Saturday, May 11, 2024

Good morning, and welcome to the 47th Commencement Ceremony for the University of the District of Columbia. I am Maurice Edington, UDC’s 10th president, and I am so incredibly honored to join you all this morning.  

I am especially pleased to recognize D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, members of the D.C. Council, appointed and elected officials, and other distinguished guests. I am incredibly honored to welcome our honorary degree recipient, Ms. Rashida Jones, the president of MSNBC.  

I would also like to welcome and recognize members of our Board of Trustees: Chairman Christopher Bell; Vice Chair Mignon Clyburn; Treasurer Ken Grossinger; Secretary Dr. Esther Barazzone; Mr. Lamont Akins; Dr. Mildred Musgrove; Dr. Carolyn Rudd; Mr. Barrington Scott; Mr. Warner H. Session; Mr. Jerome Shelton; Ms. Anntoinette White-Richardson; and our student representative to the Board, Travis Henderson.  

Welcome also to our incredible Firebird faculty, staff and alumni, as well as all the family members and friends of our graduates. And last, but certainly not least, welcome to the class of 2024!  

This day marks the culmination of countless hours of time and effort you logged toward your growth and your future. Each of you should feel immensely proud, as well as immensely excited for the next steps of your journey.  

I’m also delighted that you chose to write this chapter of your story at UDC, a unique and vital institution in the nation’s capital that is actively preparing the next generation of changemakers (aka you!).  

We are the only public university in the District. The only exclusively urban land-grant institution in the nation. A proud HBCU, whose roots date back to 1851. Every day, we are serving the needs of the District and beyond, with more than 70 academic degree programs, a nationally recognized law school, a dynamic community college and workforce-development programs on multiple campuses.  

But we can’t do any of that without you, our graduates. We may offer some of the highest-quality academic programs in the country. We may hire some of the nation’s most top-notch faculty members to run them. But you are the ones who take what you’ve learned out into the world. You devote the time and energy to absorb and synthesize the content in the classroom and translate it for the courtroom, for the clinic or for the concert stage. You—and all that you achieve and accomplish in your communities—are why UDC exists.  

Let’s give our 2024 graduates a round of applause!