William Carey University will award degrees to 430 students during four commencement ceremonies August 5-6, 2016. All ceremonies will be held in Smith Auditorium of Thomas Fine Arts Center on the Hattiesburg campus. "Combined with spring commencement, WCU has graduated more than a thousand students for six consecutive years," said President Tommy King.
The schedule and guest speakers are as follows:
Friday, Aug. 5 at 7 p.m. - Commencement for doctoral candidates for the School of Education and the School of Nursing, and the Education Specialist degree. Dr. Eric Hale will be the guest speaker. Dr. Hale, a Hattiesburg native, is a physician in the family medicine department at Hattiesburg Clinic, where he has worked since 1979. He is also program director for the family medicine residency program at Forrest General Hospital. From 1979 to 2012, Dr. Hale was an associate clinical professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine. He has served on several committees at Hattiesburg Clinic, Forrest General Hospital, and Wesley Medical Center. He received a Bachelor of Science in chemistry and biology from the University of Mississippi and an M.D. from the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
Saturday, Aug. 6
9:30 a.m. - Commencement for the Hattiesburg campus master's degree students. Guest speaker will be Barbara Loustalot Hamilton, a William Carey alumna. Hamilton has served as executive assistant to the WCU president for the past 14 years. Prior to joining the WCU staff, she taught literature and writing for more than three decades at Mississippi State University, Meridian Community College, Jones Junior College, and several high schools. She is the widow of the Rev. Jackie Hamilton, also a Carey alumnus, and has served as a consultant to the Mississippi Baptist Convention in the areas of single adults, pastors' wives, youth, missions, and has served on the nominations committee of the state convention. She graduated from William Carey at the top of her class with a bachelor's degree in English and earned the master's and Education Specialist degrees from Mississippi State University.
1 p.m. - Ben Minnifield will be the speaker for the undergraduate ceremony. Minnifield is co-founder of LeMont Scott Group, LLC, a firm that merges competency-based learning events with curriculum to introduce students to STEM (science, technology, engineering math) opportunities. The organization has helped create partnerships between industry, higher education, and JROTC programs in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The Institute of Health Careers camp held at William Carey University is one of the projects Minnifield helped develop. Minnifield has more than 20 years of experience in media, marketing, government relations and strategic business development. He earned dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in organization management and leadership from Morris Brown College in Atlanta and a political science degree from Tougaloo College.
4 p.m. - Pastor Joe McKeever will be the speaker for commencement for undergraduate and graduate students from the Tradition campus. Before retiring in 2009, McKeever spent 42 years pastoring six Southern Baptist churches and served five years as director of missions for the SBC churches of metro New Orleans. He was director of missions when Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, devastating New Orleans and destroying many neighborhoods and churches. He continues to preach and draws a daily cartoon for the Baptist Press, writes a series for Lifeway's Deacon Magazine, blogs for church leaders, and has published a number of cartoon books.
For more information about commencement, please call the registrar's office at (601) 318-6195.