4/25/2018 - Jackson, Miss.
Mississippi Public Universities will award 11,326 bachelor's, master's, specialists and doctoral degrees during Spring Commencement Exercises. The system total for Spring 2018 represents an increase of 641 graduates from Spring 2017, when the total number of degrees awarded was 10,685.
"I am extremely proud of our students and universities for raising the bar in degree production," said Dr. Glenn Boyce, Commissioner of Higher Education. "Earning a degree makes a tremendous difference in the lives of the graduates and having a more educated workforce has an incredible impact on the state's economy by enabling Mississippi to attract and retain business and industry."
College graduates earn more and are less likely to be unemployed, providing a more stable future for the graduates and their families. The College Payoff: Education, Occupations, Lifetime Earnings, a report from The Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce, finds that earning a bachelor's degree makes a significant difference in lifetime earnings. Nationally, the median annual income of those with a bachelor's degree is $56,700, which equates to earning $2.3 million over a lifetime. Bachelor's degree holders earn 31 percent more than workers with an associates degree and 74 percent more than those with just a high school diploma.
The median household income in Mississippi for a high school graduate is $26,240. The median household income in Mississippi for a college graduate is $41,282, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2012-2016 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. The unemployment rate for Mississippians with a bachelor's degree is only 3.2 percent, compared to an unemployment rate of 9.3 percent for high school graduates and 16.3 percent for those without a high school diploma.
2018 SPRING COMMENCEMENT SCHEDULES
| Alcorn State University | ||
| Time/Date: | 8:30 a.m., Saturday, May 5, 2018 | |
| Location: | Davey L. Whitney Health and Physical Education Complex | |
| Speaker: | Ms. Christy L. Pickering, Member of the Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning | |
| Delta State University | ||
| Time/Date: | 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., Saturday, May 5, 2018 | |
| Location: | Bologna Performing Arts Center | |
| Speaker: | Dr. Glendell Jones, President, Henderson State University | |
| Jackson State University Graduate Commencement Exercises |
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| Time/Date: | 4:00 p.m., Friday, April 27, 2018 | |
| Location: | Lee E. Williams Athletics and Assembly Center | |
| Speaker: | Dr. Leonard N. Moore, Interim Vice President for Diversity and Community Engagement and the George Littlefield Professor of American History at the University of Texas at Austin | |
| Undergraduate Commencement Exercises | ||
| Time/Date: | 8:00 a.m., Saturday, April 28, 2018 | |
| Location: | Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium | |
| Speaker: | The Honorable Chokwe Antar Lumumba, Mayor of the City of Jackson, Miss. | |
| Mississippi State University Meridian Campus |
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| Time/Date: | 11:00 a.m., Thursday, May 3, 2018 | |
| Location: | MSU Riley Center | |
| Speaker: | Dr. Scott Elliott, President of Meridian Community College | |
| Starkville Campus College of Business and Adkerson School of Accountancy, College of Education |
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| Time/Date: | 3:30 p.m., Thursday, May 3, 2018 | |
| Location: | Humphrey Coliseum | |
| Speaker: | The Honorable Frank J. Williams, Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court (Retired) and Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant Scholar | |
| College of Arts & Sciences, College of Architecture, Art & Design, College of Veterinary Medicine | ||
| Time/Date: | 9:30 a.m., Friday, May 4, 2018 | |
| Location: | Humphrey Coliseum | |
| Speaker: | The Honorable Frank J. Williams, Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court (Retired) and Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant Scholar | |
| Bagley College of Engineering and Swalm School of Chemical Engineering, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences and School of Human Sciences, College of Forest Resources, General Studies | ||
| Time/Date: | 3:30 p.m., Friday, May 4, 2018 | |
| Location: | Humphrey Coliseum | |
| Speaker: | The Honorable Frank J. Williams, Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court (Retired) and Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant Scholar | |
| Mississippi University for Women College of Arts, Sciences & Education and College of Business & Professional Studies |
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| Time/Date: | 10:00 a.m., Saturday, May 5, 2018 | |
| Location: | Rent Auditorium, Whitfield Hall | |
| Speaker: | Dr. Tom Richardson, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Mississippi University for Women | |
| College of Nursing & Health Sciences | ||
| Time/Date: | 2:00 p.m., Saturday, May 5, 2018 | |
| Location: | Rent Auditorium, Whitfield Hall | |
| Speaker: | Dr. Tom Richardson, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Mississippi University for Women | |
| Mississippi Valley State University | ||
| Time/Date: | 8:00 a.m., Saturday, May 5, 2018 | |
| Location: | Rice-Totten Stadium | |
| Speaker: | Mr. Sean Suggs, President, Toyota, Mississippi | |
| The University of Mississippi | ||
| Time/Date: | 9:00 a.m., Saturday, May 12, 2018 | |
| Location: | The Grove | |
| Speaker: | Mr. Walter Isaacson, Acclaimed Biographer and Historian and former CEO of CNN and Time Magazine | |
| The University of Mississippi Medical Center | ||
| Time/Date: | 10:00 a.m., Friday, May 25, 2018 | |
| Location: | Mississippi Coliseum | |
| Speaker: | No Speaker | |
| The University of Southern Mississippi | ||
| Time/Date: | 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., Friday, May 11, 2018 | |
| Location: | Reed Green Coliseum, Hattiesburg, MS | |
| Speaker: | Dr. Douglas W. Rouse, Jr., Member of the Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning | |
| Time/Date: | 10:00 a.m., Saturday, May 12, 2018 | |
| Location: | Mississippi Coast Coliseum, Biloxi, MS | |
| Speaker: | Ms. Christy L. Pickering, Member of the Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning | |
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The Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning governs the public universities in Mississippi, including Alcorn State University; Delta State University; Jackson State University; Mississippi State University including the Mississippi State University Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine; Mississippi University for Women; Mississippi Valley State University; the University of Mississippi including the University of Mississippi Medical Center; and the University of Southern Mississippi.
John Sewell
Director of Communications
Telephone: 601.432.6333
