2006 Annual Fall Commencement
Saturday, December 16, 2006

Greensboro Coliseum
Lineup 8 a.m.
Processional 8:30 a.m.

Keynote Speaker
Dr. Velma Speight-Buford
N.C. A&T Board of Trustees Chair
N.C. A&T Chancellor Search Committee Chair

A native of Greene County, N.C., Speight-Buford has been a professional educator for more than 45 years. She started her career as a high school teacher and through promotions and appointments expanded it to high-level positions including specialist in civil rights, state supervisor of guidance and assistant state superintendent for the Maryland State Department of Education, where she served as the first black female.

Speight-Buford has taught at numerous colleges/universities including John Hopkins University, Loyola College and the University of Maryland College Park. She has served as chair of the department of education and coordinated the graduate program and guidance and counseling at University of Maryland Eastern Shore. She also served as chair of the department of counseling and adult education at East Carolina University, making her the first black to chair an academic department at that institution.

A 1953 N.C. A&T graduate, Speight-Buford returned to her alma mater in 1993, to serve as the director of alumni affairs. She retired from the university in 1997. A staunch alumna, Speight-Buford has donated over $150,000 in cash, several acres of property and a planned gift of one million dollars to the university. Speight-Buford served as National President of the Alumni Association, where she established the Alumni Scholars Program. She was recently honored by the N.C. A&T University Foundation with the main lobby of its new building (Alumni-Foundation Event Center) being named in her honor.

A recognized consultant and speaker in her field, she holds a B.S. degree from A&T, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Maryland College Park. She is married to William M. Buford, has one daughter and two granddaughters.