U.S. Air Force Colonel Kim N. Campbell will speak to graduates participating in Averett University’s Spring Commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 8. The outdoor ceremony, which begins at 10 a.m., will be held at the University’s E. Stuart James Grant North Campus in the Frank R. Campbell Stadium, 707 Mt. Cross Rd. in Danville.

Averett will graduate more than 200 students between the Averett Online and traditional programs this commencement. Of those, approximately 170 plan to walk across the stage on May 8. The graduating class of 2021 includes 17 veterans and seven international students from Australia, Bahamas, Canada, Denmark and the United Kingdom. Graduates were born between 1963 and 2001.

This ceremony is the first commencement exercise to be held outdoors for the University in more than 20 years since the completion of the Grant Center, where commencement is typically held. It will include all appropriate health and safety protocols for graduates, families, faculty, staff and special guests. The rain date is Sunday, May 9. To ensure social distancing and occupancy limitations, each graduate can bring up to three guests, and all participants and guests will be socially distanced on the field and be required to wear a proper face covering.

Col. Campbell is the director of the Center for Character and Leadership Development, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado, which serves the Air Force Academy by advancing character and leadership development in preparation for service to the nation.

She is a highly decorated and distinguished command pilot who has flown combat missions in Operation Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Since being commissioned in 1997, she has climbed the ranks and served as Squadron Commander, Operations Group Commander, Air Force Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, Military Assistant to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and an instructor in the Department of Military and Strategic Studies at the Air Force Academy.