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AME Church Senior Bishop Will Be FAMU’s Summer Commencement Speaker
AME Senior Bishop Adam J. Richardson, Jr. graduated from Tampa's Middleton High School in 1965.
The commencement ceremony for graduates from all schools and col- leges at Florida Agricultural and Me- chanical University will be held at 6 p. m. in the Alfred Lawson, Jr. Multi- purpose Center and Teaching Gym- nasium, Tallahassee. More than 300 undergrad, graduate and law de- grees will be conferred during the cer- emony, which will be held on Friday, August 2, 2019.
The featured commencement speaker will be Bishop Adam J. Richardson, Jr. Bishop Richard- son said he is excited about speaking since this year has a special signifi- cance in his relationship with the University.
"This is my 50th year out of FAMU. It's quite an honor," said Richardson. “I look forward to sharing whatever insights and wis- dom I have gained over these five decades.”
This will be Richardson’s third return as a speaker at FAMU. He plans to savor it. "I don't expect to
Newly elevated African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Senior Bishop Adam Jefferson Richardson, Jr., will address Florida A&M University (FAMU) grad- uates as the Summer Commencement speaker on Friday, August 2, 2019.
have another one," he said. "I am re- ally grateful for this one."
Richardson, who studied Phi- losophy and Religion
and was the head
drum major in
the FAMU Marching "100," was named Senior Bishop dur- ing the AME Church's Annual
Council of Bishops and General Board Meeting Worship Service on June 26, 2019, in Birming- ham, Alabama.
The Senior Bishop is the active bishop with the longest tenure of service in the AME Church and is first in order of precedence among the Council of Bishops.
The former pastor of Tallahassee's Bethel AME Church, Richardson obtained his Bachelor of Arts Degree from FAMU in 1969. He earned his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Sa- cred Theology degrees at the Interde- nominational Theological Center in Atlanta.
Before being elected as the 115th AME Bishop in 1996, for 18 years, Richardson served as pastor of Bethel AME, which is located near the FAMU campus.
As a bishop, Richardson's min- istry has had global reach. He served
churches in West Africa, including Sierra Leone, Ghana, Liberia, Cote D'Ivoire, Togo and Benin, South Africa, Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, Washington, D. C., Florida and the Bahamas. The AME Church has more than two million members in 40 countries across five continents.
Richardson will serve as se- nior bishop until his retirement in 2024. At his consecration, reflecting on his time as a FAMU drum major, Richardson said, "There are quite a few steps (literally and figuratively) between the Patch (the practice field) and Senior Bishop!"
He and his wife, Connie Speights Richardson, are the par- ents of two adult children: son, Trey, a certified hospital radiographer and professional saxophone player, and daughter, Leon County Judge Monique Richardson, who is also a FAMU alum.
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