Contact: Public Relations
(863) 680-4118

Florida Southern holds spring commencement

LAKELAND, Fla. (April 11, 2003) - Approximately 294 Florida Southern College students will receive diplomas during two spring graduation ceremonies April 26 on campus. 

The baccalaureate service begins at 10:30 a.m. in Branscomb Auditorium, where 56 students from the Lakeland evening (15), MBA (2), and Orlando (39) programs will receive their degrees. The Rev. Teresa L. Hill, co-pastor of Isle of Faith United Methodist Church in Jacksonville, will offer the baccalaureate sermon. A 1979 graduate of Florida Southern, Hill received her master's in divinity from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. She has served as pastor of churches in Gainesville, Orlando, the Melbourne area, and Jacksonville and is a former Jacksonville District superintendent. 

Commencement for 238 Lakeland day students begins at 1:30 p.m. in the Jenkins Field House on campus. Attorney T. Terrell Sessums, a partner in Salem, Saxon & Nielsen, P.A., will deliver the commencement address. Sessums has been a member of the FSC Board of Trustees since 1989 and currently serves as chairman. He was a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 1963-1974 and served on the Florida Board of Regents from 1979-1988. 

About Florida Southern College
Florida Southern is a four-year, private, co-educational liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The college offers more than 40 undergraduate majors and a master of business administration degree accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Located in Lakeland, Fla., the college is home to the largest, single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world. 

###