School of Social Work Spring 2025 Commencement
May 3, 2025, 1:30 PM ET
Power Center
121 Fletcher Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Important Information
The School of Social Work Summer Commencement for Master of Social Work students will be held in person at The Power Center for the Performing Arts and livestreamed on the SSW website. Power Center doors will open for guests and graduates starting at 12:30 PM.
A light reception will be held in the Power Center Lobby immediately following commencement.
Please email [email protected] with any questions.
The SSW Commencement will be livestreamed on this page and on the front page of the U-M School of Social Work website.
Keynote Speaker Dr. Leona Tate
On November 14, 1960, six years after separate Black and white schools were ruled unconstitutional, Leona Tate became one of three six-year-old girls to integrate McDonogh No. 19 School, a white-only public elementary school in New Orleans’ historic Ninth Ward. The integration of New Orleans public elementary schools marked a major focal point in the history of the American Civil Rights Movement.
In 2009, Tate established the Leona Tate Foundation for Change, Inc. (LTFC) to purchase McDonogh 19, the school she, Tessie Prevost and Gail Etienne integrated. Under Tate’s leadership, the organization has provided free summer camps, after-school tutoring, adult literacy, Christmas toy drives and a monthly food pantry. The foundation also staffed the Lower Ninth Ward Living Museum, a free community museum dedicated to the history of the historic Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood.
In 2020, LTFC and development partners renovated the historic McDonogh 19 campus, which reopened as the Tate, Etienne, and Prevost (TEP) Center in 2022. It is a mixed-use development dedicated to the history of New Orleans Public School desegregation, civil rights and Black life. Tate's mission for the center is to create a safe space and community anchor where the public can learn, support and train for anti-racism activism and social restorative justice.
In 2023, Tate received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from St. Thomas Christian University and Macalester College in recognition of her service to the New Orleans community and beyond.
Tate’s love for community anchors the mission of LTFC and the TEP Center. She also values quality time with her family. She is a mother of three, a grandmother of 12 and a great-grandmother of eight.