Belton, Texas – University of Mary Hardin-Baylor will hold its 172nd Fall Convocation ceremony at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 23, in the arena of the Frank & Sue Mayborn Campus Center on the UMHB campus. The event, which inaugurates the official opening of the new academic school year, is free and open to the public.
Rev. Willie Earl Robertson, pastor of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Temple, will be the guest speaker during the service. The title of his address is “Planning and Preparing for Positive Impact.”
Robertson was born and raised in Temple. He graduated from Dunbar High School in 1965 and went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and sociology from Paul Quinn College in 1970. After college, he worked as a research technologist for Scott & White Memorial Hospital. He served on the Temple Independent School District Board of Trustees from late 1970s to the mid-1980s and was the first black school board president for TISD. In 1984, he surrendered to the call of God to preach, and in September 1988, he became the pastor of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church.
Robertson was elected to the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Board of Trustees in 2004 and is serving in his second term on the board (2004-2012, and 2014-the present). He has served as a member of the Board of Trustees Executive Committee 2006-2012, and again 2014—the present, and was chair of the trustees’ Campus Planning Committee 2010-2012, when the most recent Campus Master Plan was developed and adopted. He and his wife, Lucille, reside in Temple; they are the parents of Gay Dawn Robertson Justice and have one grandson, William Justice.
The event will also feature a performance by the vocal ensemble One Voice and a parade of flags representing the nations around the globe and states across the country from which UMHB students traveled to come to the university. This year’s ceremony will include flags representing the 30 countries and 31 states from which this year’s UMHB students originate.
