Millsaps College will honor four distinguished
Mississippians at its commencement ceremonies May 8, 2004, Myrlie
Evers-Williams, Bishop Kenneth Carder, Dr. Wallace Conerly and commencement
speaker U.S. ambassador John N. Palmer.
Civil rights leader Myrlie Evers-Williams
was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi. In 1950, she enrolled at Alcorn
A&M College, where she met and married Medgar Evers, who became
the Mississippi state field secretary for the NAACP in 1954. After
he was assassinated in 1963, she and her three children moved to
California, where she co-wrote a book about her husband, For
Us, the Living, and continued to make numerous personal appearances
on behalf of the NAACP.
In 1988, she was the first black woman
to be named to the five-member Board of Public Works by Los Angeles
Mayor Tom Bradley. She also kept up pressure to retry the case of
her first husband's assassination. In the early 1990s, she convinced
prosecutors in Mississippi to reopen the case, and in 1994, Byron
De La Beckwith was convicted of the crime.
In 1995, Evers-Williams became the
first woman to chair the NAACP, a position she held until 1998.
In 1999, she published her memoirs, Watch Me Fly: What I Learned
on the Way to Becoming the Woman I Was Meant to Be. Evers-Williams
is the recipient of the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus Achievement
Award; the League of Women Voters' Woman of Honor Award and the
NAACP Image Award for Civil Rights. Evers-Williams will receive
the Honorary Doctor of Public Service degree from Millsaps College.
Bishop Kenneth Carder is Bishop of
the Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church as well
as vice chair of the Millsaps Board of Trustees. Carder has been
the resident bishop for Mississippi since 2000 and will serve until
he retires in August 2004. He was elected to the episcopacy in 1992
and served eight years as resident bishop for the Nashville Area.
Carder will also be the speaker at
a baccalaureate service to be held at Galloway Memorial United Methodist
Church on Friday, May 7.
Carder holds a Doctor of Ministry degree
from Vanderbilt Divinity School and has done additional post-graduate
study at Emory University's Candler School of Theology and at Wesley
Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. Including his early experience
as a student pastor, he spent 32 years in ministry with congregations
in Tennessee, Maryland and Virginia. Carder has lectured and taught
widely in the United States, Africa, Asia and Europe and is president
of the General Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church.
His longstanding engagement with higher education includes terms
on the boards of five colleges and universities, and, since 1996,
he has been co-chair of the Council of Bishops' subcommittee on
theological education. He will receive the Honorary Doctor of Divinity
degree from Millsaps College.
Wallace Conerly, M.D. is vice chancellor
emeritus for Health Affairs and dean emeritus of the University
of Mississippi School of Medicine. Dr. Conerly earned his B.S. degree
from Millsaps College and his M.D. from Tulane University. He is
a fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians. Past and present
professional memberships include the American Medical Association,
the Mississippi State Medical Association, the Central Medical Society
of Mississippi, the American Academy of General Practice, the Association
of American Medical Colleges and the Mississippi Academy of Sciences,
among others.
A native of Tylertown, Dr. Conerly
remains dedicated to improving the health of all Mississippians.
He has served on the Board of Directors of the American Red Cross,
Mississippi Chapter, and the Capital Area United Way. He is past
president of the Jackson Rotary Club and past Chairman of the University
Club's Board of Governors. Dr. Conerly currently serves on the boards
for Health Futures, Junior Achievement and the Jackson Medical Education
District. He is a member of the Community Advisory Committee of
the Junior League of Jackson. Conerly will receive the Honorary
Doctor of Science Degree from Millsaps College.
The Honorable John N. Palmer, current
U.S. ambassador to Portugal, will be the keynote speaker at the
2004 commencement ceremonies, and will receive an honorary Doctor
of Laws degree from the College. Palmer was appointed ambassador
to Portugal by President George W. Bush in 2001. Palmer was chairman
and president of Mobile Communications Corp. of America from 1973-89;
founder and chairman of SkyTel from 1989 until its sale to MCI WorldCom
in 1999 and chairman of GulfSouth Capital Inc. from 1999-2001. Palmer
was born in Corinth, Miss.
