Business leader to speak at Spelman's commencement

Starbucks Chief Operating Officer Rosalind Brewer will give the commencement speech at Spelman College, the college announced Thursday.

Brewer graduated from Spelman in 1984, making her the first alumna to deliver the address since Marian Wright Edelman addressed the graduating class of 1988. Brewer earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Spelman in 1984.

Brewer has been involved in Spelman in multiple ways, the college said, such as a scholarship in her name that has so far supported nine first-generation college students and working with the college on student recruitment and mentoring initiatives. Brewer is chair of the college’s Board of Trustees.

The ceremony on Sunday, May 20, 3 p.m. at the Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta.

The college will also honor two prominent leaders at its commencement. Lonnie G. Bunch III, director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, will receive the National Community Service Award.

Bryan Stevenson, founding executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Ala., will receive an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

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Credit: Courtesy of Councilwoman Helen Willis