MOREHOUSE COLLEGE GRADUATES 440 MEN PREPARED TO REALIZE THEIR DREAMS

ATLANTA, May 23, 2000 - The first Morehouse graduating class of the 21st century marched into their futures - more than half of them wearing gold honor cords and tassels - academically prepared to tackle professional ambitions or advanced degrees.

Of the 440 graduates who received degrees Sunday, 240 graduated with Summa Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude or Cum Laude distinction. In addition, 47 of those are members of Phi Beta Kappa.

During the ceremony, honorary degrees were awarded to the Rev. G. Murray Branch, professor emeritus of the Old Testament at the Interdenominational Theological Center; Millard Dean Fuller, founder and president of Habitat for Humanity International; and Dorothy Irene Height, president emeritus of the National Council of Negro Women.

Also, three retired faculty members - Dr. Frederick E. Mapp '32; Dr. Addie S. Mitchell, retired professor of English and reading; and Dr. Harriett J. Walton, a recently retired professor of mathematics - each received a Presidential Award of Distinction.

Nima Warfield '94, the first African American Rhodes Scholar to graduate from a historically black college or university, delivered the Commencement Address.

"If you can be fearless, you can be extraordinary," Warfield said. "You are going to face incredible obstacles and major difficulties. You will face no greater enemy, no greater adversary, than your own fear."

Warfield, who was the youngest to deliver a Commencent Address in the history of the College, told the students that as he traveled to Japan with the equivalent of $10 and a promise of a job translating for USA Today, his personal fears became very real to him. Yet, he was able to call on his strength of character - which had been developed at Morehouse - to overcome those fears.

"If you master your fear, you will find yourselves capable of the unimaginable," said Warfield, who is a copyreader for The Wall Street Journal. "This is the time to be the visionary. If you want to be a serious player in this brave new world, you have got to be brave enough to free your mind from self-imposed slavery - fear."

One of the most distinguished institutions of higher education, Morehouse College is the nation's only historically black, private liberal arts college for men. Founded in 1867, the College enrolls approximately 3,000 students and confers bachelor's degrees on more black men than any other institution in the world. In addition to offering 36 majors in the humanities, natural and social sciences, Morehouse provides a number of programs and activities to enhance its challenging liberal arts program, including the Leadership Center at Morehouse College, the Morehouse Research Institute, and the Andrew Young Center for International Affairs.

Prominent alumni include Martin Luther King Jr., Nobel Peace Prize laureate and civil rights leader; Dr. David Satcher, U.S. Surgeon General; Dr. Henry Foster Jr., professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Meharry Medical School; Maynard H. Jackson, president of Jackson Securities and the first African-American mayor of Atlanta; and Louis Sullivan, president of the Morehouse School of Medicine and former secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

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Media Contact:

Thonnia Lee
404-215-2680
Tlee@Morehouse.edu