LSU, SU hold summer commencement ceremonies

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Louisiana State and Southern universities both held their summer commencement ceremonies Friday, Aug. 2.

LSU awarded 609 degrees, while SU awarded nearly 140.

“In other words, the attainment of a college degree places you in an incredibly enviable position, both right here in the United States and around the world,” LSU President F. King Alexander said. “As one of the world’s most educated citizens with the greatest potential to help others, you now are being handed a mantle that allows you to provide widespread hope and worldwide opportunity.”

At LSU, 290 students earned bachelor’s degrees, 147 earned master’s, 10 earned a certificate of education specialist, 16 earned graduate certificates, 17 earned post-baccalaureate certificates, and 129 earned doctoral degrees.

Southern’s commencement speaker was Board of Supervisors Chairman Domoine Rutledge.

“Life is like climbing up a staircase,” Rutledge said. “As quoted in Langston Hughes’ popular poem, it has ‘tacks in it, splinters, and boards torn up, and places with no carpet on the floor,'” he said.

Over at LSU, Chair of the Board of Supervisors James Williams delivered the keynote address. Williams graduated from LSU in 1995.

“LSU, and this graduation today, is a spark, not the end of the road. You take the foundation you have here, and then you begin your learning,” Williams said. “Nothing good in this world comes from being stagnant.”

Southern’s ceremony can be watched in its entirety here. A complete list of LSU’s graduates can be viewed here.