Houston mayor Sylvester Turner was the keynote speaker at Texas Southern University’s Fall Commencement exercises on December 10, 2022. At a commencement speech to nearly 700 graduates and thousands more guests and faculty, Turner received an Honorary Doctorate from the University after announcing two new initiatives between the City of Houston and TSU!
Following his address, TSU awarded Mayor Turner an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters in recognition of his outstanding efforts to serve the community.
TSU President Dr. Lesia L. Crumpton-Young commended Turner on his tireless work at bettering the community “Mayor Turner has demonstrated his commitment to transforming the lives of the citizens of Houston, as well as those in Texas, and throughout the nation. The new ways in which the city is partnering with TSU demonstrate that commitment in a way that we know will benefit our communities for years to come. It was our pleasure to recognize his outstanding achievements during commencement by bestowing upon him the Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters Degree.”
The degree was presented by former U.S. Secretary of Education, Dr. Rod Paige.
The two incredible programs that Mayor Turner announced include:
A new proposal to have Texas Southern University lead educational efforts at the new Houston Spaceport at Ellington airport is poised to send the University’s Aviation Science Management program into orbit. The new partnership would include building a 30,000-square-foot educational building with state-of-the-art classrooms and labs, a 30,000-square-foot hangar that would house 15 new TSU training aircraft, and a 10,000-square-foot hangar for drone and vertical takeoff and landing education, research, and more.
If you missed @TexasSouthern‘s commencement speech by Mayor @SylvesterTurner, you also may not have heard about two major partnerships that the university will be entering with the City of @HoustonTX.
— Defender Network (@defendernetwork) December 15, 2022
For more details, see the full article in the Defender.
Mayor Turner also announced that Houston is contributing more than $1 million toward the creation of a new TSU/Houston Center for Transformative Health. This new partnership between Texas Southern University and the city’s Health Department will focus on decreasing health disparities and inequities among underserved populations by supporting critical areas such as expertise, capacity building, training service, research, and more. This initiative also aligns with Mayor Turner’s Office of Complete Communities and complements the City’s efforts through the HER Task Force to support these targeted neighborhoods.
Here is some of Mayor Turner’s incredible work that we’ve highlighted over the years:
