Angela Glover Blackwell, president of PolicyLink national nonprofit research and advocacy organization, will be the speaker for commencement at Mills College on Saturday, May 15, 2004.
The graduating class at Mills includes 214 undergraduate women and 271 graduate women and men. The ceremony, which is the College's 116th graduation event, begins at 10 a.m. on Toyon Meadow.
"Dr. Blackwell is an extraordinary leader in social change, with a lifelong dedication to improving racial and economic justice through equitable policymaking," says President Janet L. Holmgren. "She is a pioneer in building community to achieve reform, and a powerful model on behalf of all women in the effort to improve society."
In 1999, Dr. Blackwell established PolicyLink to serve as a leading advocate in the nation's growing community-building movement. Based in Oakland, CA, PolicyLink develops partnerships with institutions to help address major policy issues including urban sprawl and smart growth, reinvestment in low income communities, the digital divide, responsible policing, and racial health disparities.
Dr. Blackwell is a co-author of Searching for the Uncommon Common Ground: New Dimensions on Race in America, and a former senior vice president for The Rockefeller Foundation. She founded the Urban Strategies Council (Oakland, CA) in 1987, and as a partner in Public Advocates public interest law firm (1977-1987), she successfully litigated class action suits and developed innovative non-litigation strategies in employment, education, health and consumer affairs.
Dr. Blackwell earned a bachelor's degree from Howard University and a law degree from the University of California at Berkeley. She has served on the boards of the Urban Institute, Common Cause, The James Irvine Foundation, and the Children's Defense Fund, among others.
At commencement, Lorry I. Lokey, founder and chair/CEO of Business Wire, will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters for his exceptional commitment to higher education and the advancement of women. Mr. Lokey is highly respected as a generous employer and philanthropist, with women comprising the majority voice in his management team since he founded Business Wire in 1961.
Mills College provides undergraduate women and graduate women and men an outstanding liberal arts education within a diverse, urban setting. The oldest women's college west of the Rockies, Mills celebrated its sesquicentennial in 2002, and is one of only ten U.S. women's colleges with a 150-year history of educating women. The College is known for its academic emphasis on social justice and its nationally and internationally respected faculty dedicated to advancing the intellectual, creative and leadership ability of students.
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