Huntingdon Prepares for Baccalaureate, Commencement ExercisesMontgomery, Ala.—The members of the Class of 2010 at
Huntingdon College are preparing for
the end of their undergraduate years and the beginning of the rest of
their lives, as the College prepares
for the traditional Baccalaureate and Commencement Exercises to take
place next month. Baccalaureate, a
religious service for members of the Class of 2010 and their families,
will be held Friday, May 7, at 5:00
p.m. in the College’s Ligon Chapel, Flowers Hall. Two commencement
ceremonies will be held Saturday, May
8, at Top Stage on the College Green: the first, for traditional day
students, will begin at 9:00 a.m.; the
second, for graduates in the College’s Adult Degree Completion Program,
will begin at 6:00 p.m. In the
case of inclement weather, the ceremonies will take place in the
College’s Roland Arena, inside Catherine
Dixon Roland Student Center.
The Rev. Dr. William H. Willimon, a member of the Huntingdon College
Board of Trustees, will preach for the
Baccalaureate service. Willimon has served as a bishop of the United
Methodist Church in the North Alabama
Conference since 2004. For twenty years prior to this service, he served
as dean of the chapel and professor of
Christian ministry at Duke University. A graduate of Wofford College
(B.A.), Yale Divinity School (M.Div.), and
Emory University (S.T.D.), he has pastored churches in Georgia and South
Carolina. In 1992 he was named as the
first Distinguished Alumnus of Yale Divinity School. He serves on the
faculties of Birmingham-Southern College
as a visiting distinguished professor and at Duke Divinity School as a
visiting research professor. The author
of 60 books and numerous articles, he has lectured widely in the U.S.
and abroad. His book, “Worship as
Pastoral Care,” was selected as one of the ten most useful books for
pastors in 1979 by the Academy of
Parish Clergy. In 1996 an international survey conducted by Baylor
University named him one of the Twelve Most
Effective Preachers in the English-speaking world.
More than 100 years after his ancestor, John Jefferson Flowers, was
instrumental in arranging for the purchase
of property that brought Huntingdon to Montgomery from its original home
in Tuskegee, J. Christopher Flowers,
chairman and chief executive officer of J.C. Flowers and Company, will
deliver the Commencement Address for
Huntingdon’s traditional ceremony beginning at 9:00 a.m., Saturday, May
8. A magna cum laude graduate
of Harvard University in applied mathematics, Flowers began his career
at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and was among
the founders of Goldman’s Financial Institutions Group. In 1998 he
founded J.C. Flowers & Co., an
investment firm specializing in financial services, with investments
largely in the U.S., Japan, and Europe in
banking, insurance, and finance, and committed capital of more than $10
billion. Flowers is chairman of Nets for
Life, a program aimed at reducing malaria; a trustee of the New York
Philharmonic Orchestra; a member of the
investment committee for St. James Church (New York); and serves on
various committees for Harvard University.
Delivering the Commencement Address for the Adult Degree Completion
Program (ADCP) Commencement Exercises is Dr.
Celia Rudolph, Huntingdon Class of 1980, a 27-year public education
veteran currently serving as assistant
superintendent for Muscle Shoals City Schools. After graduating from
Huntingdon with a bachelor’s degree in
psychology and special education, Rudolph earned her master’s degree in
school psychology at Auburn University,
an Education Specialist degree at the University of North Alabama, and a
doctorate in educational leadership at
Samford University. She has worked in a variety of roles in public
education, including as a teacher in special
education and gifted education, a school psychologist, and an assistant
principal. Rudolph is a member of the
Huntingdon Board of Trustees. Her son, Glenn, is a 2009 graduate of
Huntingdon College.
Huntingdon College, grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition of the
United Methodist Church, is committed to
nurturing growth in faith, wisdom, and service and to graduating
individuals prepared to succeed in a rapidly
changing world. Founded in 1854 in Tuskegee, Alabama, the College
celebrated its 100th year in Montgomery in 2009.
Huntingdon is a coeducational liberal arts college. About 100 graduating
students are expected to participate in
the traditional Commencement ceremony, with 84 expected participants in
ADCP Commencement Exercises.
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Su Ofe
Associate Vice President for Communications and Marketing
1500 East Fairview Avenue • Montgomery, Alabama 36106
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