Higher education commissioner, former U.S. Army surgeon general to address Southern University spring graduates

More than 600 students are preparing to participate in Spring 2025 Commencement ceremonies at Southern University and A&M College in the F.G. Clark Activity Center. The graduate ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 8 at 2 p.m. and the undergraduate ceremony will be held on Friday, May 9 at 10 a.m.

The speaker for the graduate ceremony is Kim Hunter Reed, Ph.D., Louisiana’s commissioner of higher education. An alumna of Southern, she is currently the only woman in the nation to have served as a state higher education leader in multiple states.

Reed is a nationally recognized student advocate with extensive higher education and government experience. In addition to leading the Colorado Department of Higher Education, she served in President Barack Obama’s administration as deputy undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Education, where she also led the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Collectively, Reed has served in senior leadership roles with four governors across two states.

The speaker for the undergraduate ceremony is retired Lt. Gen. Dr. Nadja West, M.D., who served as the 44th surgeon general of the U.S. Army. She was the first Black person to be appointed to the position. The appointment came with a third star, making West the first Black female lieutenant general. Her promotion also made her the highest-ranking female graduate of the U.S. Military Academy.

West is the recipient of numerous U.S. military awards, including the Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal and the Legion of Merit with three Oak Leaf Clusters.

Both ceremonies are open to the public. Tickets are not required. For more information, go to subr.edu/sucommencement.