Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2025
Dr. William A. Keyes to serve as May 2025 commencement speaker.
Texas Southern University announces that Dr. William A. Keyes, an award-winning policy expert, communicator, and mentor, will be the keynote speaker at its Spring 2025 Commencement ceremony.
Dr. Keyes is a former staffer for the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress and a White House Senior Policy Advisor. In 2003, he founded the Institute for Responsible Citizenship, an organization dedicated to preparing the nation’s best and brightest African American male college students to use their extraordinary talents to serve others. Dr. Keyes currently serves as president of the Institute. He is most proud of the institute alumni, more than 250 of whom are men of character now serving in leadership positions such as judges, pastors, academics, doctors, and an ever-widening range of professions.
“Texas Southern University is pleased that William Keyes IV will share in this most esteemed ceremony,” said Dr. Carl B. Goodman, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs. “His journey to pursuing his dreams in the halls of Washington, D.C. is similar to many of our graduates who will commence from TSU to chase dreams of their own. We look forward to the knowledge he will impart.”
Keyes completed his Ph.D. in Communication in 2018, becoming the first person in the history of the University of North Carolina to earn a Ph.D. while serving on the Board of Trustees.
Widely recognized for his work in education, Dr. Keyes is the recipient of the Mac A. Stewart Distinguished Award for Service by the Todd A. Bell National Resource Center at Ohio State University, the Dr. Asa G. Hilliard Model of Excellence Award from the College Board, the Make A Difference Award from Epstein Becker & Green PC, the Warrior Award from the International Colloquium on Black Males in Education, and many more. Keyes is a member of Beta Nu Boulé of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity.
Spring commencement occurs on Friday, May 9, at 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., in the Health & Physical Education Building. The 9:00 a.m. ceremony includes graduates of the College of Liberal Arts & Behavioral Sciences, College of Transdisciplinary Studies,
School of Communication, Joan M. LaFleur College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, and the College of Science, Engineering and Technology. The 2:00 p.m. ceremony includes the Jesse H. Jones School of Business, Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs, College of Education, and Thurgood Marshall School of Law.
For more information about TSU’s Spring 2025 Commencement, visit http://www.tsu.edu/commencement/.
Category: Students, Faculty & Staff, Alumni, News Media