Athens, Ga. – Approximately 1,380 students—802 undergraduate, 371 master’s and specialist and 207 doctoral candidates—are eligible to walk in the University of Georgia’s summer Commencement ceremony Friday, Aug. 1, at 9:30 a.m. in Stegeman Coliseum. Tickets are not required.
UGA alumnus Abit Massey, a 1949 graduate of the University of Georgia and president emeritus of the Georgia Poultry Federation, will give the address at the combined Commencement ceremony.
For 48 years, Massey led the Georgia Poultry Federation, a nonprofit trade association that represents the state’s poultry industry. In 2009, he was named president emeritus and continues to work full time supporting Georgia’s largest agricultural commodity—in 2012, the state’s total farm-to-consumer value of poultry and eggs was $5.7 billion.
Through his work, Massey formed a close relationship between the poultry federation and the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences that led to advances in poultry research. He also established a poultry research project at the Georgia Institute of Technology that is now more than 40 years old.
Before working for the Georgia Poultry Federation, Massey was head of the former state Department of Commerce—now the Georgia Department of Economic Development—where he created the tourist division and built the first welcome station.
Massey graduated from UGA with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1949 and has served his alma mater in a variety of capacities since then. He currently lives in Gainesville with his wife, Kayanne, a former Miss Georgia. They have two children, Lewis and Camille, and four grandchildren, Chandler, Cameryn, Christian and Lucia. He and his family were named the 2014 UGA Alumni Association Family of the Year because of their service to and support of the university.
During the ceremony, Tiffany Brown of Warner Robins will be recognized as a First Honor Graduate for maintaining a 4.0 cumulative grade point average in all work attempted at UGA as well as all college-level transfer work attempted prior to or following enrollment at the university. Brown is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Spanish.
Among the graduates is veteran television journalist and broadcaster Monica Kaufman Pearson, who is receiving her master’s degree in journalism and mass communication.
UGA’s Commencement ceremony will be for students who complete degree requirements at the end of the summer 2014 semester. The ceremony will be broadcast live on channel 15 of the university cable system and channel 181 of the Charter cable system and will be streamed live at http://www.ctl.uga.edu/. The ceremonies will be rebroadcast on both channels Aug. 2-3 at 3 p.m.
Because Commencement falls on a Friday, a routine UGA workday, parking patterns on South Campus near the coliseum will be adjusted. The South Campus parking deck (S-11), Carlton Street parking deck (S-15) and Foley Field/Magill Tennis Complex lot (S-14) will be open at no charge for visitors and guests. The Hoke Smith parking lot (S-12) and sections of the Coverdell lot (S-16) will be reserved for handicapped guests with proper placards. The McPhaul Center lot (S-10), which will be reserved for members of the Commencement platform party, is undergoing preparatory work for construction of the Science Learning Center. Parking spaces not affected by construction will be available through the Sanford Drive entrance.
For more information on UGA’s summer Commencement, see http://commencement.uga.edu/.