Lassiter to address summer graduates

Dr. Wright L. Lassiter Jr., chancellor of the Dallas County Community College District, will address the 2007 summer graduates of Grambling State University. The ceremony will be held Friday, July 27 at 10 a.m. in the Grambling Assembly Center.
On Wednesday, July 25,there will be a practice session for graduation candidates.
Dr. Lassiter began his career in higher education when he was appointed as an instructor of business at Alcorn State University immediately upon his graduation from that college. In addition to serving as an instructor, he also served as the acting head of the department of business for that summer period. Upon the completion of that successful assignment, he was admitted to the Intern Training Program for College Business Officers, a pioneering program to prepare African Americans for service as college business officers.
The program was sponsored by the Phelps-Stokes Fund and the General Education Board and was under the direction of the American Association of College and University Business Officers, the only professional organization at that time for African American business officers. Upon the completion of the 12-month internship period, he served as a member of the business office staff of Hampton Institute (Virginia) until he was called into military service.
Following military service in the U.S. Anny, he resumed his career in higher education by returning to Tuskegee Institute (Alabama). During a tenure of seventeen years at Tuskegee Institute, he rose from the initial post of student bookkeeper to that of director of auxiliary enterprises and business manager.
His being named to the post of vice president for finance and management at Morgan State University in Baltimore, where he served for four and a half years, followed his service at Tuskegee. Lassiter’s service at Morgan State University was followed by his election to the presidency of Schenectady County Community College in Schenectady, New York. His election to that post represented the first appointment of an African American to a presidency in the State University of New Yolk System.
His second presidency was at Bishop College in Dallas where he labored valiantly to save the financially troubled historically black Baptist college. His three-year tenure there was marked by a number of advances for the troubled institution, and his establishment as a prominent leader in the education, business and community service arenas of the Dallas Metroplex.
Since 1986, Lassiter served as the president of EI Centro College, the landmark college of the Dallas County Community College District. He and the president of Richland College represented the longest serving presidents in the Dallas Community College District.
In May 2006 Lassiter was named the sixth Chancellor of the Dallas County Community College District and he is the first African American Chancellor. The Dallas County Community College District is the largest community college in Texas with a current enrollment of just over 64,000 credit students and approximately 25,000 continuing education students at its seven separately accredited colleges.
He holds degrees from AlcornState University(Bachelorof Science, magna cum laude); Indiana University (MBA with high honors); and Auburn University (doctorate in educational administration and finance). He eamed a theologicaldoctorate and was awarded the honorary Doctor of Humanities degree by Dallas Baptist University.