Lincoln University, PA. – Lincoln University President Brenda A. Allen proudly announces that Bryan Stevenson, the distinguished founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, will be the keynote speaker at Lincoln’s 165th Commencement Ceremony. The event is scheduled for Sunday, May 5, 2024, at 11 a.m. on Lincoln’s main campus in Chester County. Over 400 undergraduate and graduate students will be awarded their degrees during the ceremony.
Selected for this esteemed role by Lincoln’s faculty and endorsed by the Board of Trustees, Bryan Stevenson will also be conferred with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. The ceremony will also recognize four other individuals with honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees: Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole, Cherelle Parker ’94, and the iconic Stevie Wonder.
“Bryan Stevenson addressing our graduates at Lincoln University’s 2024 Commencement Ceremony stands as a testament to the university's dedication to fostering critical thought and pursuing social justice. His profound commitment to human rights and equity resonates deeply with the enduring principles that Lincoln upholds.
As we celebrate this milestone, it is with great respect that we bestow honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees upon Bryan Stevenson, Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole, Cherelle Parker ’94, and the legendary Stevie Wonder. These esteemed individuals have made significant and lasting contributions to society, embodying the excellence and leadership that we champion at Lincoln. Their presence will undoubtedly elevate the importance and prestige of this year’s commencement, inspiring our graduates as they embark on their journeys to shape the future.”
- Dr. Brenda A. Allen, Lincoln University President
About Bryan Stevenson
Bryan Stevenson is the founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a human rights organization in Montgomery, Alabama. Under his leadership, EJI has won major legal challenges eliminating excessive and unfair sentencing, exonerating innocent death row prisoners, confronting abuse of the incarcerated and the mentally ill, and aiding children prosecuted as adults.
Mr. Stevenson has argued and won multiple cases at the United States
Supreme Court, including a 2019 ruling protecting condemned prisoners who suffer from dementia and a landmark 2012 ruling that banned mandatory life-imprisonment-without-parole sentences for all children 17 or younger. Mr. Stevenson and his staff have won reversals, relief,
or, release from prison for over 140 wrongly condemned prisoners on death row and won relief for hundreds of others wrongly convicted or unfairly sentenced.
(Photo and Biography courtesy of the Equal Justice Initiative)
About Johnnetta B. Cole, Ph.D.
In 1987, Johnnetta Betsch Cole, Ph.D., became Spelman College's seventh president and the first Black woman to lead the College that was founded specifically for the education of women of African descent.
Born in 1936 in Florida, Dr. Cole started her higher education at the young age of 15 with early admission to Fisk University. She would later transfer and graduate from Oberlin College in 1957. She earned her master's and doctorate degrees in anthropology from Northwestern University in 1959 and 1967 respectively. She held teaching positions at several schools including Washington State University; the University of Massachusetts at Amherst; and Hunter College where she was professor of anthropology and director of the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program until her departure in 1987 when she took the helm of Spelman College.
After a decade of service to Spelman, Dr. Cole remained in Atlanta while returning to the classroom at Emory University as the Presidential Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Women's Studies, and African-American Studies. In 2002, she became the president of Bennett College in North Carolina, the only other HBCU dedicated to educating Black women. She retired in 2007 and continued to serve as chair of the Johnnetta B. Cole Global Diversity and Inclusion Institute in Atlanta. In 2009, she was named director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art, a position she currently holds.
(Biography courtesy of Spelman College)
About Cherelle Parker '94
Cherelle Parker is currently serving as the 100th Mayor of Philadelphia since 2024. She again made history as the first woman to lead the city and hold the office.
Ms. Parker served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 2005 to 2015, representing the 200th district in Northwest Philadelphia. On winning her election, she made history as the youngest African-American woman elected to the State Legislature. She was elected to represent the ninth district on the Philadelphia City Council in 2015 and re-elected in 2019, serving as majority leader from 2020 to 2022.
Cherelle went to Philadelphia public schools her whole life and was the first person in her family to attend college, earning her bachelor’s degree from Lincoln University where she pledged Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and earned her master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
She served as a public school teacher before entering politics. She is a lifelong Philadelphia who is committed to fighting for Philadelphians.
(Biography courtesy of Cherelleparker.com/about/)
About Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Judkins, known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is credited as a pioneer and influenced
by musicians across a range of genres that include R&B, pop, soul, gospel, funk, and jazz. A virtual one-man band, Mr. Wonder's use of synthesizers and other electronic musical instruments during the 1970s reshaped the conventions of contemporary R&B. He also helped drive such genres into the album era, crafting his LPs as cohesive and consistent, in addition to socially conscious statements with complex compositions. Blind since shortly after his birth, Mr. Wonder was a child prodigy who signed with Motown's Tamla label at the age of 11, where he was given the professional name Little Stevie Wonder.
He has won 25 Grammy Awards (the most by a male solo artist) and one Academy Award (Best Original Song, for the 1984 film The Woman in Red). Wonder has been inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is also noted for his work as an activist for political causes, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a federal holiday in the U.S. In 2009, he was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace, and in 2014, he was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
(Biography courtesy of Wikipedia)
Media: All members are required to inform the Office of Communications & Public Relations in advance for access to the ceremony and dignitaries for interviews. Please contact the Office of Communications at communications@lincoln.edu or 484-365-7427.
About Lincoln University
Lincoln University, the nation’s first degree-granting Historically Black College and University (HBCU), educates and empowers students to lead their communities and change the world. Lincoln offers a rigorous liberal arts education to a diverse student body of approximately 1,800 men and women in more than 34 undergraduate and graduate programs.
