BU to Honor Barbara Jordan Posthumously During Commencement

December 3, 1996

WACO, Texas - The late Barbara Jordan will be posthumously awarded an honorary doctorate of laws during Baylor University's fall commencement exercises scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, in the Ferrell Center.
Jordan served in the Texas Senate from 1966-1972 and in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1973-1978. In 1976 she delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. She received numerous awards including the Bess Wallace Truman award and the National Civil Rights Museum award in 1992 and the Nelson Mandela Health and Human Rights award in 1993. She was named one of 10 women of the year by Time magazine in 1976 and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1990. Jordan died on January 17, 1996.
Accepting the posthumous award will be Jordan's sisters, Rosemary McGowan and Bennie Cresswell.
Approximately 780 Baylor seniors and graduate students are expected to receive degrees during fall commencement exercises. Baylor President Robert B. Sloan Jr. will award diplomas to graduates.
Beverly P. Naud, retired assistant professor of nursing in the Baylor School or Nursing, will serve as bearer of the mace. The mace, a gold-hilted sword, is used in formal ceremonials at Baylor. A distinguished emeritus professor, who symbolizes Baylor's debt to the past, carries the mace in formal presentations.
For more information, contact Cynthia Dougherty, assistant dean for academic services, at (817) 755-3663.