Birmingham-Southern College 2021 Commencement To Be Held May 14

For Immediate Release
May. 6, 2021

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Birmingham-Southern College’s spring commencement ceremony will be held at 9 a.m. Friday, May 14 on the Academic Quad.

The featured speaker will be Dr. Amy Cottrill, Denson N. Franklin Professor of Religion, who was named 2020 Outstanding Educator of the Year. Cottrill has been a member of the BSC faculty since 2007.

Other platform participants will include BSC President Daniel B. Coleman; BSC Board of Trustees Chair DeLynn Zell ’86, CEO of Bridgeworth Wealth Management in Birmingham; alumni representative Judge Teresa T. Pulliam ’80, Jefferson County Circuit Judge; and BSC Chaplain Rev. Julie Blackwelder Holly ’01.

The commencement ceremony is the final event celebrating the achievements of the graduating class. Other events include a Capping ceremony for graduating seniors, which will be held on the Academic Quad on May 13. Capping is a unique tradition at BSC, during which seniors choose a mentor or family member to place the mortarboard on their head and honor the influence they’ve had on them. In lieu of the annual Baccalaureate service, a blessing and brunch will be held for seniors at the President’s Home the morning of May 13.

In the event of inclement weather, two ceremonies will be held in Bill Battle Coliseum at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. A livestream of the ceremony will be available at https://www.bsc.edu/livestream/index.html.

Spring commencement will also mark the end of a successful year of in-person learning in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. After a transition to online classes in spring 2020, students returned to the Birmingham-Southern campus for fall term in August. Six working groups examined every aspect of Birmingham-Southern life – Health Guidelines, Student Life, Academic Affairs, Human Resources, Athletics, and Finance and Operations – and created new processes and protocols to mitigate risk. Protocols were shared with seven medical experts around the country – five of whom are BSC graduates – with expertise in epidemiology, oncology, clinical pathology, infectious diseases, public health, and primary care services. The protocols formed the backbone of the Return to the Hilltop plan and made possible face-to-face instruction in a large percentage of fall and spring term courses.

About Birmingham-Southern College:

Birmingham-Southern College is a four-year, private residential liberal arts institution in Birmingham, Ala., founded in 1856 and affiliated with the United Methodist Church. It enrolls 1,100 students from 29 states and 11 countries. Learn more online at www.bsc.edu.