Voorhees University names UNCF leader Michael Lomax as commencement speaker

Voorhees University will put one of the country’s most recognizable HBCU advocates in front of its 2026 graduates when Dr. Michael L. Lomax, president and chief executive officer of the United Negro College Fund, delivers the keynote address at commencement in Denmark.

The ceremony is set for 10 a.m. Saturday, May 2, 2026, on the 365-acre campus in Bamberg County. Voorhees announced the selection on April 15, saying Lomax’s role fits the scale of an event that will draw families, alumni and community leaders to one of the county’s biggest annual gatherings.

For Bamberg County students watching from classrooms, church pews and living rooms in Denmark, the choice carries more than ceremony. UNCF says Lomax has helped the organization raise more than $4 billion and supported more than 300,000 students in earning degrees, numbers that speak directly to the pressures local families face when tuition, financial aid and retention determine whether college remains within reach. At a rural school where education is closely tied to mobility, his appearance puts the national conversation about HBCU access in a local setting.

Lomax’s own path mirrors the message Voorhees wants to send its graduates. He entered Morehouse College at 16, later earned a master’s degree from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from Emory University, and went on to teach at Morehouse and Spelman College as a tenured professor. Before taking the UNCF job in 2004, he also served as president of Dillard University and held civic leadership roles in Atlanta, including helping establish the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs and serving as chair of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners.

Voorhees President Dr. Ronnie Hopkins, appointed as the university’s tenth president on July 9, 2021, said the selection reflects Lomax’s lifelong commitment to expanding access to education and strengthening HBCUs. That message lands with added weight at Voorhees, a historically Black university founded in 1897 by Elizabeth Evelyn Wright-Menafee in Denmark, about 50 miles south of Columbia.

The weekend surrounding commencement will also include Voorhees’ Golden Class celebration for the Class of 1976, scheduled for May 1-2. That brings multiple generations of supporters back to campus at once, turning the ceremony into a wider reunion for a school whose mission has long centered on opportunity, persistence and service. For students in Bamberg County, the presence of a national HBCU fundraiser and administrator at the podium is a reminder that the next step after graduation is still being shaped by access, money and the institutions that help make college possible.