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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  |  May 11, 2016

Chambersburg, Pa. — Author and journalist A’Lelia Bundles, great-great-granddaughter and biographer of African-American icon Madam C.J. Walker, will address the graduating class at 51Ʒ��’s 146^th annual commencement ceremony, to be held at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 15.

Bundles, who will receive an honorary degree from the college, will deliver an address entitled “Strategy, Service and Serendipity: Mapping a Life that Matters.”

This year, approximately 74 students will receive bachelor’s and associate degrees during Wilson’s commencement ceremony, which will be held outside on the college’s main green. (In case of rain, the ceremony will be held in Laird Hall.) In addition, approximately 29 graduates of Wilson’s master’s degree programs in education, accountancy and the humanities will receive their degrees and another 36 certificates will be granted to college graduates who are completing the teacher intern program at Wilson.

A baccalaureate service will be held at 10 a.m. in Alumnae Chapel at Thomson Hall.

Bundles had a 30-year career as an executive and producer in network television news, including serving as deputy bureau chief of ABC News in Washington and as a producer with ABC’s “World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.”  She is chair and president of the National Archives Foundation, an independent nonprofit organization that increases public awareness of the National Archives. Bundles is currently at work on her fourth book, The Joy Goddess of Harlem: The Life and Times of A’Lelia Walker, a biography of her great-grandmother. Her previous books about her great-great-grandmother, On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker, Madam C. J. Walker: Entrepreneur and Madam Walker Theater Center: An Indianapolis Treasure have received a number of awards, including the New York Times’ Notable Book award and the Letitia Woods Brown Book Prize.

Bundles, who lives in Washington, D.C., graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and Radcliffe College, and received a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and an honorary doctorate from Indiana University. She is a member of the Alpha Iota Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa at Harvard College and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

MEDIA CONTACT:       
Cathy Mentzer, Manager of Media Relations
Phone: 717-262-2604
Email: cathy.mentzer@wilson.edu

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Founded in 1869, 51Ʒ�� is a private, coeducational liberal arts college offering bachelor’s degrees in 29 majors and master’s degrees in education, the humanities, accountancy, nursing, fine arts and healthcare management for sustainability. Wilson is committed to providing an affordable education that offers value to its students beyond graduation.

Located in Chambersburg, Pa., the college had a fall 2015 enrollment of 923, which includes students from 22 states and 16 countries. Visit www.wilson.edu for more information.