GSW commencement ceremony to be held May 13

AMERICUS (May 4, 2022) — Georgia Southwestern State University will hold its Spring 2022 Commencement ceremony Friday, May 13 at 3 p.m. in the Convocation Hall of the Student Success Center, also known as the Storm Dome. The ceremony will recognize approximately 300 spring graduates for their hard work and academic achievements. The commencement speaker will be Bárbara Rivera Holmes, who serves on the University System of Georgia Board of Regents.

Regent Holmes is the president and CEO of the Albany Chamber of Commerce and previously served as the vice president of the Albany- Dougherty Economic Development Commission. She helped organize the Albany-Dougherty Industry Roundtable, a CEO-level forum of the area’s largest employers 

Holmes is a former journalist whose work has earned four awards for excellence in journalism from the Georgia Associated Press. She is a graduate of the 2014 class of Leadership Georgia; the 2009-10 class of Leadership Albany; and in 2008 was recognized as one of Southwest Georgia’s “40 Under 40.” She is also graduate of the Georgia Academy for Economic Development.

Holmes, who is bilingual, is a native of San Juan, Puerto Rico. She graduated from Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Fla., with degrees in journalism and in Spanish. She continued her studies at Estudio Sampere Internacional, in Madrid and Alicante, Spain.

Doors to the inside of the Convocation Hall will close five minutes before the ceremony at 2:55 p.m. Guests should arrive early and plan accordingly for parking and finding seats. Accessible parking and seating will be available. 

The ceremony will be live-streamed on GSW’s YouTube channel for those unable to make it at www.youtube.com/GeorgiaSouthwestern. 

There are no guest restrictions for the Spring 2022 ceremony. Graduates are asked to please be courteous of the amount of family and friends they invite, as seating will fill up quickly inside the Convocation Hall with all graduates walking in one ceremony. It is important that close family and friends are able to watch their graduate walk across the stage.

Please visit www.gsw.edu/graduation for more information on GSW’s commencement ceremonies, including directions on where to park.