Morgan’s Spring Commencement Highlights Growth and Excellence, Legacy and Leadership

BALTIMORE — Morgan State University welcomed one of the largest graduating classes in its history this week, as Morgan, Maryland’s Preeminent Public Urban Research University and largest HBCU, held its 148th Spring Commencement Exercises on its campus, the National Treasure. Today’s Undergraduate Exercises in Hughes Memorial Stadium followed the School of Graduate Studies ceremony, which was held in the Carl J. Murphy Fine Arts Center on Thursday, May 15. Sanjay K. Rai, Ph.D., secretary of the Maryland Higher Education Commission, was among the special guests on the platform at the Undergraduate Commencement, where the golden garbed 50th anniversary class, the Class of 1975, led the procession — a place of honor for the last class to graduate from Morgan State College before the institution attained university status.

A total of 1,022 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral candidates received their degrees at the two Commencement celebrations —  besting last year’s total by more than 180 candidates — among them 288 Latin Honors graduates; a history-making 16 students with perfect cumulative 4.0 grade-point averages, who shared the title of class valedictorian; and a record high 60 doctoral candidates, a milestone in Morgan’s progress toward the prestigious R1 Carnegie classification signifying “very high research activity.”

Notable among the undergraduate candidates were the three first-ever recipients of the Bachelor of Science in one of Morgan’s latest degree offerings supporting the future of work, Mechatronics Engineering, and the first-ever recipient of Morgan’s Bachelor of Arts in Musical Theatre.

Six members of the Class of 2025 received commissions as first lieutenants in the U.S. Army in a separate ceremony held by the University’s ROTC Bear Battalion on Thursday, May 15.

Growth, excellence, legacy and leadership were the unofficial themes of Morgan’s Spring 2025 Commencement events, which included presentation of honorary doctorates to three outstanding achievers at the Undergraduate Exercises, by Morgan President David K. Wilson and Morgan’s Board of Regents chair, Congressman Kweisi Mfume. Thasunda Brown Duckett, president and chief executive officer of the Fortune 100 financial services company TIAA, was awarded a Doctor of Laws; Juan E. Gilbert, Ph.D., pioneering computer scientist, professor and department chair at the University of Florida and developer of the Prime III secure voting system, received Doctor of Science honors; and Morgan’s own Burney J. Hollis, Ph.D., revered educator, scholar and academic leader, was honored with a Doctor of Humane Letters. Dr. Hollis’ career at Morgan, as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and in many other vital capacities, spanned 48 years. Through his mentoring, Dr. Gilbert has helped produce more African American Ph.D.s in computer science than anyone else in the nation’s history.

Cultivating Dreams

Duckett, who was also the keynote speaker for the Undergraduate Exercises, told the audience about the legacy she inherited from her maternal ancestors in racially segregated, rural Alabama, how it instilled in her the importance of education, how it helped her overcome the financial insecurity of her youth and how it fueled her passion for leadership.

While at the University of Houston pursuing her bachelor’s degrees in marketing and finance, Duckett received an internship through an inclusion program named INROADS that paved her way into Corporate America. “And today,” Duckett told the audience, “as you heard President Wilson say, I am one of just two Black women CEOs in the Fortune 500 and one of just four Black women to have ever led a Fortune 500 company…. My ancestors cultivated a dream of education and achievement for generations, and it grew into a reality my great-grandmother could have only imagined.

“Today,” she added, “I am continuing the legacy for my own son and daughters,” including her eldest daughter, a first-year student at Harvard.

Duckett called on the Class of 2025 to start its own journey to effective and impactful leadership, “the kind that shapes industries, transforms communities and leaves a lasting, positive impact on the world.” Leadership, she said, requires character developed through perseverance; vision; intellectual curiosity leading to understanding of others’ perspectives; a willingness to work; and optimism, even in the face of today’s problems that seem insurmountable.

“I assure you, friends, we live in a country that on its worst day still has innovation and renewal in its DNA,” Duckett said. “We confront our challenges, learn from them and rise again. And I believe it’s the shared ideal of a more perfect union that has anchored the best in us and fuels the progress we continue to make.”

Praiseworthy Achievements

Morgan’s Spring graduates included countless exemplars of excellence, five of whom were recognized with presidential awards. Bachelor of Science in Computer Science candidate Godsheritage Adeoye, Bachelor of Science in Multimedia Journalism candidate Morelys Los Urbano and Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering candidate Emmanuel Durojaiye received the President’s Second Mile Award for outstanding leadership and participation in student affairs, and Loretta Gray (B.S., Family and Consumer Sciences) and Catherine Scharbach (B.S., Interior Design) accepted the President’s Award for Exceptional Creative Achievement. 

Adeoye, who hails from Kwara, Nigeria, had already compiled a long list of praiseworthy academic, extracurricular and career accomplishments when he was interviewed for Morgan Magazine during his sophomore year.

“I just want to leave this kind of legacy behind where they’d be able to say Godsheritage not only just did good for himself but…also to open doors for other people,” he said in Fall 2023. And his achievements and legacy continued to grow over time.

Carol A. Smith, a Ph.D. in Bioenvironmental Sciences graduate of the Class of 2025, represents the excellence produced by Morgan’s graduate programs. The University of California, Berkeley, and University of Maryland, College Park alum came to Morgan in 2020, attracted by the unique scholastic and research opportunities supported by the University’s Patuxent Environmental and Aquatic Research Laboratory (PEARL). She completed her doctoral dissertation on the topic of “Microplastics With Co-Contaminants and Plastic Degrading Microbes Found in the Chrysora Chesapeakei of the Patuxent River, Chesapeake Bay.”

“My overall experience at Morgan has been a positive one. It has gone beyond my expectations,” Smith said in an interview last year. “…Before I even got my Ph.D., I was able to be catapulted into a peer-reviewed journal (as) first author.” Looking ahead, she said, “I would very much like to continue my career in marine studies, and I would like to improve the waterways, in order to get rid of microplastics and contaminants within.”

A Collective Victory

A long-held Commencement tradition, the Salute to the Graduates addresses by outstanding members of the class, yielded inspiring messages about the power of Morgan’s mission and the responsibilities that come with attaining a Morgan education.

Senior Class President Katiana Guillaume, a Bachelor of Science in Biology graduate, addressed the audience at the Undergraduate Exercises, after the very celebratory awarding of diplomas.

“If there’s one word that defines the Class of 2025, it’s perseverance,” said Guillaume, echoing a message of the event’s keynote speaker, Thasunda Brown Duckett. “…To Morgan, our beloved alma mater, thank you for molding us. The lessons learned here extend far beyond the classroom. We leave with knowledge, yes, but also with confidence, courage and community.”

As HBCU graduates, “we are the dream and the continuation of those who came before us,” Guillaume continued. “We are living, breathing Black history. Own that.”

From Thursday's School of Graduate Studies ceremony, class leaders emphasized themes of transformation, legacy and perseverance. “Together, on this day, we have come out not just educated but transformed,” said Master of Arts in International Studies candidate Karmel Reeves to the audience at the Graduate Exercises. “…This moment is not just about us. It’s about those who will come after us…. It’s about the communities counting on us to return, to rebuild and to reinvest…. This degree is not the finish line, Class of 2025. It’s the tool. The world is the assignment.”

“Our presence here is a continuation of many of our ancestors’ resistance, wisdom and vision,” said Doctor of Philosophy in Higher Education Candidate Juana Hollingsworth, who followed Reeves to the lectern. “I am here because of those who came before me…. This degree is not a personal victory for us. It is a collective one.”

In his closing remarks for the Undergraduate Exercises, President Wilson reminded the graduates of the challenge he issued as they entered Morgan State. 

“The challenge was simply to take your studies here seriously and use all that this university has to offer you wisely, and to promise me that you would graduate in 2025,” said Wilson, who will complete his 15th year at Morgan’s helm on June 30.

Wilson urged the Class of 2025 to continue Morgan’s legacy by lifting their voices to address social and economic inequality, racial injustice and intolerance.

“You must fight, Morganites, for what is right and fair,” he stated, “and you must understand that our history cannot and will not ever be erased from the history books.”