Spring 2024 Commencement Speakers

We have three distinguished speakers joining us – two alumni who are visiting from nearby locations in Georgia, and one from Washington D.C. We look forward to their inspiring messages as we send our newest group of proud Bobcat graduates out into the world. -Cathy Cox, J.D.

College of Health Sciences, Friday, May 3, 2 p.m.

Speaker: Ms. Anresa Davis ’75

Registered Nurse (Retired), COHS Leadership Board & GCSU Foundation Trustee

Anresa Davis is a retired Registered Nurse who received her Associate Degree in Nursing from Georgia College in 1975 and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the Medical College of Georgia in 1976. For more than 20 years, Ms. Davis served in the surgical intensive care unit and the emergency departments of hospitals. She subsequently joined the leadership team of Park Springs, a lifecare community in Stone Mountain, GA, where she served until her retirement. She is an enthusiastic supporter of GCSU, serving as a GCSU Foundation Trustee and as a member of the COHS Leadership Board. Ms. Davis established the M. Catherine Summerlin Honorary Scholarship for Nursing in 2013.

John H. Lounsbury College of Education, Friday, May 3, 7 p.m.

Speaker: Dr. Kathleen Truitt ’10

Superintendent of Lee County Schools

Dr. Kathleen Truitt, Superintendent of Lee County Schools, brings more than 20 years of experience to the Superintendent’s work, beginning as a teacher in elementary and middle school classrooms in Henry County, to assistant principal and principal’s positions there, before taking on the assistant superintendent’s role in the 43,000-student Henry County system.  She developed groundbreaking learning models to address underperformance and enrichment with a focus on literacy and mathematics, and has been instrumental in building a digital resource platform that serves as a model for Georgia and has been internationally recognized.

Dr. Truitt earned her Specialist degree in Educational Leadership from GCSU in 2010. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication with a minor in Spanish from the University of Louisville, a Master’s in Education from Spalding University, and her Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Columbus State University, with additional certification in Educational Leadership from the University of West Georgia.

J. Whitney Bunting College of Business & Technology, Saturday, May 4, 9 a.m.

College of Arts & Sciences, Saturday, May 4, 2 p.m.

Speaker: Hon. Lisa D. Cook, PhD

Governor, Federal Reserve System

Dr. Lisa Cook, a Milledgeville native, is a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and was the first Black woman appointed to the Board. She was formerly a professor of economics and international relations at Michigan State University, and a faculty member of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. A graduate of Spelman College with a BA in philosophy, she also earned a second BA as a Marshall Scholar in philosophy, politics, and economics from Oxford University. Dr. Cook earned her PhD in economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Her late mother Mary Cook was a member of the Nursing faculty at Georgia College, and was the first Black tenured faculty member at GCSU. Her late father Payton Cook was a beloved community leader in Milledgeville and the longtime chaplain of Central State Hospital where a prominent building still bears his name.