Historic alumna to deliver commencement keynote
Vermester Jackson Bester of Hattiesburg will be the keynote speaker at a William Carey University commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 18, at 1 p.m. She will also be among the graduates at this ceremony, as she receives an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from her alma mater.
One of six ceremonies scheduled May 16-18, this commencement is for graduates of the Noonkester School of Arts & Letters and the School of Natural & Behavioral Sciences.
Bester was one of the first African-American students to attend what was then William Carey College in 1965. She was admitted with her friend and fellow Rowan High School honor graduate, Linda Williams Cross, and enrolled following Carey’s decision to voluntarily admit African-American students under the leadership of Dr. J. Ralph Noonkester, who was the college’s president.
William Carey was the first college in Mississippi and the first Baptist college in the Deep South to voluntarily admit African-American students.
This month marks the 50-year anniversary of Bester’s 1969 graduation with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. She worked for the Hattiesburg Public School District for 35 years and, in 1978, earned a master’s degree from the University of Southern Mississippi. She now works as an independent consultant.
More commencement info here:
https://wmcarey.edu/office/commencement