Reinhardt President-Elect To Deliver Keynote Address at Graduation Ceremony

Reinhardt President-Elect Dr. Kina Mallard will be the keynote speaker for the University’s commencement ceremony on Saturday.

More than 250 students will participate in the ceremony, which will start at 9 a.m. May 2 at the James and Sis Brown Athletic Center on Reinhardt’s campus in Waleska.

In February, Reinhardt’s Board of Trustees announced the selection of Dr. Mallard as the institution’s 20th president. She was chosen by a vote of the full board, and she will assume the office May 16.

An experienced academic leader, Mallard comes to Reinhardt from Carson-Newman University, Jefferson City, Tennessee, where she has served as executive vice president and provost since 2012. She was Carson-Newman’s provost and vice president for academic affairs from 2009 to 2012.

Prior to Carson-Newman, she has held academic leadership posts at Gordon College, Wenham, Mass., and Union University, Jackson, Tenn. Her teaching career began in 1982 as a graduate teaching associate at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn. She also taught fine arts at North Greenville College, Tigerville, S.C., in the mid-1980s.

Mallard has a doctorate in communication and a master of arts in organizational communication from the University of Tennessee and a bachelor of science in speech and theatre from Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro.

Only two students are selected by the Reinhardt faculty to participate in the Commencement Ceremony based on their academic achievement, activity, leadership, representation and faculty references.

They must also represent the character, integrity and mission of Reinhardt University. The students filling the speaking roles this year are Maria Fernanda Flores ’15, who will provide the student address, and Isabella Novaes ’15, who will give the benediction.

For more information about Reinhardt’s Commencement Ceremony or to watch it live, visit www.reinhardt.edu/streaming.

Photo: Dr. Kina Mallard. Credit: Reinhardt University