Oprah Winfrey To Deliver Commencement Address At Historically Black Johnson C. Smith University

On Saturday, Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C. announced that global media entrepreneur Oprah Winfrey will deliver the spring keynote address on Sunday, May 15 on campus, according to a school press release.

It will be a special day for JCSU’s 330 graduates, especially for two students in particular, “whose lives [Oprah] has personally transformed,” the press release read. Graduating seniors Noluthando “Thando” Dlomo and Nompumelelo “Mpumi” Nobiva along with their colleague Andronica Klaas “have all flourished” at the university and the three have enjoyed the black college experience so far. These students are graduates of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa:

“Thando is Miss JCSU 2016, and represented the school with honor at the National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame. Mpumi spoke last semester alongside Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee and is an in-demand inspirational speaker. Andronica, who will graduate in 2017, was among 83 students from across the U.S. tapped to be a White House HBCU All-Star.”

According to WCNC, Winfrey, who also is one of several distinguished Tigers, will  receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.