MSU’s May 1 commencement to be broadcast statewide and online, Fraiser to be honored with public service degree

STARKVILLE, Miss.—��ɫ��Ƶ’s May 1 commencement exercises will be broadcast statewide via MSTV and available for online viewing.

Studio portrait of MSU President Mark E. Keenum — MSU President Mark E. Keenum (Photo by Russ Houston)

The Friday graduation ceremony begins at 2 p.m. CDT with livestreaming available at . MSTV is ��ɫ��Ƶ’s high definition television channel. Operated by the University Television Center, the channel is available to MaxxSouth Broadband subscribers in the Golden Triangle and those with C Spire Fiber TV throughout the state on Channel 80. WCBI also will broadcast the graduation on MyMS 4.2.

The university announced earlier this month that spring commencement is moving online this year to recognize MSU graduates for their hard work while dealing with the realities of distancing restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The occasion represents only the third time in the land-grant university’s 142-year history that a traditional graduation ceremony has not been possible, with the earlier times during the Spanish Flu pandemic and World War II.

Judge John J. Fraiser Jr. and his wife are pictured at MSU's Chapel of Memories — The Honorable John J. Fraiser Jr. and his wife Jennie Fraiser are pictured at MSU’s Chapel of Memories. Judge Fraiser will receive the Doctor of Public Service honorary degree during MSU’s May 1 commencement ceremonies, broadcast online and via MSTV. (Submitted photo)

During commencement, MSU President Mark E. Keenum will confer degrees and address the new graduates. Additionally, the Honorable John J. Fraiser Jr. will receive the Doctor of Public Service honorary degree. A member of the Second World War’s “Greatest Generation,” Fraiser is a native of Minter City who attended ��ɫ��Ƶ before joining the military at age 18. As a member of a 15th Army Air Force squadron during World War II, he flew 35 missions over Europe as a turret gunner on a B-24 Liberator and was awarded the Air Medal. Subsequently, Judge Fraiser has spent a lifetime serving the people of Mississippi as an accomplished attorney, county prosecutor, and member of the Mississippi Senate. During his time as a senator, he served as chairman of the Universities and Colleges Committee and the Appropriations Subcommittee for the Institutions of Higher Learning. He also has served as a Mississippi Supreme Court magistrate and was the first chief judge of the Mississippi Court of Appeals. His papers are housed in the Congressional and Political Research Center in MSU’s Mitchell Memorial Library.

Graduates will have additional options to participate in traditional commencement exercises on campus in December, provided the university has received clearance at that time from health professionals and government leaders. Keenum also plans to meet personally with spring 2020 graduates in the future to congratulate these students for their achievements.

Keenum said in a statement about the graduation ceremony, “This is not what any of us could have envisioned for the end of the Spring 2020 semester and the completion of an important time in the lives of our graduating class. But we are committed to celebrating our graduates and their accomplishments and wishing them well as they begin careers and assume leadership roles in the world that will make us all proud.”

An archived broadcast of graduation will be available at .

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at .

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