TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama awarded approximately 1,100 degrees at summer commencement exercises held Saturday, Aug. 12, at Coleman Coliseum on the Tuscaloosa campus.
Vivian Malone Jones, UA’s first African American graduate, was the featured speaker. She also received an honorary doctor of humane letters degree at the ceremony.
Jones enrolled at UA on June 11, 1963, following Gov. George Wallace’s unsuccessful “stand in the schoolhouse door,” and in 1965 received her degree in business management. In 1996, she retired after more than 30 years in various federal government positions that culminated with her position as director of the Office of Environmental Justice of the Environmental Protection Agency. She currently works with the Atlanta Associates of MONY Life Insurance Company of America.
With this graduating class, UA will have awarded more than 175,000 degrees since its founding in 1831 as the state’s first public university. UA holds commencement three times a year.
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