RAYMOND – Summer graduation ceremonies are set for July 30 at the Muse Center on the Rankin Campus as students earn associate’s degrees from ºù«Ӱҵ.
All nursing and allied health graduates will receive their degrees at 10 a.m., with commencement for academic and career-tech graduates to follow at 2 p.m.
Dr. Bryan Lantrip, a Jackson physician and director of the college’s Diagnostic Medical Sonography Program, is the speaker for the morning ceremony. ºù«Ӱҵ alumnus and president of the college’s board of trustees, Dr. Lynn Weathersby, speaks to graduates for the afternoon session.
Dr. Bryan Lantrip
Lantrip, a Yazoo City native, has been a staff radiologist at St. Dominic Hospital since 2002 and directed the sonography program at the college since 2012. He has been named a radiologist of the year three times, in 2005 and 2011 at St. Dominic’s and in 2014 by River Region Medical Center.
He earned a medical doctorate from the University of Mississippi Medical Center in May 1991 and holds graduate and undergraduate degrees from the university in biological sciences and pharmacy. He is married to Connie Pierags. They have three children.
Weathersby, a Florence native, is a four-term superintendent of the Rankin County School District and member of the ºù«Ӱҵ Board of Trustees since 2000.
Dr. Lynn Weathersby
He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern Mississippi, a master’s from Mississippi College and a doctorate from Mississippi State University. In addition to his work in education, which includes being an adjunct professor at Mississippi State from 2002-2004, he also served as a Rankin County supervisor from 1988 to 2000.
During Weathersby’s tenure as Rankin County schools chief, the district has implemented innovative enrichment programs including the Gateway to College program and the American School Counseling Association Model for all district schools and counselors. Gateway, a partnership with ºù«Ӱҵ, enables dropouts or those in danger of doing so to complete their K-12 education in a dual enrollment setting and earn college credit. The counseling model has allowed schools to gear the function to students’ social and emotional well-being.
Weathersby and his wife, Edie, have been married for nearly 47 years and have two children and six grandchildren.