Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Office of University Relations
                                           SLU 880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
                                           publicinfo@selu.edu
                                           www.selu.edu/NewsEvents
    Date: 4/27/98
      Contact:                           Christina Chapple  28

Editors: Photo accompanies release
TUSKEGEE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT TO SPEAK AT SLU COMMENCEMENT
     HAMMOND -- Benjamin F. Payton, president of Tuskegee University, will be the
keynote speaker at Southeastern Louisiana University's May 16 commencement program. 
      The commencement program will begin at 10 a.m. in the University Center on
University Avenue. Southeastern is expected to confer associate, bachelor's and master's degrees
on xxx graduates.
     A native of Orangeburg, S.C., Payton is one of nine children reared on the earnings of a
rural Baptist minister, farmer and teacher. He received his bachelor's degrees with honors from
South Carolina State University in 1955 and Harvard University in 1958; master's degree from
Columbia University in 1960; and the doctoral degree from Yale University in 1963.
     Before becomeing Tuskegee's president, Payton was program officer for education and
public policy for The Ford Foundation, New York City  from 1972-81. He also served as
president of Benedict College in Columbia, S.C., was executive director of the Commission on
Religion and Race and the Department of Social Justice of the National Council of Churches in
the U.S.A., director of the Office of Church and Race, Protestant Council of the City of New
York, and assistant professor and director of Community Service at Howard University in
Washington, D.C..
     In recognition of his dedicated service to education, Payton has received many honors
and honorary degrees, including the Danforth Graduate Fellowship, Harvard Billings Prize,
South Carolinian of the Year, the Distinguished Member of the South Carolina State College 
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PAYTON TO SPEAK AT SLU -- Add One
Class of 1955 during the 25th class reunion, and the Napoleon Hill Foundation Award for
Outstanding Leadership in Education. He also was the first recipient of the Benjamin E. Mays
Award at South Carolina State University.
     Payton's honorary degrees include Doctor of Humane Letters, Benedict College and
Lehigh University; Doctor of Humanities, Morgan State University; Doctor of Laws, Eastern
Michigan University and Morris Brown College; and Doctor of Literature, University of
Maryland. He also holds membership in many professional organizations including the American
Council on Education, American Higher Education Association, National Association for Equal
Opportunity in Higher Education, Phi Beat Kappa, and Alpha Kappa Mu Honor Society.
     Payton serves as director on numerous boards including the Alabama Shakespeare
Festival, ITT Corporation, National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, the United
Negro College Fund, and the American Society for Engineering Education Study National
Advisory Council.
     President Ronald Reagan appointed Payton to the Board for International Food and
Agricultural Development (BIFAD) and President Geogre Bush named him as an educational
consultant to travel with him on seven-nation African tour in November 1982. In January 1985,
he was also leader of a Professional Task Force on Agricultural and Economic Development.
                                 - SLU -
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