Contact: Kimberly Osborne (304) 766-3363 kosborne@wvstateu.edu
INSTITUTE, W.Va. – More than 250 students will graduate from West Virginia State University (WVSU) on Saturday, May 13, during a commencement ceremony beginning at 10 a.m. in the D. Stephen and Diane H. Walker Convocation Center.
The commencement speaker is Maj. Gen. James A. Hoyer, the adjutant general for the West Virginia National Guard. As the adjutant general, Hoyer provides command guidance to more than 6,500 citizen soldiers, airmen and civilian employees of the West Virginia Army and Air National Guard.
Hoyer was commissioned in 1983 through the Reserve Officer Training Corps program at West Virginia State University. Hoyer began his military career in the West Virginia National Guard as a cavalry officer. He attended the Special Forces Officer Qualification Course and spent over 14 years with the 2nd Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group.
Hoyer led the development of the West Virginia National Guard Counterdrug Task Force and the Joint Interagency Training and Education Center and its Center for National Response; a national level operational and training capability for critical infrastructure protection and consequence response.
Hoyer also serves as the Chairman of the National Guard Association of the United States.
Since the devastating floods of 2016, Hoyer was also designated by both Governor Earl Ray Tomblin and Governor Jim Justice to serve as the state’s Chief Flood Recovery Officer.
WVSU holds commencement ceremonies in December and May of each year.
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