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Marc H. Morial Named HT’s Commencement Convocation Speaker

(AUSTIN, Texas) — Entrepreneur, lawyer, professor, legislator and former New Orleans Mayor Marc H. Morial will render Huston-Tillotson University’s Commencement address.  Morial, who currently serves as the president of the National Urban League, will speak on Saturday, May 4, 2013, at 8:30 a.m. during the convocation address on the athletic field located at 900 Chicon Street.  In addition to the ceremony for the 2013 graduates, HT’s Class of 1963 will be honored at the graduation program and throughout the Reunion Weekend 2013 festivities.  Students who earned high academic honors and placement on the Dean’s List and Honor Roll will be recognized at the annual Honors Day Convocation, scheduled on Friday, May 3 at 10 a.m. in King-Seabrook Chapel. 

Morial is viewed as the catalyst for the changes occurring in the nearly 100-year old civil rights organization—The National Urban League—emphasizing closing racial and economic gaps.  His creativity has led to initiatives such as the Urban Youth Empowerment Program to assist young adults in securing sustainable jobs, and Entrepreneurship Centers in five cities to help the growth of small businesses. Also, Morial created the National Urban League’s Empowerment Fund, which has pumped almost $200 million into urban impact businesses, including minority businesses through both debt and equity investments.

Morial is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Economics and African American Studies.  He also holds a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington D.C. and has several honorary degrees. He teaches Constitutional Law and Business Law as an adjunct faculty at Xavier University in Louisiana.

His political accomplishments include winning the Louisiana State Bar Association Award for his legal services for the poor and disadvantaged.  At age 26, he was the youngest lawyer to argue and win a major case before the Louisiana Supreme Court.  He was named Legislative Rookie of the Year, Education Senator of the Year, and Environmental Senator of the Year, while authoring laws on a wide range of important subjects.  Morial led the New Orleans renaissance of the 1990s as mayor of the city, improving urban issues, reducing violent crimes and murders, and cutting the unemployment rate in half while reducing poverty rates.

Currently, he serves as an executive committee member of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the Black Leadership Forum, and Leadership 18; and is a board member of the Muhammad Ali Center and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.  He has been recognized as one of the 100 most influential black Americans by Ebony magazine, as well as one of the Top 50 Nonprofit Executives by the Nonprofit Times.

For more information about Reunion Weekend 2013, Honors or Commencement Convocations, call 512.505.3073.  Convocations are open to the public. Event parking is available on Chalmers Avenue.