Florence Area Residents Among UA Graduates

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama awarded some 2,250 degrees at spring commencement exercises held Friday, May 17, in Coleman Coliseum on the Tuscaloosa campus.

Outgoing UA President Andrew Sorensen gave the commencement address during two University-wide commencement ceremonies. Sorensen was recently named president of the University of South Carolina and will assume that position in July.

During the ceremonies, acclaimed author and scholar Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters. Gates is the W.E.B. DuBois Professor of the Humanities and chair of Afro-American studies at Harvard University and director of the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for Afro-American Research.

Also, the late Frank M. Johnson Jr. received the Hugo Black Award, posthumously. Johnson, who died in 1999, is remembered for his historic contributions to civil rights issues of the last century while a U.S. District Court justice. The Black Award, named in honor of the late Supreme Court Justice and UA alumnus Hugo Black, recognizes distinguished service to the people of Alabama and the nation and is the highest award given by the University.

With this graduating class, UA has awarded more than 181,000 degrees since its founding in 1831 as the state’s first public university. UA holds commencement ceremonies three times a year.

The following students from the Florence area were listed as candidates to receive degrees:

JURIS DOCTOR DEGREE

ATHENS — Ta’Kisha La’Nete Guster, Adrian Carrie Payne

FLORENCE — Joshua Keith Fowler, William Roland Hankins Jr., Rebecca Dee Mitchell

SHEFFIELD — Elizabeth Marie Goins

DOCTORAL DEGREE

MUSCLE SHOALS — Ervin Corvay Jackson

MASTER’S DEGREE

ARDMORE — Elizabeth Kay Eubanks

ATHENS — Dennis A. James, Benjamin Tyler Johnston

FLORENCE — Alice Elizabeth Hudson, Willie Fowler Joiner, Jacqueline J. McGee

HODGES — Sherry Minga Crabtree

MOULTON — Vaneesa L. Thompson

MUSCLE SHOALS — Lesley Porter Baggett, Amy Hatton Uptain

PHIL CAMPBELL — Sharon Evelyn Berrian

TUSCUMBIA — Keith D. Malone

BACHELOR’S DEGREE

ANDERSON — Audra Delite Ridinger

ATHENS — Meredith Grey Bass, Lindsey Michelle Brooks, Joshua Dwight Collins, Alana Brooke Garrett, Julie Alana Jenkins, Thomas Lebrian Johnson, Kimberly Arleen Mason, Robert Ernest Norton, Shawn Peyton Pack

ELKMONT — Joseph Melvin Thompson

FLORENCE — Rebecca Ann Beale, Jennifer Ann Lovett, Scott Thomas Richardson

KILLEN — Emily Catherine Hahn, Alexandria Claudette Vaughn, Kam Alan Walker, James Daniel Watson, Jamie Kay Wilson, Alecia Anne Zalot

LEIGHTON — Beth Leann Davis, Latena Shanee Stanley

MOULTON — Adam Floyd Beach, Monica Gail Free

MUSCLE SHOALS — Andrew Wayne Bentley, Stacey Ann Dunn, Morgan O’Neal Gargis, Erin Nicole Starkey, Amy Diane Swindle, Robert Leland Young

RUSSELLVILLE — Christopher Dale Borden, Kelly Nichole Cooke, Joseph Mark Tucker, Linda C. Underwood

SHEFFIELD — Ryan Thomas Baker

TUSCUMBIA — Tiffany Chantel Davis, Jeff Daniel Henson, Joseph Alston Hudson, Eleanor Lavinia Parker