Grambling State to Confer Honorary Degree on Commencement Speaker Muriel Howard

GRAMBLING, LA. --- Dr. Muriel A. Howard has been named commencement speaker for Grambling State University’s spring graduation ceremony. Howard will receive an honorary doctorate during the ceremony which is scheduled to take place at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 15 at the Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center on the Grambling State University campus.

“The honorary degree is the most impressive recognition one can achieve. It denotes that the institution has determined that the recipient possesses the academic and personal values that are consistent with its mission. It also denotes that the person’s accomplishments have exceeded a particular discipline and has excelled in numerous endeavors. Dr.

Howard’s commitment to higher education and her accomplishments deserve university recognition”, said Interim President Dr. Frank G. Pogue. Dr. Howard is the current president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). She is the first African-American to lead one of the six presidentially based higher education associations in Washington, D.C. She is also AASCU’s first female president.

An advocate for public education at the national level, Dr. Howard works to influence federal policy and regulations on behalf of the over 400 AASCU public colleges and universities. She is the former president of Buffalo State College of the State University of New York, which had an enrollment of over 11,000 students, over 1,700 faculty and staff, and an annual overall campus financial operation of over $214 million. # # #


For Immediate Release: May 5, 2010 Contact:Vanessa Littleton Director of Public Relations GRAMBLING STATE UNIVERSITY MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE 100 Robinson St.-Old Air Force ROTC Building Grambling, Louisiana 71245 (318) 274-2560 office (318) 533-5337 cell (318) 274-3330 fax