From Dream to Degree: Morgan’s Spring 2026 Commencement Celebrated Pride, Purpose and Promise

Near-perfect weather was the backdrop for a celebration of many significant milestones met, as Morgan State University held its 149th Spring Commencement Exercises this week on its pristine campus, the National Treasure.

Nearly 300 master’s degree candidates and 80-plus doctoral degree candidates received the fruit of their academic labor during the Graduate School ceremony, in Morgan’s Carl J. Murphy Fine Arts Center on Thursday, May 14. The Undergraduate Exercises, held on Saturday, May 16, featured conferral of nearly 900 bachelor’s degrees — more than 300 of them with Latin Honors — to candidates in scores of academic programs, as their family members, friends and other vocal well-wishers filled the stands of Morgan’s W.A.C. Hughes Memorial Stadium. Members of the Class of 1976 donned golden regalia to lead the undergraduate procession to a traditional place of honor in the stadium reserved for the 50th anniversary class — this year acknowledging the first Bears to graduate after Morgan State College became Morgan State University in 1975.

With the turning of the tassels this spring, Morgan achieved its highest-ever degree completion for an academic year: nearly 1,900 doctorate, master’s degree and baccalaureate recipients in 2025–26.

Earlier in the week, eight members of the Class of 2026 were commissioned into the U.S. Army as second lieutenants, after completing the requirements of the storied Bear Battalion ROTC program.

The Undergraduate Commencement speaker, Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), galvanized the gathering with a passionate, extemporaneous statement of belief in the soon-to-be graduates, as he challenged them to work to overcome the inequities and injustices facing the U.S. and the world today.

‘You Have the Power’

Stevenson outlined the personal experiences and family history that led him from rural Delaware to Harvard Law School and then to his nearly five decades of work with EJI: the racial segregation that had long denied a public school education to Black students; the out-of-town lawyers who ended that practice during his childhood and sent him to racially integrated schools; the love from his family, particularly the hugs from his grandmother, that still sustain him in difficult times.

“I want you to remember that embrace that happened, on this day of your accomplishment,” Stevenson told Morgan’s Spring Class of 2026. “…I want you to leave this place with a degree, yes, but also with an insight that you have the power to lift up other people.”

A visit to an inmate on death row in Georgia during Stevenson’s time as a law student led to a personal connection that changed his life, he recounted.

“We were just two people in proximity in fellowship,” Stevenson said. “…That’s the moment that I felt called to help condemned people get to higher ground…. What I’m telling you is that if you get proximate to people who suffer and struggle, if you get proximate to people who fall down, many of you will find your calling.”

Stevenson challenged the degree candidates to change their nation’s “narratives of fear and anger…. We have to agree to be combatants against the narratives that push fear, bigotry and anger. We have to change the narrative about race in America, because we’re not free. We’re still burdened by a long history of racial inequality and racial injustice.”

The Commencement speaker passed along the counsel he had received years earlier from civil rights icons Johnnie Carr, Virginia Foster Durr and Rosa Parks: “I tell you, graduates, that even in 2026, you’re going to have to be brave. You’re going to have to be courageous. You’re going to have to help change these narratives.”

“Stay hopeful,” he continued. “I believe that hopelessness is the enemy of justice. Injustice will prevail where hopelessness persists.”

Stevenson urged Morgan’s Spring Class of 2026 to “be willing to do things that are uncomfortable and inconvenient…. If you are the descendant of people who were enslaved in this country, enslaved in the Caribbean, if you’re the child of immigrants who had to deal with bigotry and hostility, yes, there is a history of trauma and violence and difficulty. But there’s another history that you have inherited. Our foreparents were strong and resilient and powerful. They learned to love in the midst of agony.

“And that capacity, that strength is also flowing through your veins…. I want you to hold onto that and never doubt that you can do the difficult things that must be done to achieve justice in this country.”

Morgan Made

Exemplars of the success of Morgan’s mission proliferated in the Class of 2026.  Kameko Johnson-Styles, one of Morgan’s first 17 Doctor of Social Work candidates, addressed her peers with a message of pride and hope in Morgan’s legacy, in the Salute to the Graduates portion of her Commencement ceremony, following MBA candidate Michael Prescot Jr., who shared the honor of delivering the ceremony’s keynote.

Summa cum laude graduate Champion Oluwatobi Ojo lacked a speaking part at Commencement, but the Economics major from Hyattsville, Maryland, served as “the voice of the students” throughout his senior year, as the student regent on Morgan’s governing body, the Board of Regents. Initially drawn to Morgan’s rigorous academic training and cultural legacy, he found an experience that “far exceeded my expectations.”

“I came in hoping to get a solid education and join a few organizations, but I ended up becoming deeply woven into the fabric of the university,” Ojo says. His work as a leader at Morgan taught him that “true impact is about what you leave behind…. Morgan didn’t just teach me how to be a strong student or a capable analyst; it taught me that leadership is a responsibility to lift as you climb.”

Post-Commencement, Ojo will participate in the highly selective Summer Venture Management Program at Harvard University. Immediately after completing the Harvard program, he will step into a full-time role as a commercial banking analyst at Wells Fargo.

Baltimore native Rasheeda Alford, a clinical nurse educator at Morgan, has enjoyed a long, fruitful journey with the University, beginning in 2009 as a member of the first cohort of Bachelor of Science in Nursing students and maintaining her connection with Morgan after her graduation in 2011 and during her subsequent career as an educator and RN. On May 14, the single mother and first-generation college student stepped to the stage of Murphy Fine Arts Center to receive her Master of Science in Nursing diploma. Alford is passionate about preparing future nurses through learner-centered strategies that emphasize judgment, patient safety and evidence-based practice.

“I love my Morgan,” she proclaims. “I love the nursing program. It has shaped me. It has molded me.”

Johnna Hill has made her mark on the National Treasure as a scholar and an athlete. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she came to Morgan as a first-year student “attracted by the chance to experience diverse perspectives, learn valuable professional skills and be a student-athlete,” Hill says. “Morgan met my expectation that I was going to experience adversity, challenges and growth as a result of being pushed out of my comfort zone.”

She did well there, to say the least. A four-year standout of Morgan’s Bowling team, she became the Bears’ first-ever MEAC Rookie of the Year and Morgan’s Female Athlete of the Year in her first season. She now plans to take her Bachelor of Science in Accounting, summa cum laude (4.0 GPA), to a career as a corporate accountant and professional bowler.

“I benefited from my Morgan experience,” Hill says.  “…I am now graduating as someone who is strong enough to be a successful employee, provider and athlete for the rest of my life.”

Yasmine Bryant praises Morgan for fulfilling her, and she has given back in many ways. The B.A. in Sociology graduate from Kissimmee, Florida, founded one of Morgan’s first student-led organizations against campus violence, Students Against Sexual Harassment and Assault; represented Morgan in an internship with Baltimore Police Department; offered in-person testimony before the Maryland General Assembly to denounce the use of illegal aftermarket devices that convert firearms into automatic weapons; and has been featured in several campus productions. A capstone moment was her coronation as the 80th Miss Morgan State University.

Bryant is preparing to pursue a graduate degree now, as she builds the foundation of a career as a business owner outside of her established career path pursuing law and politics. 

“…These college years were the best times I’ve had in my life,” she adds. “It’s definitely where I’ve learned a lot, and I had the opportunity to make mistakes and to get back up with the support of my classmates and my friends and the people (with whom) I have some of the best relationships that I value the most in the world.”  

Michael Elliott Yates, of Reisterstown, Maryland, began his matriculation at Morgan as a Music Fine Arts major focused on singing opera. On May 16, he became one of the first six graduates of the University’s B.F.A. in Musical Theatre program. Yates says Morgan taught him the value of Black art’s contributions to society and offered him “back-to-back opportunities” to practice his craft and connect with successful artists — artists including playwright, filmmaker and author David E. Talbert, a Morgan graduate of the Class of 1989. 

“I feel like it’s a blessing,” Yates says of his Morgan experience. “I became the first HBCU student to do a summer conservatory at Barrington Stage Company, which has been home to many Broadway musicals before they went to Broadway and is also home to composers and playwrights who have been pivotal in musical theater.”

‘It Takes a Village’

Six candidates received honors from President Wilson during the Undergraduate Exercises: Mivette Garcia (B.S., Business Administration), Russell L. Jackson III (B.S., Applied Liberal Studies) and Eniola Niranoluwa (B.S., Business Administration) were presented the President’s Second Mile Award for outstanding leadership and participation in student affairs; and Charlton Dottin (B.S., Actuarial Science), Ernandie Innocent (B.S., Social Work) and Maureen Kwakye-Dankwa (B.S., Architecture and Environmental Design) received the President’s Award for Exceptional Creative Achievement.

Unbridled joy became quiet reflection after the conferring of degrees and awarding of diplomas to Morgan’s latest bachelor’s degree recipients, as Senior Class President Saniya Williams delivered the Salute to the Graduates. She offered words of gratitude to Morgan and her family and a message of pride in the accomplishments and promise of the Spring Class of 2026.

“My mom has always taught me that it takes a village to raise a child, Williams said. “Today, we as graduates are beyond grateful for that village.”

“As you go forward, go out on the world stage, dance with the best of them, show pride in alma mater, don’t forget to come back, don’t forget to reach back, and don’t forget to give back,” said President Wilson in his closing remarks to the graduates, in the ceremony that marked the culmination of his 16th year at Morgan’s helm.

As the cheers faded and the newly minted Morgan grads linked with loved ones across campus to relish the moment, the significance of the day lingered far beyond the ceremonies themselves. Morgan’s Spring Class of 2026 departed during an academic year not only record-setting for the University but also reaffirming the power of a Morgan education to shape leaders, innovators, advocates and changemakers prepared to leave their mark on the world.

From the newest doctoral graduates to the undergraduate Class of 2026, the newest generation of Morgan Made alumni now carries forward a legacy built across 159 years — one grounded in excellence, resilience, service and hope. And as the blissfully eager 897 degree holders turned their tassels beneath Saturday’s clear spring skies and the 373 graduate degree earners proudly donned their new academic hoods two days prior, the future they are boldly stepping into is as promising as the institution that gainfully helped prepare them for it.