Two to receive honorary degrees during Birmingham-Southern College commencement

For Immediate Release
May. 14, 2018

Birmingham-Southern College will celebrate the lifetime achievements of two of its alumni and award degrees to about 245 students during its 2018 commencement ceremony on Friday, May 25. It will be held indoors at 9 a.m. at Bill Battle Coliseum on the college’s campus.

Ulysses “Skip” Bennett ’67 will be awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws to acknowledge his lifelong promotion of social change and equality and his contributions to the financial services industry. Jim Pierce ’74 will receive a Doctor of Laws for his commitment to public service and to his alma mater.

Bennett, who resides in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, is the first African American graduate of the college and a 2013 BSC Distinguished Alumni Award winner. He enrolled at Birmingham-Southern in 1965 as a business major just two years after James Hood and Vivian Malone became the first students to integrate the University of Alabama. He was one of the foot soldiers of the civil rights movement in Birmingham. Bennett later received an MBA from Stanford University and today operates a financial services company in Fort Worth. He has also served in posts for the Internal Revenue Service, General Mills, and Mobil Corp.

Pierce, a member of the BSC Board of Trustees, is an investor, board member, and has held multiple executive positions at Isagenix, a fast-growing health and wellness company headquartered in Gilbert, Ariz. He earned his degree in economics from BSC and later earned an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Tammy, made a significant gift to the college in 2017 to kick off BSC’s Bridge to Future Campaign; this spring, the Lakeview South Residence Hall will be renamed Pierce Hall in honor of their generosity. The couple split time between their homes in Miramar Beach, Fla., and Scottsdale, Ariz.

BSC Professor of Spanish Dr. Janie Spencer will address the 2018 graduating class. Spencer was named BSC’s Outstanding Educator of the Year during the college’s 2017 graduation ceremony; the award includes an invitation to speak at the following commencement. Due to limited seating, only guests with tickets may attend the commencement exercises. A live video feed of the ceremony will be available for viewing in the Norton Theatre on campus and on the BSC website at www.bsc.edu. Commencement will be followed by the annual President’s Reception on the Academic Quad; the rain location for the reception is Bruno Great Hall.

The college’s annual Baccalaureate service will be held on Thursday, May 24, from 11 a.m. to noon at Canterbury United Methodist Church; author Shane Claiborne, a founding member of the intentional community called the Simple Way, will be the speaker. Read more.

The Capping Ceremony, sponsored by the BSC Alumni Association, will be held that same day at 3:30 p.m. in the coliseum. At the ceremony, a BSC tradition, each candidate for the degree receives his or her cap as a mark both of significant academic achievement and of a lifelong commitment to the love of learning. By college tradition, each graduating senior chooses a special person—a family member, teacher, mentor, or friend—to place the cap upon his or her head.

About Birmingham-Southern College:

Birmingham-Southern College is a four-year, private liberal arts institution in Birmingham, Ala., founded in 1856 and affiliated with the United Methodist Church. It enrolls some 1,300 students from more than 30 states and 9 foreign countries. Learn more online at www.bsc.edu.