William Carey University Plans August Graduations
Hattiesburg, MS, July 29, 2010 - Approximately 432 students will receive degrees at William Carey University in one of four graduation ceremonies for undergraduate and graduate students for the three campuses of Hattiesburg, Biloxi, and New Orleans.
The ceremony for students receiving graduate degrees on the Hattiesburg campus is Saturday, Aug. 7 at 9:30 a.m. in Smith Auditorium. The speaker is Wayne Folkes, principal of Oak Grove High School. Folkes received an associate’s degree from Jones County Junior College, and both bachelor and master degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi. He has more than 27 years of experience including teaching, coaching and administration.
Voted Mississippi’s Principal of the Year in 2006, his other honors include Lamar County Educator of the Year and recipient of Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award. A deacon at Temple Baptist Church, Folkes is a member of the Mississippi Association of Coaches, the Millsaps Principals Institute, and Jones County Junior College Foundation Board.
Undergraduate degrees will be awarded on the Hattiesburg campus Sat. Aug. 7 at 1 p.m. in Smith Auditorium. Dr. Allen Smithers, headmaster of Presbyterian Christian School in Hattiesburg, is the speaker. A graduate of Kirk Academy in Grenada, where he later served as headmaster for 16 years, Smithers earned a bachelor of science degree in mathematics education from Delta State University and a master of science degree in mathematics and a doctoral degree in higher education administration from the University of Mississippi. Active in the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools, he has led numerous Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Peer Review Teams for schools throughout the state. He was also an assistant professor of mathematics and computer science at Mississippi College.
The ceremony for Biloxi graduate and undergraduate students is Saturday, Aug. 7 at 4 p.m. in Smith Auditorium. Dr. Jimmy Stewart, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Gulfport, will be the speaker. Stewart is a 1980 graduate of WCU. He received master of divinity and doctor of divinity degrees at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Stewart has served as pastor to churches in Olive Branch, Hattiesburg, and Jackson. His ministry includes serving as a discipleship ministries coordinator, youth minister, associate pastor, and as associate Baptist Student Union director.
The ceremony for students receiving degrees from the New Orleans campus is Friday, August 6 at 6 p.m. in Leavell Chapel at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Byron Harrell, president of the Baptist Community Ministries, the largest private foundation in the state of Louisiana, will serve as commencement speaker. Harrell manages the foundation which boasts assets of $225 million. He also is chief executive of the management force behind the fiscal and operational recovery of Southern Baptist Hospital and the merger of SBH three years later with Mercy Hospital. A graduate of Tulane University with a doctoral degree in health services research, Harrell has published several papers on philanthropy.
For graduation information call the Office of the Registrar at 601-318-6195.