Ypsilanti mayor Nicole Brown is going back to school…to give the commencement address at her alma mater, Eastern Michigan University.
Before becoming the first Black woman elected as Ypsilanti mayor last November, Nicole Brown graduated from EMU in 2011. She earned a bachelor’s degree in social work and communications from the university and later earned a master’s degree in social work last year.
The mayor was chosen to not only return to deliver the spring commencement address, but she will also receive an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. Brown said she was very honored and surprised to be selected and added she owes much of her success to the support of the faculty and staff at Eastern.
<i>“It makes me really emotional to think about now being a commencement speaker, and being the mayor, when these are individuals who supported me before I knew what I wanted to do at all. And I was just in the community just trying to do some positive work.”</i>
Hussein Berry, a VP of operations for Delta Airlines will also deliver a commencement address and receive an honorary degree. The commencement ceremony will take place on April 30.
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