WASHINGTON (August 19, 2011) – Michael L. Lomax, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), will serve as keynote speaker at the University’s 144th Convocation, September 23 at 11 a.m. in Cramton Auditorium, President Sidney A. Ribeau, Ph.D., announced today.

“We are very pleased that Dr. Lomax has accepted our invitation to serve as our Opening Convocation keynote speaker,” Dr. Ribeau said. “We look forward to what we know will be an inspirational address from a distinguished educator.”

As head of the UNCF, Lomax leads the nation’s largest private provider of scholarships and other educational support to minority and low-income students. He oversees 400 scholarships, including the UNCF Gates Millennium Scholars Program, a 20-year, $1.6 billion project whose 14,000 low-income minority recipients have a 90 percent college graduation rate. Lomax also launched the UNCF Institute for Capacity Building, aimed at strengthening and sustaining the 39-member, private historically black colleges and universities around the country.

Additionally, Lomax co-chairs the Education Equality Project and serves on the boards of the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of African American History and Culture and the Studio Museum of Harlem. He holds membership in numerous organizations, such as the Aspen Institute’s Commission on No Child Left Behind, the governing boards of Teach For America, the KIPP Foundation and the National Alliance of Public Charter schools. He is also a leading advocate for the importance of cradle-through-college education for all Americans.