NEWS RELEASE

Lincoln Memorial University President Clayton Hess conferred the degrees of nearly 300 degree candidates at LMU’s Fall Commencement Exercises in Tex Turner Arena on Dec. 10.

A total of 32 associate, 112 baccalaureate, 97 graduate, 33 educational specialist and 17 professional degrees were presented during the ceremony. Timothy Perkins, a bachelor of science in biology degree recipient from Middlesboro, earned undergraduate valedictorian honors. Hunter Stroble, a bachelor of business administration degree recipient from Bradenton, Florida, was named salutatorian.

Michael Toomey, Ph.D., the 2022 recipient of LMU’s Houston Award for Teaching Excellence, delivered the commencement address. The historian and Abraham Lincoln expert told the class of 2022 that they should be proud to be part of the legacy of Abraham Lincoln.

“It’s a legacy that emerges largely (from) two of the greatest things that Lincoln did,” Toomey said. “First of all, he saved the union. The United States was not united when Lincoln took office. When he came into office, we were a divided nation. The second thing was he ended slavery. That awful, evil and immoral stain on our national character, Lincoln ended it. Now if he had done either one of those two things, his legacy for doing great things would have been firmly established. He did both of them. That is a powerful legacy and that is the legacy that you are a part of now.”

Toomey went on to tell the graduates that he was certain, that like Lincoln, they would do great things. He said the opportunity is there to do great things on small and large scales. He encouraged the class to recognize that the ability to do great things sometimes comes in small packages and the world could be made better simply by doing great things within your sphere of influence no matter the size of the sphere.