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The Emory Wheel

Emory’s only independent student newspaper www.emorywheel.com Cover and back photos: Ally Hom

Magazine produced by Mileen Meyer, Brammhi Balarajan, Sophia Ling, Matthew Chupack, Hunter Collins and Ally Hom

Tyler Perry to Deliver 2022 Commencement Address

By Eva RoytBuRg, NEws EditoR

Prolific director, producer, actor and screenwriter Tyler Perry will deliver the keynote address at Emory University’s 177th Commencement ceremony and receive an honorary doctor of letters degree on May 9.

Perry is acclaimed for the 20 stage plays, 17 feature films and seven television shows he has developed, most notably the television series “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne.” Additionally, he is wellknown for creating and portraying the character Madea, a tough elderly woman.

In 2015, Perry acquired the 330-acre former military base Fort McPherson in Atlanta and converted it into the Tyler Perry Studios. Since then, it has become one of the largest film studios in the nation and the first major motion picture production facility to be exclusively owned by a Black person.

Nsenga K. Burton, co-director of Emory’s Film and Media Management concentration, noted in an April 18 email to the Wheel that Perry’s studio helped revitalize the Atlanta film scene and attract investors.

“Granting Perry this significant honor demonstrates Emory’s acknowledgement of the significant contribution Tyler Perry Studios has made to the film and televisual landscape and confirms Atlanta’s status as Hollywood South,” Burton wrote.

Perry has received several accolades for his humanitarian work in recent years, both personally and through the Perry Foundation, which has developed a significant number of Atlanta-based projects to uplift the economically disadvantaged. Perry has a history of covering the expenses of rent, college education and funerals for those in need.

In 2020, Perry was honored with the Governor’s Award from the Primetime Emmy Awards and was included in TIME’s list of the 100 most influential people. The following year, he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy Awards.

“Whether funding scholarships for talented students, covering the grocery bills of elderly Atlanta residents or supporting global disaster relief, [Perry] is renowned for creating opportunities and giving back to his community,” University President Gregory Fenves wrote in a March 1 email to the Emory community.

Sally Q. Yates and Louise (Lou) R. Glenn will also receive honorary degrees during the commencement ceremony.

Yates, an Atlanta native, was appointed as the United States Deputy Attorney General by former President Barack Obama in 2015. She served as Acting Attorney General under former President Donald Trump’s administration for 10 days before being dismissed for insubordination on Jan. 30, 2017 after instructing the justice department to not defend Executive Order 13769, known as the “Muslim ban.” This executive order temporarily banned the admission of refugees and barred travel from several Muslim-majority countries.

Glenn is a founding trustee of The Wilbur & Hilda Glenn Family Foundation, where she has supported initiatives on cancer treatment. The Glenn Family Breast Center, Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute’s first named center for a specific type of cancer, was established in 2013 through gifts from the foundation.

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons