment, spearheading a highly successful $113 million capital campaign and raising the national academic profile of Spelman. “Johnnetta Cole has inspired legions of students who see in her example the possibility of making a meaningful contribution while holding true to one’s values. Widely admired throughout the world, she is an outstanding model for our students,” said Ruth Simmons, president-elect of Prairie View A&M University.

Coming straight out of Jacksonville, Florida, Cole entered Fisk University at age 15 to pursue her college degree. After early admission to that university, Cole transferred to and graduated from Oberlin College in 1957. After earning her master’s and doctorate degrees in anthropology from Northwestern University, she held teaching positions at several universities including Washington State University; the University of Massachusetts at Amherst; and Hunter College where she was a professor of anthropology and director of the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program.

Cole completed a decade of services at Spelman and left that post to teach at Emory University. She soon left there when the call came to become president of Bennett College where she led another successful capital campaign. Most recently, Dr. Cole has served with distinction as director of the National Museum of African Art. Johnnetta Cole has received numerous honors over her storied career, including becoming the first woman elected to serve on the board of Coca-Cola Enterprises, the first African-American chair of the board of United Way of America and the recipient of more than 50 honorary degrees to name a few.

Cole also provided service in the governmental sector when she was appointed by President-elect Bill Clinton's transition team for education, labor, the arts and humanities in 1992. He also considered her for the Cabinet post of Secretary of Education. But when The Jewish Daily Forward reported that she had been a member of the national committee of the Venceremos Brigades, which the Federal Bureau of Investigation had tied to Cuban intelligence forces, Clinton did not advance her nomination.

The commencement ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. in the William “Billy” J. Nicks Sr., Building. Tickets are required for admission. For those unable to attend, a live webcast will be available on the PVAMU website.

Designated an institution of “the first class” in the Texas Constitution, Prairie View A&M University is the second-oldest public institution of higher education in the state. With an established reputation for producing engineers, nurses, and educators, PVAMU offers baccalaureate degrees, master’s degrees and doctoral degree programs through seven colleges and the School of Architecture.