Morehouse College 2024 Baccalaureate Program

baccalaureate 2024

Saturday, the Eighteenth Day of May

Two Thousand Twenty-Four Three o’clock in the Afternoon

the martin luther king jr. international chapel

OrderofBaccalaureate

presiding

The Reverend Lawrence Edward Carter Sr., Ph.D. , Dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel

Prelude

Processional

Call to Baccalaureate

Evocation

The Occasion

*†Hymn

Scripture

Anthem

Introduction of Preacher

Sermon

Oil Portrait Unveilings

“Now Thank We All Our God” “Improvisation on Dear Old Morehouse” by Sigfried Karg-Elert Arr. David Oliver

“Trumpet Voluntary” by John Stanley

Spiritual

Closing Remarks

Benediction

Morehouse College Hymn

Recessional

Dr. David Oliver

The Reverend Dean Carter

The Reverend Dr. Joseph C. Parker Jr. ‘74 Senior Pastor, David Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, Austin, Texas

Willie E. Woods ’85 Chair, Morehouse College Board of Trustees President and Managing Director, ICV Partners, New York City, N.Y

“Great Is Thy Faithfulness”

Hymn Text: Thomas O. Chisholm

Hymn Tune: FAITHFULNESS

With Refrain: William M. Runyan

Psalm 139:1-18 (KJV)

“Great and Glorious” by Franz Joseph Haydn; arr. Joseph S. Daltry

“Just One of Dem Days” Psalm 3:1-3 (NRSV)

Dorothy Cowser Yancy, Ph.D.

Professor Emerita of Political Science and Business, former President of Universities, Civil Rights Movement activist, Trustee Emerita of Morehouse College

Michael Lucius Lomax, Ph.D. ’68 President and CEO, United Negro College Fund

“Then Shall the Trumpets Sound”

“He Never Failed Me Yet” by Robert Ray

Adapted by Keith Christopher

“Dear Old Morehouse”

J.O.B. Moseley ’29

“Trumpet Voluntary” by Henry Purcell

Morehouse College Glee Club

Ethan Christopher Lewis ’24 Senior Class President

Morehouse College Glee Club

Dr. David Anthony Thomas President, Morehouse College

The Reverend Reginald Wayne Sharpe Jr. ’13 Associate Pastor, Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, Chicago

President Thomas Chairman Woods

The Reverend Dean Carter

Morehouse College Glee Club

Soloists: Londarius Anderson, Tenor and Langston Bassett, Tenor Desmond Thompson, Pianist

The Reverend Dean Carter

The Reverend Dr. Eric Wendel Lee Sr. ’93 Senior Pastor, Springfield Baptist Church, Conyers, Ga.

ALL

Dr. Oliver

Dr. David Edward Morrow ’80, Professor of Music and Director of the Morehouse College Glee Club

Dr. David Francis Oliver, College Organist

Abandon Rank All Ye Who Enter Here

2024 BaccalaureatePreacher

The Rev. Reginald Wayne Sharpe Jr. ’13

Senior Pastor, Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, Chicago

The Rev. Reginald Wayne Sharpe Jr. serves as senior pastor of the Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago.

Sharpe, a proud native of Lithonia, Georgia, began his faith journey at The Greater Travelers Rest Baptist Church—House of Hope, Atlanta, and served as campus pastor of the House of Hope Macon for more than three years. Under his leadership, the church experienced substantial growth.

Sharpe is the third pastor to lead Chicago’s historic Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church. He has faithfully served as senior pastor of the church since Dec. 31, 2019, and is honored to be following in the pastoral lineage of the late Rev. Clay Evans and Pastor Charles Jenkins.

Sharpe is credited with helping Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church to experience astronomical growth in all aspects of ministry. Some 1,500 new members have been welcomed. And, under his leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic, the church suspended in-person worship for a time but also launched #TheVirtualShip, a thriving virtual extension of the church’s ministry that eventually engaged an average weekly audience of 25,000 people. Sharpe unrelentingly believed that, “although the building was closed, the church was still open.”

As the peak of the pandemic receded, Sharpe charted a course for the church marked by milestones such as the erasure of more than $2 million in debt and inauguration of The Anchor Project Community Initiative—an affirmation of the church’s steadfast commitment to elevating and enriching its community. As a result of his exemplary work in the community, Sharpe was awarded the 2023 Men of Excellence Award by The Chicago Defender.

Sharpe earned a bachelor’s degree in religion from Morehouse in 2013 and holds a Master of Theological Studies degree from Vanderbilt University Divinity School, as well as a Master of Theology degree from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in African American Preaching and Sacred Rhetoric at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis.

Sharpe is a charter member of the Academy of Preachers, which seeks to identify, network, inspire and support young people in their call to gospel preaching. He was one of the youngest preachers inducted into The Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers at Morehouse College in 2018, and he holds the honor of being the youngest preacher at the Hampton University Ministers’ Conference. Sharpe has taught as an adjunct religion and philosophy professor at Morehouse, and is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

While Sharpe is mostly known for his preaching ministry, he is a committed student of theology and homiletics, and believes in the virtue of kindness. He also highly values quality time with family and friends.

In 2015, Sharpe married Brianna Sullivan Sharpe. Together, they live and serve in ministry in Chicago.

2024

Oil Portrait Honoree

Michael Lucius Lomax, Ph.D. ’68

President and CEO, United Negro College Fund

Michael Lucius Lomax, Ph.D., serves as president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), the nation’s largest and most effective minority education organization and the largest private provider of scholarships and other educational support to underrepresented students.

A native of Los Angeles, Lomax entered Morehouse College at 16 and in 1968 was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in English as one of the College’s inaugural Phi Beta Kappa graduates. He earned a Master of Arts degree in English Literature from Columbia University in 1972 and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in American and African American Literature from Emory University in 1984.

In 1969, Lomax joined Morehouse as an English instructor. Over the next 20 years, he served on the faculties of both Morehouse and Spelman Colleges.

Lomax also began his civic career in Atlanta, working as the director of research and special assistant to Maynard Holbrook Jackson ’56, the city’s first African American mayor. During the Jackson Administration, he also helped establish Atlanta’s Office of Cultural Affairs.

In 1978, Lomax was elected to the Fulton County Board of Commissioners and became the first African American to be elected board chairman, responsible for a $500 million annual operating budget and 5,000 county employees. He founded the Fulton County Arts Council and the National Black Arts Festival, and oversaw the building of Georgia’s Interstate 400, the expansion and renovation of historic Grady Hospital, and construction of the Fulton County Government Center. In 1988, Lomax co-chaired the Democratic National Convention and was instrumental in bringing the 1996 Olympic Games to Atlanta.

Then, in 1994, he began his tenure as president of the National Faculty, an Atlanta-based organization dedicated to bringing together arts and sciences higher education scholars with K-12 teachers.

From 1997 to 2004, Lomax served as the fifth president of Dillard University. During his tenure, he led a successful $60 million campaign and saw student enrollment increase by nearly 50 percent, accompanied by dramatic increases in private funding and alumni giving.

Since 2004, Lomax has served as president and chief executive officer of UNCF. Under his leadership, UNCF has raised more than $4 billion and helped more than 200,000 students earn college degrees and launch careers. Annually, UNCF’s work enables 50,000 students to go to college with UNCF scholarships and attend its 37-member Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Lomax also oversees the organization’s 400-plus scholarship programs, which award more than 10,000 scholarships a year. In addition, he launched UNCF’s Institute for Capacity Building, which supports member HBCUs to become stronger, more effective and self-sustaining.

Under Lomax’s leadership, UNCF has engineered partnerships with reform-focused leaders and organizations and worked to further advance HBCUs with Congress, the administration, and the Department of Education.

Among his many honors, Lomax was appointed to the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities by President George W. Bush. He serves on the boards of Handshake, the KIPP Foundation, Cengage Group and Teach for America. He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Senate, a trustee of the Studio Museum in Harlem, a founding member of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, and a past board member for America’s Promise Alliance.

A former Emory University trustee, Lomax, received the university’s most prestigious alumni honor, the Emory Medal, in 2004. His other awards include the Omicron Delta Kappa Laurel Crowned Circle Award, Morehouse’s Bennie Achievement Award, and 17 honorary degrees.

He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., and Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, Inc.

Lomax resides in Atlanta, and is the father of three daughters, Deignan, Michele and Rachel, as well as the grandfather of Chloe, Averie, Bailey, Ethan and Michael, who is a rising senior at Morehouse College.

2024 Oil Portrait Honoree

Dorothy Cowser Yancy, Ph.D.

Professor Emerita of Political Science and Business, former President of Universities, and Civil Rights Movement activist

Dorothy Cowser

Yancy holds a remarkable place in the history of higher education leadership as the first woman to serve as president of both Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU) and Shaw University. She led JCSU from 1994 to 2008 and twice served as president of Shaw University from 2009–2010, and then 2011–2013.

During her tenure at Shaw, Yancy navigated significant challenges. She secured a $31 million federal loan to stabilize university finances, restructured and refinanced the university’s debt, balanced the budget, raised the Composite Financial Index score, and recruited one of the largest freshmen classes in the history of the university.

As president of JCSU, Yancy marshaled phenomenal growth and progress, raising more than $145 million for the university. During her tenure, the JCSU endowment more than tripled from $14 million to $53 million. At retirement in 2008, she left the university with a balanced budget, a $10 million rainy day fund, and the majority of buildings renovated. Applications to the university increased by 400%, and, under her watch, a new technology center, library, and track/stadium/academic complex were constructed.

During her career, Yancy also served as a professor in the College of Management at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she was the first African American to be promoted and tenured as a full professor. She taught at several other institutions, including Albany State University, Hampton University, and Barat College, where she was director of the Afro-American Studies Program.

Yancy is also listed as an arbitrator with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and has served on many boards, including: the Board of Directors of Bank America of the Carolinas; Charlotte Chamber of Commerce; National Association of Independent

Colleges and Universities; Council of Independent Colleges; and the Charlotte Urban League. She has also served as a member of the Board of Trustees at both Morehouse College and Saint Augustine’s University.

A native of Alabama, Yancy was the recipient of a Fulbright Scholar Award. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and social science from JCSU, a Master of Arts degree in history from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a doctorate in political science from Atlanta University. Yancy also earned certificates in management development from Harvard University, and has been awarded honorary doctorates from JCSU, Shaw University, Virginia State University, and Wilberforce University.

Yancy has received numerous awards and accolades. In 2002 she was inducted into the Delta of Georgia Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. In 2011 Yancy was given the Honorary Alumni Award by the Georgia Tech Alumni Association, and in 2013, she received the Dr. Dorothy I. Height Leadership Award, In 2013, the Shaw University Board of Trustees named its research building the Dorothy Cowser Yancy Building, and in 2015, the JCSU Board of Trustees named its technology building the Dorothy Cowser Yancy Hall.

Currently, Yancy serves as a consultant in higher education governance and leadership. For example, she is a consultant for the Clark Atlanta HBCU Executive Leadership Institute, a pioneering initiative committed to nurturing and empowering the next generation of HBCU leaders. And, recently, the Higher Education Leadership Foundation not only honored Yancy with its prestigious H.E.L.F. Vanguard Award but renamed the award in her honor: the Dorothy Cowser Yancy Vanguard Award.

While attending JCSU in Charlotte, Yancy was student activist in the Civil Rights Movement. She held memberships in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and participated in North Carolina protests.

She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

Haynes Pressley Jr. ’51

Donald George Webster ’51

William Porter King Jr. ’52

John Willis Randall Anderson ’55

John Emmett Simmons ’57

Wilmer “Scooter” Moore ’58

Willie Mack Sharpe ’59

Preston M. Yancy Jr. ’59

Alfonso Leo Adderly ’60

Glenn Mason Randall ’60

James Douglas Henry ’61

Richard Oliver Hope ’61

2024 Necrology*

Clinton R. Elmore Jr. ’63

Frederick Bacon ’66

Nelson D. Taylor ’68

Cecil H. Brim ’72

Robert “Bob” Moore ’72

Richard Earl Strong ’72

Wiley A. Branton Jr. ’73

Thomas Richard Poitier ’73

Charles William Cherry II ’78

Dexter Dillard Eure Jr. ’78

Leonard L. Long Jr. ’78

Harold H. Franklin Jr. ’81

Agnew Eugene Smith ’81

Craig Durand Conyers ’82

James Gordon Franklin ’86

Donell Peterman ’89

Michel “Marty” Turpeau ’90

Don P. Cheatham ’94

Martin Dion Williams ’99

Allan Rudolph Smith ’00

Bashir Hakim Rasheed-Bowman ’15

*Hugh Douglas ’25

*Chistion Files Jr. ’25

*Winston Perryman ’25

faculty & staff

Irving Corrales

Senior Assistant Professor of Marketing and Sales – 10 years

John Anthony Wallace

Trustee Emeritus – 15 years

Carlton Edward Winfrey

Parking Operations Manager – 1 year

Richard Eugene Winstead Professor of Economics and Administrator – 34 years

The list above honors the lives of all alumni, matriculating students, faculty, staff, and members of the Board of Trustees who have made their transition since Commencement 2023. The list, however, only includes the names that were reported to Morehouse College. We extend our apologies for any oversights and encourage anyone with additional names to kindly share them, so that we may pay proper tribute to all members of the Morehouse Community who have departed.

* Denotes students with the expected graduation date

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father, There is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not, As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed Thy hand hath provided, Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon and stars in their courses above, Join with all nature in manifold witness, To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed Thy hand hath provided, Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide; Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed Thy hand hath provided, Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Hymn Text

Thomas O. Chisholm

Dear Old Morehouse

Dear old Morehouse, dear old Morehouse, We have pledged our lives to thee; And we’ll ever, yea forever, Give ourselves in loyalty.

True forever, true forever, To old Morehouse may we be; So to bind each son the other Into ties more brotherly.

Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, Make us steadfast, honest, true, To old Morehouse and her ideals And in all things that we do.

J. O. B. Moseley ’29