Spelman College will formally confer Helene D. Gayle, M.D., MPH, as its 11th president during an investiture ceremony on Friday, April 28, at the Morehouse College Martin Luther King, Jr. International Chapel.
Inauguration events will begin on Thursday, April 27 and will conclude on Sunday, April 30. The line-up of events includes an academic symposium, investiture ceremony, campus celebration, day of service and an interfaith service at Spelman’s historic Sisters Chapel.
Rosalind Gates Brewer, C'84, chair of the Spelman College Board of Trustees and president and CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance, will preside over the investiture, followed by Dr. Gayle’s inaugural address.
Dr. Gayle began serving as the 11th president of Spelman College on July 1, 2022, following an extensive national search led by the Board of Trustees. View Dr. Gayle’s bio here. She succeeds President Emerita Mary Schmidt Campbell, Ph.D., who served as president from 2015 - 2022.
RSVP: Media interested in attending should complete this Media Request Form by Wednesday, April 26.
Inauguration Schedule of Events
Academic Symposium
Thursday, April 27, 2023
10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Spelman College, Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed.D. Academic Center Auditorium
350 Spelman Lane SW, Atlanta, GA 30314
Investiture Ceremony
Friday, April 28, 2023
11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Morehouse College, Martin Luther King, Jr. International Chapel
830 Westview Dr. SW, Atlanta, GA 30314
Formal installation of the 11th president of Spelman College
Campus Celebration
Friday, April 28, 2023
1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Spelman College, Campus Oval
350 Spelman Lane SW, Atlanta, GA 30314
Day of Service
Saturday, April 29, 2023
1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Spelman College, Wellness Center Gymnasium
350 Spelman Lane SW, Atlanta, GA 30314
Spelman’s Bonner Office of Civic Engagement will host volunteers to pack meals for Southwest Atlanta families
Interfaith Service
Sunday, April 30, 2023
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Spelman College, Sisters Chapel
350 Spelman Lane SW, Atlanta, GA 30314
A celebration of faith | Inauguration Sermon by Bishop Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church
For more information, visit Spelman’s inauguration page. Program details for each event will be updated by Monday, April 24.
Media Contacts:
Lydia Sermons, 470.898.6451, lydiasermons@spelman.edu
Denise Ward, 770.862.4028, deniseward@spelman.edu
About Spelman College
Founded in 1881, Spelman College is a leading liberal arts college widely recognized as the global leader in the education of women of African descent. Located in Atlanta, the College’s picturesque campus is home to 2,100 students. Spelman is the country's leading producer of Black women who complete Ph.D.s in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The College’s status is confirmed by the U.S. News & World Report, which ranked Spelman No. 51 among all liberal arts colleges, No. 19 for undergraduate teaching, No. 5 for social mobility among liberal arts colleges, and No. 1 for the 16th year among historically Black colleges and universities. The Wall Street Journal has ranked the College No. 3, nationally, in terms of student satisfaction. Recent initiatives include a designation by the Department of Defense as a Center of Excellence for Minority Women in STEM, a Gender and Sexuality Studies Institute, the first endowed queer studies chair at an HBCU, and a program to increase the number of Black women Ph.D.s in economics. New majors have been added, including documentary filmmaking and photography, and collaborations have been established with MIT’s Media Lab, the Broad Institute and the Army Research Lab for artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Outstanding alumnae include Children’s Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman, Walgreens Boots Alliance CEO Rosalind Brewer, political leader Stacey Abrams, former Acting Surgeon General and Spelman’s first alumna president Audrey Forbes Manley, actress and producer Latanya Richardson Jackson, global bioinformatics geneticist Janina Jeff and authors Pearl Cleage and Tayari Jones.
To learn more, please visit spelman.edu and @spelmancollege on social media.