Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole, director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art, will be the keynote speaker for North Carolina A&T State University's 2009 Annual Fall Commencement. The ceremony will be held Monday, Dec. 14, in the Greensboro Coliseum. The lineup will begin at 8 a.m. and the processional at 8:30 a.m. More than 750 students will receive degrees.

In Cole's current position, she oversees 34 staff members and a collection of 9,100 objects in the only national museum in the United States dedicated to the collection, exhibition, conservation and study of the arts of Africa. Cole is also the board chair of the Johnnetta B. Cole Global Diversity and Inclusion Institute, founded at Bennett College for Women in Greensboro. The nonprofit Institute's mission is to create, communicate and continuously support the case for diversity and inclusion in the workplace through education, training, research and publications.

A native of Jacksonville, Fla., Cole served as president of the Bennett College for Women (2002-2007), where she completed a $50 million campaign, opened an art gallery and initiated programs in Africana women's studies and global studies. Prior to that, she served as Presidential Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Women's Studies and African American Studies (1998-2001) at Emory University in Atlanta. In 2002, she served as co-curator of the exhibition "Wrapped in Pride: Ghanaian Kente and African American Identity" at the Carlos Museum at Emory.

Cole has served on the Scholarly Advisory Board of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture since its inception and she has worked with a number of Smithsonian programs since the mid-1980's. She is also on the Board of Directors of the Toni Morrison Society.
Cole has conducted research in Africa, the Caribbean and the United States and has authored several books and scores of scholarly articles. She has been awarded 54 honorary degrees from colleges and universities, including Princeton, Yale, Fisk, Smith and Columbia, and won numerous awards. Cole served on former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's Committee on Transformational Diplomacy and on President Bill Clinton's Transition Team for Education, Labor, the Arts and Humanities and has served as the chair of the United Way of America.

Cole received her doctorate degree (1967) and master's degree (1959) in anthropology from North Western University and her bachelor's degree (1957) in sociology from Oberlin College in Ohio.