Julianne Malveaux to Keynote B-CU Commencement on May 14

Thought leader, author and noted economist Julianne Malveaux will be the keynote speaker at the Bethune-Cookman University spring commencement.  The ceremony will be held at 2 p.m., Wednesday, May 14 in the Ocean Center.

Malveaux, a native of San Francisco, is a respected labor economist, noted author and colorful commentator. She has long been recognized for her progressive and insightful observations, and is considered a thought leader for the 21^st century. She has been hailed by Dr. Cornel West as “the most iconoclastic public intellectual in the country.”

We are honored to have someone of Dr. Malveaux’s caliber speak to our students as they embark on a new phase of their lives,” said B-CU President Dr. Edison O. Jackson. “Her contributions to the public dialogue on issues such as race, culture, gender and their economic impacts are shaping public opinion in 21st century America.”

Most recently, Malveaux served as the 15th president of Bennett College, America's oldest historically black college for women. During her presidency, the college successfully received a 10-year reaffirmation of its accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, markedly improved existing facilities, embarked on a $21 million capital improvements program — which marked the first major campus construction in more than 25 years — and enjoyed an historic enrollment high.

Malveaux has been a contributor to academic life since receiving her Ph.D. in economics from MIT in 1980. She has been on the faculty or visiting faculty of the New School for Social Research, San Francisco State University, the University of California (Berkeley), College of Notre Dame (San Mateo, California), Michigan State  University and Howard University. 

She holds honorary degrees from Sojourner Douglas College (Baltimore, Maryland), Marygrove College (Detroit, Michigan), University of the District of Columbia, and Benedict College (Columbia, South Carolina). She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics at Boston College. 

Malveaux’s popular writing has appeared in USA Today, Black Issues in Higher Education, Essence magazine, and The Progressive. Her weekly columns appeared for more than a decade in newspapers across the country including the Los Angeles Times, Charlotte Observer, New Orleans Tribune, Detroit Free Press and San Francisco Examiner. She has hosted television and radio programs, and appeared widely as a commentator on networks, including CNN, BET, PBS, NBC, ABC, Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, C-SPAN and others.

Currently, Malveaux is the Honorary Co-Chair of the Social Action Commission of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and serves on the boards of the Economic Policy Institute as well as The Recreation Wish List Committee of Washington, D.C. She is the President and owner of Economic Education a 501 c-3 non-profit headquartered in Washington, D.C.