Harris-Stowe State University Welcomes ESSENCE Magazine Editor as Commencement Keynote Speaker

ESSENCE magazine Editor-in-Chief Vanessa K. De Luca has been selected to deliver the commencement address at Harris-Stowe State University (HSSU), a historically Black university in St. Louis, Mo. The commencement ceremony, which features the conferring of honorary doctorates to two outstanding St. Louisans and recognition of five Distinguished Alumni, takes place at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 16 at the Harris-Stowe Emerson Performance Center at 3026 Laclede Avenue in mid-town St. Louis.

De Luca has been in her current post at ESSENCE since the summer of 2013.  During that time, she has piloted many changes at the magazine, which reaches more than 13 million people across all its platforms. The publication was heralded last February for replacing its usual celebrity cover photo with protestors’ slogans, such as #BlackLivesMatter. Borrowing this and other social media tags representative of the new civil rights movement, the article asked various well-known and ordinary people to imagine a way forward following the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. The all text cover was a first in the 45-year history of the magazine.

“Harris-Stowe believes that Mrs. De Luca and her magazine represent and speak to our students’ generation regarding the social, political and civic issues of our day, including challenging and encouraging graduates of higher education institutions like ours,” said Dr. Dwaun J. Warmack, president of Harris-Stowe. “We are excited that she is coming to St. Louis and expect she will bring an inspirational message to ignite our students’ imaginations and motivate them to achieve their dreams.”

In addition to a thought-provoking keynote address, the commencement ceremony will feature Mrs. Thelma V. Cook, chairwoman of the Harris-Stowe Board of Regents, and noted philanthropist and humanitarian, Mrs. Thelma Steward, receiving honorary doctorate degrees.  Cook is a retired corporate executive and higher education administrator who has brought more than 25 years of leadership and service to the metropolitan St. Louis community.  She currently serves on the boards of Girls Inc. of St. Louis, Women of Achievement and the Mathews-Dickey Boys’ and Girls’ Club. She is chair of the Metropolitan Zoological Park and Museum Districts for the City of St. Louis and she formerly served on the boards of the St. Louis Art Museum, Dance St. Louis, Monsanto YMCA, YWCA of St. Louis, Friends Council of the Humane Society of Missouri, and the Missouri Arts Council. Cook holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from North Carolina Central University and a Master of Education from Lincoln University of Missouri.

Mrs. Steward is a registered nurse by profession. She is a lifelong philanthropist and political activist, whose past activities have included board memberships for Girls, Inc., St. Louis Art Museum and Charitable Women, as well as a member of Junior League of St. Louis and co-chair for the Charmaine Chapman Society of the United Way and for Grace Hill’s annual fundraiser.  In addition to being one of the Founding Sponsors for Variety Children's Theater, Steward is currently a member of the Sheldon Arts Foundation Board of Directors and is involved with St. Louis Symphony, St. Louis Art Museum, The Steward Family Foundation, The Muny and many other regional organizations.

Both Cook and Steward are being honored for their humanitarian and philanthropic contributions to the St.

Many HSSU graduates have overcome obstacles to achieve their degrees, but few have come as far and excelled as much as Senior Class Representative Jazminique Holley, who will deliver the Special Presentation by the Classes of 2014-15 at commencement. Holley came to HSSU after financial problems forced her to leave Howard University in Washington, D.C. where she achieved a 3.5 GPA her freshman year.  The departure left her despondent and bitter, which was compounded by her unplanned pregnancy and academic probation. But, she credits intervention from professors and administrators at Harris-Stowe for “rescuing me.” She says, “The entire College of Education worked to make sure that I had tutoring and completed my assignments – they spoke life into me and even bought my infant necessities.”

Jazminique is a Vice President’s List Scholar; president of the campus' largest organization, Sigma Alpha Pi National Honor Society of Leadership and Success; Student Representative, HSSU Strategic Planning Committee; Student Representative, Harris-Stowe State University Presidential Transitional Team; president, NAACP-HSSU chapter; president, NAACP for the State of Missouri's Youth and College division and was honored and recognized during black history month for her activism and community work and named as an emerging leader of the NAACP.

She added, “What makes our institution so unique is that it is what I call a ‘Transformative Institution.’ HSSU takes rocks out of the dirt, brushes them off, polishes them and turns them into JEWELS – I was one of those rocks and now I’m on my way to earning a master’s degree!”

On Friday, May 15, 2015,  Harris-Stowe will host a special program to present Distinguished Alumni awards to Marquita C. Chapman, lead program management execution officer for National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA); Kimberly M. Gardner, member, Missouri House of Representatives;  Scott Hartwig, Assistant Director Information Technology and Part-time Head Men’s Soccer Coach Harris-Stowe State University; Cortez Jackson, unit manager for Altria Group Distribution Company; and Ronn Nichols, curator, Don and Heide Wolff Jazz Institute at Harris-Stowe State University. These outstanding alumni will also be recognized at the commencement ceremony.

About Harris-Stowe State University

Harris-Stowe State University (HSSU), located in midtown St. Louis, is a fully accredited four-year institution that offers 14 degree programs in teacher education, business and arts & sciences. In 2014, HSSU ranked    No. 1 in the state of Missouri and No. 47 in the nation in granting degrees in mathematics and statistics to African-Americans according to Missouri Department of Higher Education and Diverse: Issues In Higher Education, a newsmagazine that has ranked institutions conferring the most degrees to minority students for the past 30 years. The university, which has origins dating back to 1857, offers the most affordable bachelor’s degree in the state of Missouri.

Contact:    Pier Scott (314) 340-3391

scottp@hssu.edu