On Friday, Dec. 11, at 6 p.m., approximately 800 Florida
Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) students will start the next
chapter of their lives as they receive their degrees in fields ranging from
agriculture to architecture.
The university’s annual fall commencement ceremony will be
held at the Alfred Lawson Jr. Multipurpose Center and Teaching Gymnasium,
located at 1800 Wahnish Way.
The event will include a special recognition of former FAMU percussion professor and United Way Lifetime Achievement honoree James Latimer. Latimer, who has performed with legends such as Duke Ellington, Alan Dawson, Max Roach, William Kraft, and Paul Price will receive an honorary doctorate degree. While at FAMU, he served as assistant director of bands under William P. Foster, Ed.D.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Mignon
L. Clyburn, an appointee of U.S. President Barack Obama, will serve as the
commencement speaker.
Clyburn served as acting chair of the FCC, following her
appointment by Obama in May 2013.
As commissioner, she is serving a second term for which she
took the oath of office in February 2013. She is the longest-serving member of
the Commission, beginning her service at the FCC in August 2009 after spending
11 years as a member of the sixth district on the Public Service Commission
(PSC) of South Carolina. She served as its chair from July 2002 through June
2004.
Prior to her service on the PSC, Clyburn was the publisher
and general manager of The Coastal Times, a Charleston-based weekly newspaper
that focused primarily on issues affecting the African-American community. She
co-owned and operated the family-founded newspaper for 14 years.
A longtime champion of consumers and a defender of the
public interest, Clyburn is a strong advocate for enhanced accessibility in
communications for disabled citizens and works closely with representative
groups for the deaf and hard of hearing. She has pushed for media ownership
rules that reflect the demographics of America, affordable universal telephone
and high-speed Internet access, greater broadband deployment and adoption
throughout the nation, and transparency in regulation.
In a recent keynote address before the National Urban
League, Clyburn underscored the importance of using technology and broadband
access as an “equalizer of opportunities.” She addressed the importance of
high-tech companies utilizing the talent of graduates from historically Black
colleges and universities and state-supported schools, and the role these
institutions play in closing the digital gap and connecting today’s youth with
careers in technology.
Clyburn is a member of the Federal-State Joint Board on
Universal Service, Federal-State Joint Board on Separations, and the
Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Services, all of which she chaired
for three years during her first term at the FCC.
She is the daughter of civil rights activist and U.S.
Representative Jim Clyburn and is a graduate of the University of South
Carolina. She holds a bachelor’s degree in banking, finance, and economics.