North Fulton Today

Clark Atlanta University (March 22, 2023) –ATLANTA, GA – Clark Atlanta University (CAU) will host its 35th annual Founders’ Day Spring Convocation for the 2023-2024 academic year Thursday, March 23, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. in the Leonida S. Epps Gymnasium.

Clark Atlanta University Founders’ Day Convocation serves as an uplifting and inspiring ceremony that brings CAU family, alumni, and supporters together to celebrate the institution’s past, present, and future. The event is open to the public, including students, faculty and staff, alumni, and the greater Atlanta community.

This year’s Founders’ Day Convocation is dedicated to the memory of the university’s second president, Dr. Walter D. Broadnax, who served the institution from 2002 – 2008. Under

Dr. Broadnax’s leadership, Clark Atlanta University became the only private historically Black college or university classified as a doctoral/research-intensive institution by the Carnegie Foundation.

“The 2023 Founders’ Day theme is “Learn, Lead, Change” which were a part of the Broadnax Administration”, said Gay-linn E. Gatewood-Jasho, Executive Director, University History, Traditions and Ceremonials. “The theme respectfully allows us to pause in a reflective manner. Though we are remembering Dr. Walter D. Broadnax as the second president of Clark Atlanta University, we presently embrace the theme with thoughts and actions of who we are as an institution of higher learning.”

Guest speakers for the convocation—whom all served under Dr. Broadnax’s administration— are Dr. Dorcas Bowles, former Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs; Mrs. Marcia Jones Cross, Special Assistant to the President for Operations; Reverend Herbert R. Marbury, Ph.D., former University Chaplain and Director of Religious Life; and Mr. Phillip L. Anderson, former Undergraduate Student Government Association President. Click here to view this year’s convocation live streamed by Clark Atlanta University Television (CAU-TV).

Additionally, the convocation will include special recognition for undergraduate and graduate scholars whose exemplary academic achievements allowed them the distinction of making the Dean’s List.

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For more information on Clark Atlanta University’s 35th annual Founders’ Day Convocation, visit www.cau.edu.

About Clark Atlanta University

Clark Atlanta University was formed with the consolidation of Atlanta University and Clark College, both of which hold unique places in the annals of African American history. Atlanta University, established in 1865 by the American Missionary Association, was the nation’s first institution to award graduate degrees to African Americans. Clark College, established four years later in 1869, was the nation’s first four-year liberal arts college to serve a primarily African American student population. Today, with nearly 4,000 students, CAU is the largest of the four institutions (CAU, Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Morehouse School of Medicine) that comprise the Atlanta University Center Consortium. It is also the largest of the 37-member UNCF institutions. Notable alumni include: James Weldon Johnson; American civil rights activist, poet, and songwriter (Lift Every Voice and Sing “The Black National Anthem”; Ralph David Abernathy Sr., American civil rights activist; Congressman Hank

Johnson, Georgia District 4; Kenya Barris, American award-winning television and movie producer; Kenny Leon, Tony Award-winning Broadway Director; Jacque Reid, Emmy Award-winning Television Personality and Journalist; Brandon Thompson, Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion for NASCAR; Valeisha Butterfield Jones, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the Recording Academy. To learn more about Clark Atlanta University, visit www.cau.edu.

Original source can be found here.