Savannah State University will hold its 184th commencement ceremony at 9 a.m., Saturday, May 10, in T. A. Wright Stadium on the SSU campus. Approximately 330 students are expected to receive associate, undergraduate and graduate degrees during the ceremony, which is free and open to the public. The commencement address will be delivered by Assistant Secretary Linda Thomas-Greenfield who leads the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs.

Confirmed by the Senate and sworn in to office in August 2013, Thomas-Greenfield’s division at the Department of State is focused on the development and management of U.S. policy toward sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to this appointment, Thomas-Greenfield served as director general of the Foreign Service and director of Human Resources, leading a team of approximately 400 employees who handled the full range of personnel functions for the State Department’s 70,000-strong workforce, from recruitment and hiring to evaluations, promotions and retirement.

Thomas-Greenfield’s 32-year Foreign Service career includes an ambassadorship to Liberia (2008-2012) and foreign postings in Switzerland (at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations), Pakistan, Kenya, Nigeria, The Gambia and Jamaica. In addition to the Bureau of Human Resources, her Washington postings include the Bureau of African Affairs where she was principal deputy assistant secretary from 2006 to 2008 and the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration where she served as deputy assistant secretary from 2004 to 2006. 

Thomas-Greenfield is the 2000 recipient of the Warren Christopher Award for Outstanding Achievement in Global Affairs in recognition of her work with refugees. She has received several superior, meritorious and performance awards, including the Presidential Meritorious Service Award. In 2010, Thomas-Greenfield was inducted into the Louisiana State University Alumni Association Hall of Distinction.

Before joining the Department of State, Thomas-Greenfield taught political science at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. She earned a bachelor’s degree from LSU and a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, where she also did work towards a doctorate degree.