DR. JOHNNETTA B. COLE TO SPEAK AT B-CC COMMENCEMENT

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The Bethune-Cookman College 2004 Commencement will feature Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole as keynote speaker. Dr. Cole is the 14th president of Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole

Dr. Cole's career in academia began over three decades ago. She made history in 1987 by becoming the first African-American woman to serve as president of Spelman College. This April, she will become the first African-American to serve as Chair of the Board of United Way.

Dr. Cole is President Emerita of Spelman College and Professor Emerita of Emory University from which she retired as Presidential Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Women's Studies, and African-American Studies.

She began college at Fisk University and completed undergraduate work at Oberlin College. She earned a master's degree and Ph.D in anthropology from Northwestern University. Dr. Cole has also authored numerous publications including her most recent, Gender Talk: The Struggle for Women's Equality in African American Communities, co-authored with Dr. Beverly Guy Sheftall.

Dr. Cole serves on the board of the Carter Center, the National Visionary Leadership Project, and the United Way of Greater Greensboro. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Merck & Co., Inc., and the Atlantic Falcons. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, The Links, Inc. and the National Council for Negro Women.

Dr. Cole has received 48 honorary degrees and recipient of a vast number of awards including the TransAfrica Forum Global Public Service Award, the Dorothy I. Height Dreammaker Award, the Radcliffe Medal, the Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal, the 2001 Alexis deTocqueville Award for Community Service.

Dr. Cole is the mother of three sons and has one granddaughter. In 1998, she became the "big sister" of a teenager through the Big Brothers/Big Sisters Program.

The Commencement Convocation is scheduled for Monday, May 3 at the Ocean Center, 101 N. Atlantic Ave., Daytona Beach. The public is invited.  

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Bethune-Cookman is a comprehensive college, which offers degrees in liberal arts as well as professional fields, such as business, education and nursing. A United Methodist Church-affiliated school, the College has a diverse and international student population of more than 2,700 and a solid reputation for academic excellence and community service. As evidence of its outstanding program, the College has been listed in the Templeton Honor Roll of Character Building Colleges and Universities, and it was ranked by Black Enterprise magazine as one of the “Top 50” schools in the nation for black students.  B-CC is one of 10 charter member colleges of Project Pericles, a program to create civic leadership and involvement on its member campuses.  The College will celebrate its 100^th year of founding on October 4, 2004.

For more information, contact our website www.bethune.cookman.edu. 

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