INSTITUTE, W.Va. – West Virginia State University (WVSU) will host its fall commencement on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023, beginning at 10 a.m. in the D. Stephen and Diane H. Walker Convocation Center.
The ceremony will recognize the university’s approximately 160 summer and fall 2023 graduates.
The commencement speaker is Karen Williams, a retired educator, social justice and women’s right to vote activist, board member and community volunteer. Since 1975, Williams has been an educator committed to helping children of all ages learn to read and succeed. Her love and commitment to helping children do their best started when she became a teacher at Glenwood Elementary School. From 1975 she held numerous positions from Classroom Teacher, Title 1 Parent Educator, Alternative School Lead Teacher/ Administrator, Kanawha County Schools Personnel Coordinator, to becoming Head Start Director in 2004. She also taught 10 years as an instructor at West Virginia State University in the ROTC, English, and Education Departments.
Williams has also led campaigns for social justice and women’s right to vote. She has organized rallies, caravans and spoken to young people, and adults about the importance of registering to vote. She was recently awarded the 2023 YWCA Women of Achievement Award and the 2023 Governor’s Civil Rights Award for Advancing Civil Rights Through Advocacy for her work in the community.
The event will be livestreamed on WVSU’s livestream channel https://www.youtube.com/c/WVSULiveStream.
WVSU holds commencement ceremonies in December and May of each year.
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West Virginia State University is a public, land-grant, historically black university, which has evolved into a fully accessible, racially integrated, and multi-generational institution, located in Institute, W.Va. As a “living laboratory of human relations,” the university is a community of students, staff, and faculty committed to academic growth, service, and preservation of the racial and cultural diversity of the institution. Its mission is to meet the higher education and economic development needs of the state and region through innovative teaching and applied research.