May 5, 2008
PROFESSOR CHARLES OGLETREE URGES GRADUATES
TO CONTINUE LINCOLN UNIVERSITY’S INSPIRING LEGACY
LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, PA (May 4)
~ Harvard Law School professor Charles Ogletree Jr. challenged
the graduates of Lincoln University to carry on its inspiring
legacy at the institution’s
149th Commencement exercise on Sunday.
“You have an obligation to advance the wonderful legacy
of Lincoln University,” the distinguished law professor
said. “I have never encountered an institution with
so much distinctions and accomplishments.”
“Like those who have gone before you, you must use
your intellect to change the world. Lincoln’s legacy
is a clear lesson of struggle and progress and let the nation
count on you to move us forward.”
Ogletree cited, as examples, the
amazing careers of two of the university’s most notable graduates, U. S. Supreme
Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and renowned poet Langston
Hughes. He said they made a difference in their own
right, Marshall in the struggle for racial equality and Hughes
through his thoughtful and insightful poetry.
President Ivory V. Nelson conferred 470 undergraduate and
graduate degrees on a balmy afternoon in front of thousands
of onlookers, including parents of the graduates, alumni
and friends of the university.
The top two graduates were Matthew E.
Jones and Rumbidzai Tabvuma. Jones, who hails from Detroit,
Mich., majored in accounting with a 4.03 grade-point-average;
Tabvumba, a native of Redcliff, Zimbabwe, majored in French
with a 4.02 GPA.
President Nelson also presented
recipients of the Board of Trustees faculty awards. The
winners were Robert Allen, assistant professor of business
and information technology, for the Soraya M. Coley Distinguished
Service Award; Dr. Alvin Amos, professor of visual and
performing arts, for the Henry G. Cornwell Distinguished
Teaching Award; and Dr. Anna Hull, Assistant Director
of Biology, for the Hildrus A. Poindexter Distinguished
Research Award.
In addition to Ogletree, who received an honorary doctor
of laws, the university honored Dr. Ernie Levister and Bishop
Nathan Baxter with an honorary doctor of science and doctor
of humane letters, respectively.
Dr. Ernest C. Levister Jr. is
one of the nation’s
leading physicians, practicing internal and occupational
medicine. A 1958 graduate of Lincoln University who
served on its Board of Trustees from 1999 to 2007, Dr. Levister
has been a powerful advocate for medical reform, particularly
for the elimination of disparities in health care.
He is the great-grandson of Thomas Hunter Amos, who was
a member of the first class of Lincoln University.
Baxter was consecrated Bishop
of the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania two years ago. Prior
to his election, he was rector of historic Saint James
Episcopal Church of Lancaster, Pa., the largest parish
in the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania. During
his tenure there, he served as chair of Diocesan Deputation
to the 2003 National General Convention.
The Diocese of Central Pennsylvania consists of 70 parishes,
many dating back to the mid-eighteenth century as part of
the Diocese of Pennsylvania, the first in the Episcopal Church.
Founded in 1854, Lincoln
University is a premier, historically Black University that
combines the best elements of a liberal arts and sciences-based
undergraduate core curriculum and selected graduate programs
to meet the needs of those living in a highly technological
and global society. The University is nationally
recognized as a major producer of African Americans with undergraduate
degrees in the physical sciences (biology, chemistry and physics);
computer and informational sciences; biological and life sciences. Lincoln
has an enrollment of 2,423 undergraduate and graduate students.
Lincoln
University of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
1570 Baltimore Pike, P.O. Box 179, Lincoln University, PA 19352 \
(484) 365-8000
