Prof. Allison Blakely in his 2014 commencement address titled, “Reflections on a Global Black Perspective” told AFAM MA graduates, Carrolee Moore and Chanel Lewis not to forget the relationship between timeless human virtues and reality. He urged the graduates to reflect upon the universal and timeless truths that were evident to the progressive thinkers like Ralph Waldo Emerson, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Leopold Senghor and asked that they commit to continuing the tradition of those who were seeking to build a better world. Dr. Mary Anne Boelcskevy presented the winners of the African American Studies Alumni and Friends Essay Competition with their respective prizes; Channon Miller (GRS) was the African American Studies Essay Competition Graduate Student Winner for her essay, “Mothering Across Fragmented Borders of Blackness:Cross-Ethnic Ties Among African Immigrant, Caribbean Immigrant and African American Mothers” and Jailyn K. Gladney (CAS) was the African American Studies Essay Competition Undergraduate Student Winner for her essay, “War: How “Black” and “Criminal” Became Synonymized in the Era of Mass Incarceration”. Dr. Boelcskevy also presented the African American Studies Program’s minors, Kaylee Brucker, Megan Duffy, Danielle Galloway, Kesia Ryan-Webster with a gift and congratulated them on their accomplishments. Prof. John Thornton presided over the ceremony and presented diplomas to the graduating students. Genithia Hogges (GRS ’13) sang “Lord, I Don’t Feel No Ways Tired” – An American Negro Spiritual and “Lift Every Voice and Sing,”a peom composed by James Weldon Johnson and set to music by John Rosamond Johnson.The program for this year’s commencement can be found here.
Congratulations to the 2014 graduates and a job well done!