By Mary Lou Hazal
Commerce – Saturday's commencement ceremonies at Texas A&M University-Commerce features guest speaker Dr. Wright Lassiter, chancellor of the Dallas County Community College District.
Lassiter will speak at the three ceremonies during the day in the Field House.
Graduation for students in the College of Arts and Sciences and students in the College of Business and Technology will be at 8:30 a.m. The College of Education and Human Services will hold graduation at 11 a.m., and Master's and Doctoral students will receive diplomas at 3 p.m.
Lassiter joined DCCCD as president of El Centro College in August 1986. Prior to that time, he served as president of Bishop College in Dallas, president of Schenectady County Community College in New York, vice president for finance and administration at Morgan State University in Baltimore, and director of auxiliary enterprises/business manager at Tuskegee University.
The DCCCD chancellor participates in several boards and organizations in Dallas. His current and past activities include chairman of the board of trustees for the African American Museum and immediate past board chair and senior director of the Urban League of Greater Dallas and North Texas.
He is board member of several other organizations, including the YMCA Foundation, DBU Foundation, and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas Foundation.
In 2002, he was nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as a member of the National Advisory Council for the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Lassiter has won numerous honors and awards, including being elected to the inaugural class of African American Educators Hall of Fame in Dallas, J. Erik Jonsson Award for Volunteer Service and Above and Beyond Award from the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, and Johnnie Ruth Clark Award for excellence in community college administration from the National Council on Black American Affairs of the American Association of Community Colleges.
He was one of 47 international educators selected to participate in the Oxford Round Table at Oxford University in 2005.
Lassiter graduated with a bachelor's degree in business administration from Alcorn University, Master's in business administration from Indiana University, and doctorate in education from Auburn University.