National higher education leader Mildred García will deliver the main address to some 1,500 graduates at Ithaca College’s 124th Commencement ceremony, scheduled for Sunday, May 19.
As president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, García works to influence federal policy and regulations on behalf of over 400 member colleges, universities and systems. She has previously served as president of two institutions in the California State University system — Dominguez Hills and Fullerton. García was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, and she is currently on the boards of the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment and the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities.
Also making remarks at Commencement will be Ithaca College President Shirley M. Collado, Senior Class President Ezeka Allen and Board of Trustees chairman David Lissy ’87.
The 10 a.m. ceremony at Butterfield Stadium on campus is open to the public. It can be viewed locally on Spectrum cable channel 16 and will be streamed live online at www.ithaca.edu/commencement/livestream.
García will join educator and journalist Melissa Harris-Perry and City of Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick in being awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree at the ceremony.
Currently the Maya Angelou Presidential Chair at Wake Forest University, Harris-Perry has contributed to American public life through her distinct combination of scholarly analysis and ordinary wisdom applied to the issues of race, gender, politics and power. She is the author of several books, and from 2012–16 she hosted her own weekend show on MSNBC, for which she was awarded a 2016 Hillman Prize for Broadcast Journalism.
Sworn into office in January of 2012 at the age of 24, Myrick became both the youngest mayor of the City of Ithaca and its first mayor of color. He had previously been elected to the city’s Common Council while still a junior at Cornell University. Myrick has provided both local and national leadership in critical areas such as public health, housing, poverty and access to education. His honors include an Aspen Institute-Rodel Fellowship in Public Leadership and the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award.
For more information on Ithaca College Commencement, visit www.ithaca.edu/commencement.