Union College Holds 127th Commencement Exercises

Union College will be conferring undergraduate and graduate degrees to 449 students at the 127th Spring Commencement program to be held this Saturday. In addition to the awarding of Associate, Bachelor and Master Degrees, Union will also confer an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree to Appalachian writer and enthusiast Loyal Jones. Jones will also be delivering the commencement address.

Loyal Jones is a writer and speaker on Appalachian culture from Berea, KY. He was associate director and then executive director of the Council of the Southern Mountains (CSM) from 1958 – 1970. The CSM was an organization of private schools and colleges and other developmental groups in Appalachia, and it held an annual conference that was instrumental in discussing new ideas and concepts for the region. The CSM was heavily involved in projects supported by the Office of Economic Opportunity during the War on Poverty. More recently, Jones directed the Berea College Appalachian Center, where he taught courses and ran workshops for teachers in Appalachian studies, started an annual festival of traditional music, and established the Appalachian Sound Archive of music, stories, and interviews. He has published a dozen books and many articles on Appalachian values, religion, humor, and music. Best known are his 1994 book, Appalachian Values, with photographer Warren Brunner, and four books with singer-songwriter-playwright Billy Edd Wheeler: Laughter in Appalachia, Curing the Cross-Eyed Mule; Home Town Humor, and More Laughter in Appalachia. His latest book is Faith and Meaning in the Southern Uplands, published in 1999 by the University of Illinois Press. In 2002, the University Press of Kentucky released a new edition of his Minstrel of the Appalachians: The Story of Bascom Lamar Lunsford. He is currently working on a book about country humor and humorists.

The 2006 Spring Commencement marks a milestone in many local, regional, national and international students who have been a part of the Barbourville community for several years. In order to celebrate this milestone, community members are invited to attend commencement showing support for Union’s students and for our honorary degree recipient. The ceremony will take place on Saturday, May 6, 2006 at Robsion Arena. The event will begin at 11:00 a.m.

May 1, 2006

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