Lamar to speak at Northwest graduation ceremonies May 17
Senatobia, MS (05/06/2019) — Northwest Mississippi Community College will hold its 103rd commencement exercises on Friday, May 17. A ceremony will be held at 8 a.m. for the Associate of Arts degree candidates and at 1 p.m. for Career Certificates, Technical Certificates, and Associate of Applied Science candidates.
Both ceremonies will be held in Howard Coliseum on the Senatobia campus. This year, the ceremonies will be live streamed on the college's You Tube Channel, which can be found at youtube.com/NorthwestCC.
Approximately 800 students will participate in the graduation exercises, according to the Office of Admissions and Records.
Doors will open approximately one hour prior to each ceremony, and guests are encouraged to arrive at least 30 minutes prior to the event.
Balloons, signs and noise makers are not permitted, and guests are asked to hold applause until all of the graduates' names have been called.
To help expedite traffic to and from the ceremonies, Northwest Chief of Police Zabe Davis requests visitors use the Alumni Drive entrance to campus off Wilson Drive (Highway 4 bypass).
The Honorable Ann Hannaford Lamar, member, Board of Trustees, Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) and Mississippi Supreme Court Associate Justice (Retired) will be the keynote speaker for the ceremonies.
A Northwest alumna and lifelong Senatobia resident, Lamar was appointed to the Mississippi IHL Board of Trustees by Gov. Phil Bryant in February 2017 to represent the Third (Northern) Supreme Court District.
Lamar became the third woman to serve on the Mississippi Supreme Court after her appointment by Gov. Haley Barbour in May, 2007 following the retirement of Presiding Justice Kay B. Cobb. Lamar was elected in November, 2008 to serve an eight-year term, and retired from the court in 2018.
Prior to her Supreme Court appointment, Lamar presided over the 17th Circuit Drug Court, encompassing DeSoto, Tate, Panola, Yalobusha, and Tallahatchie counties, and previously served five and a half years as a circuit judge from the 17th Circuit Court.
Lamar served as District Attorney in the 17th district until her appointment to the circuit bench in November, 2001. Upon graduation from law school in 1982, she began practicing law with her husband in Senatobia at Lamar & Lamar, where she served for eight years before serving as an assistant district attorney for nine years.
Lamar earned her law degree in 1982 from the University of Mississippi School of Law, after attending Northwest and earning a Bachelor of Science in education from Delta State University in 1974.
She is a member and past president of the William C. Keady American Inns of Court. Named Citizen of the Year by the Tate County Economic Development Foundation in 2010, she was inducted as a Fellow of the Mississippi Bar Foundation in 2011. She received the Mississippi Bar's Susie Blue Buchanan Award for commitment to the advancement of women in the field of law, the Outstanding Women Lawyer Award, presented by the Mississippi Women Lawyers Association, and the Chief Justice Award, presented by Chief Justice William L. Waller, Jr.
Active members of First Baptist Church in Senatobia, Lamar and her husband, John, are the proud parents of two adult children, Trey (and wife, Jill) and Vance (and wife, Emily), and have three grandchildren.
For more information on Northwest's graduation, contact the Office of Admissions and Records at 662-562-3219. To reclaim a lost item after the ceremony, please contact Campus Police at 662-562-3314.
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