Press Releases

Winfield, Kan., April 15, 2002—Justice Bernette Joshua Johnson will be the guest speaker at Southwestern College Commencement ceremonies Saturday, May 11, in Winfield. Johnson, the first African American woman elected justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, was an exchange student at Southwestern in 1962. She had been slated to speak at Southwestern’s 2001 Commencement but was unable to attend due to ill health.

The graduation ceremony will begin at 4 p.m. in Sonner Stadium, following a 3:30 p.m. pre-Commencement band concert. Rain location is Stewart Field House, and the ceremony will be televised through closed circuit to four other locations on campus.

About 340 students are eligible to participate in the ceremony, including students receiving degrees from the professional studies programs in Wichita and Winfield.

The schedule includes:

· 10:30 a.m. Baccalaureate in Richardson Auditorium, Christy Administration Building.

· 11:45 a.m. Buffet lunch for graduates and families.

· 2 p.m. Reception for Servant Leadership Award recipient and Commencement speaker in the Welcome Center.

· 2 p.m. Reception for professional studies graduates and families, Pounds Lounge.

· 2:30 p.m. Order of the Mound induction ceremony, Messenger Recital Hall.

· 3:30 p.m. Pre-Commencement band concert.

· 4 p.m. Commencement in Sonner Stadium. (Rain location: Stewart Field House)

Justice Bernette Joshua Johnson was the first woman elected to Civil District Court in New Orleans in 1984 and was elected chief judge 10 years later. She ascended to the higher court in 1994 when she became the first African American woman to be elected justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court. Her legal career began in the summer of 1964 with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, where she served as the community organizer in New York City. In 1967 she was an intern with the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., and following that position, worked five years as a legal services attorney with the New Orleans Legal Assistance Corporation. Justice Johnson is active in several bar associations and has served as district director of the National Association of Women Judges as well as chair for the Judicial Council of the National Bar Association. She has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the American Bar Association’s Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award in 1998. She was named the 1994 Woman of the Year for the American Business Women’s Association and received the Outstanding Service Award for the International Law Section of the National Bar Association in 1988. Justice Johnson has served as the chair of the New Orleans Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Women. She is a member of the trustee board of Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church. She is a graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta, Ga., and was one of the first African American women to attend Louisiana State University Law School where she received her degree in 1969.

Live closed circuit telecast of the ceremony will be available in Pounds Lounge and in the first floor student lounge (E-mail Café) in the Roy L. Smith Student Center; in Richardson Auditorium in Christy Administration Building; in the Sutton Center lobby, and in Wroten Hall.

Location of the ceremony (in the case of inclement weather) will be announced at Baccalaureate and on KSOK FM 95.9, AM 1280 and on KKLE FM 93.5, AM 1550.