Nearly 500 students will receive their diplomas Saturday from Mississippi Valley State University in three separate ceremonies, moved inside because of the threat of rain.
The 62nd commencement at Valley will take place inside the H.G. Carpenter Auditorium on the university’s Itta Bena campus.
To accommodate the crowd inside the auditorium, the graduation has been split up into three separate ceremonies, at 8 a.m., 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
The graduation ceremony has traditionally been held at the school’s Rice-Totten Stadium. With meteorologists calling for a chance of thunderstorms Saturday, though, university officials made the call to move the ceremony to the smaller, indoor venue.
Clara T. Reed, the CEO of Mid-Delta Home Health and Hospice, will address the graduates at all three ceremonies.
Reed, a native of Humphreys County, earned a nursing degree from Valley in 1963.
She went on to found Mid-Delta in 1978, growing the business over the last 36 years into a leading provider of home health care in the region and beyond.
Valley President William Bynum Jr. will preside over the ceremonies, presenting degrees to undergraduate and graduate students from the class of 2014 as well as conferring golden degrees on members of the MVSU class of 1964.
The three ceremonies have been organized based on departments, with individual graduates assigned to one of the ceremonies based on their major and degree earned.
• Contact Bryn Stole at 581-7235 or bstole@gwcommonwealth.com.
