Poe to deliver Union’s summer commencement address

Mary Anne Poe, university professor of social work and former dean of the School of Social Work at Union University, will be the keynote speaker at Union’s summer commencement ceremony July 27 at 10 a.m. at West Jackson Baptist Church.

Union will graduate 71 students during the ceremony, marking the close of the 2023-2024 academic year.

Poe joined the Union faculty in 1998 and served as the founding dean of the School of Social Work from 2017-2022. She also serves as the director of the school’s Center for Just and Caring Communities, which facilitates community and university partnerships, such as the Mentor U program.

Union honored Poe with emeritus status in April. She will be retiring from Union at the end of the summer.

She holds degrees from Vanderbilt University, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and the University of Louisville.

The ceremony will be streamed live at vimeo.com/unionuniversity.