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| DATE: | May 14, 2001 |
| CONTACT: | William Nunnelley , 205-726-2800 |
Georgia Governor Roy E. Barnes will deliver the Commencement address and U.S. Senate Chaplain Lloyd Ogilvie the Baccalaureate sermon during graduation weekend at Samford University May 25-26. Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions will speak during graduation for Samford's Cumberland School of Law.
A total of 932 seniors will receive degrees during Commencement Weekend.
Gov. Barnes will speak during 10 a.m. Commencement exercises at Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex Arena Saturday, May 26. Barnes, whose daughter Alyssa is a member of the graduating class, will also receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Samford.
Barnes, from Mableton, Ga., was elected Georgia's 80th governor in 1998 on a platform emphasizing education and healthcare reform. His major legislative accomplishments include creation of the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, which has broad powers over transportation issues and urban sprawl; a Patients' Bill of Rights, and an education reform act which requires smaller classes, more accountability and other features.
Dr. Ogilvie will speak during Baccalaureate services Friday, May 25, at 8 p.m. in Wright Center at Samford. The Kenosha, Wisc., native, a Presbyterian minister, was elected the Senate's 61st Chaplain in 1995. Before that, he served as pastor of Presbyterian churches for 39 years and maintained a weekly television ministry, "Let God Love You," for 17 of those years.
Senator Sessions will address the law graduation Saturday, May 26, at 3 p.m. in Wright Center at Samford. The former Alabama Attorney General, elected to the Senate in 1996, serves on three major committees: Armed Services, Judiciary and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. His daughter, Mary Abigail, is a junior at Cumberland who has been elected student bar president for 2001-2002.
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