The commencement is scheduled for the second consecutive year in Elmwood Park’s Amphitheater on Friday, May 8, beginning at 9:30 a.m. Jefferson College students on the master’s, bachelor’s and associate degree levels will accept their diplomas and become alumni of the College during the event. These students will graduate from 14 different academic programs at the College. Jefferson College is proudly hosting this event at Elmwood Park, across Elm Street from its campus at Carilion Roanoke Community Hospital.
For more than 100 years, Elmwood Park has evolved from the distinguished home and gardens of P.L. Terry, one of Roanoke’s founding citizens, to downtown’s premier greenspace. After an extensive renovation process, Jefferson College is partnering with the City of Roanoke to utilize this beautiful new amphitheater space for its outdoor graduation event.
At the ceremony, Jefferson College welcomes Ed Walker as the commencement speaker. Mr. Walker is an entrepreneur, lawyer and educator. He is the founder and CEO of Commonwealth Capital Partners LLC, CityWorks LLC, PlaceMakerNation and several other for-profit and non-profit organizations. His work seeks to strengthen communities through interdisciplinary collaboration involving social entrepreneurship and investment, arts and design, food and drink, outdoors and recreation, new media and knowledge, and good government including politics, policy and citizenship. He explores opportunities in the U.S. and abroad.
Mr. Walker attended University of St. Andrews in Scotland, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and Washington & Lee University School of Law. In 2012-13, he served as a Loeb Fellow at Harvard and as Gleitsman Visiting Practitioner at Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership where he served as a Senior Fellow in 2013-14. He has served as an Adjunct Professor at Washington & Lee’s School of Law since 2013.
Jefferson College of Health Sciences is a private higher education institution that “prepares, within a scholarly environment, ethical, knowledgeable, competent and caring healthcare professionals.” The College focuses on providing healthcare education and is an affiliate of Carilion Clinic. Founded in 1914 as the Jefferson Hospital School of Nursing, Jefferson now provides more than 1,000 students with opportunities to become part of the healthcare profession, serving communities from southwest Virginia to the Shenandoah Valley and beyond.
