Campus News

State labor commissioner to give keynote speech at BFSO luncheon

Georgia Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond will deliver the keynote address at the Black Faculty and Staff Organization’s eighth annual Founders Award Scholarship Luncheon on Sept. 8.

The event takes place from noon-1:30 p.m. in the Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel.

“I’m excited and pleased to have the opportunity to give the keynote address at the Black Faculty and Staff Organization’s Founders Award Luncheon,” Thurmond said. “This organization has a long and rich history at UGA of promoting diversity and equality. Through its support of literacy programs in Clarke County, scholarships and mentoring, the organization has helped hundreds of black students be successful in their collegiate and professional lives.”

Tickets to the event run $30 per person or $240 for a table of eight. To buy tickets, contact Mark Dawkins, president of BFSO, at (404) 542-9330 or dawkins@terry.uga.edu.

Thurmond has distinguished himself as an attorney, author, lecturer and public servant since graduating from Paine College in 1975 and the University of South Carolina’s School of Law in 1978.

He practiced law from 1978-1986, and served as a Clarke County representative to the Georgia General Assembly from 1986-1998.

A lecturer in UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government in 1997, Thurmond has served as labor commissioner for the state of Georgia since 1998.