Commencement 2009

DR. JULIAN BOND WILL DELIVER COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS

Dr. Julian Bond, Chairman of the NAACP, will deliver the address at Virginia State University’s Commencement on Sunday, May 17 at 9 a.m. in the Richmond Coliseum.

VSU expects to award nearly 600 undergraduate and graduate degrees. Also during Commencement, several faculty members and alumni will be recognized. These include: An Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters to Dr. Bond and Alumnus of the Year to Dr. Mildred Fitzgerald Johnson.

For more than 40 years, Bond has served the causes of dignity, peace and freedom. As the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization, he continues that service into the new century.

Bond has been on the cutting edge of social change since 1960. Founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, he organized voting drives and sit-ins. An elected member of the Georgia House of Representatives, Bond was denied his seat by legislators until the intervention of the United States Supreme Court. Co-chairman of an insurgent delegation to the 1968 Democratic Convention, he became the first African-American to be nominated for Vice President of the United States.

He has delivered his message for equality not only through the political arena. In addition he appears frequently on “America’s Black Forum,” the oldest black-owned show in television syndication; has written a nationally distributed newspaper column; and narrated the award-winning documentaries A Time for Justice and Eyes on the Prize.

Commencement 2009

Virginia State University's 2009 Spring Commencement will be held on Sunday, May 17, 2009 at 9 a.m. in the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, VA. Doors will open to the public at 7:30 a.m.

All visitors will pass through a security checkpoint. All backpacks, large handbags, balloons and wrapped packages are prohibited. Flowers will be allowed.

Reserved parking will be provided for graduates on a first come-first serve basis in two locations. Parking will be provided in the Coliseum Deck located at 7th and Clay streets, also in the Coliseum Lot located at 8th and Clay streets. You may also enter and exit the Coliseum Deck on 7th Street and 8th Street

Important Information Regarding Swine Flu

To the Virginia State University Community:

As we prepare to celebrate the graduation of more than 600 students from VSU’s schools and colleges on Sunday, May17th at the Richmond Coliseum, you may be interested in steps VSU has taken to address public health concerns in the wake of the H1N1 flu virus.

Please forward this email to family members and friends planning to attend Commencement.

Hand-sanitizer gel stations will be available on the main Concourse Level as well as the student assembly area, Exhibit Hall – East and in the faculty assembly area, Exhibit Hall-West. You may wish to bring your own travel-size bottle for personal use. Note: if traveling by air, consider buying sanitizer in the Richmond area because of restrictions on carry-on liquids.

If you feel ill with flu-like symptoms – fever and cough or sore throat – please stay home. The commencement ceremony will be broadcast live via VSU’s website. While web viewing lacks some of the pomp and circumstance of the live ceremony, your view of the stage may actually be better, and you will do yourself and others a favor by taking care of yourself.