For the first time in its history, South Arkansas Community College will hold commencement exercises outdoors as it celebrates and formally recognizes the graduation of its most recent class at 6 p.m. on Thursday (May 13) at Memorial Stadium in El Dorado.
Guests are allowed on the home team side, with no attendance restrictions. Social distancing is expected.
A live video stream also will be available on the college’s YouTube channel, @southarkcc .
The college was unable to hold in-person commencement exercises over the last year due to pandemic restrictrions.
Arkansas Community Colleges executive director Andrea Henderson will be the keynote speaker. She is tasked with collaborating with government agencies, educational institutions, private foundations and others on projects intended to improve the ability of the 22 member colleges to meet the needs of their students and local business and industry leaders.
Before taking her current position, Henderson was executive director of the Oregon Community College Association. She is a frequent presenter at state and national conferences on a variety of issues related to community colleges. She is a graduate of Willamette University College of Law with a law degree, of Oregon State University with a bachelor’s degree in political science and of Harvard University Business School Online with a certificate in disruptive innovation. She currently serves on the Governor’s Economic Recovery Task Force.
