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Savannah State University Announces Esteemed Commencement Speaker

Felicia Bell, Ph.D.

Savannah State University (SSU) will hold its 199th undergraduate and graduate commencement ceremony on Friday, Dec. 10 at T. A. Wright Stadium with alumna Felicia Bell, Ph.D. as the esteemed commencement speaker. The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. Approximately 325 students will receive master’s, bachelor’s, and associate degrees.

Bell is a senior advisor in the Office of the Director at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Savannah State University, a Master of Arts in historic preservation from Savannah College of Art and Design, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in U. S. history from Howard University in Washington, DC.

She later served as an Assistant Professor of History and the inaugural Director of Honors at Savannah State. During her tenure at SSU, she introduced museum studies courses into the curriculum. Bell received the first Historically Black Colleges or Universities Museum Internship Program Grant from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Bell has also served as the Director of Education and Outreach at the Coastal Heritage Society in Savannah, Georgia, and the U. S. Capitol Historical Society in Washington, D.C. She has received numerous awards and honors including recognition by the House of Representatives of the State of Alabama for her record of excellence as the Director of the Rosa Parks Museum at Troy University Montgomery and the 2020 Citizen of the Year Award from the Montgomery (AL) Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Students and guests are encouraged to wear masks during the event. All ceremonies will be live-streamed. More information about graduation exercises at SSU is available online at savannahstate.edu/commencement.

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