Senator Joe Manchin To Deliver Bethany College Commencement Address
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Bethany College will return to in-person commencements in May, and the senior United States senator from West Virginia will be on hand to help celebrate.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., will deliver the commencement address at Bethany's ceremony, at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 8, at Bison Stadium. The graduation ceremony and the baccalaureate ceremony on Friday, May 7, will be open to the graduating classes of both 2020 and 2021. In-person ceremonies were canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID health and safety precautions will be in place for this year's ceremonies. Bethany has capped the number of guests to eight people per graduate. Attendees must maintain social distance and wear masks at all times.
Manchin was sworn into the U.S. Senate in 2010, filling the vacancy created by the death of Sen. Robert C. Byrd. Manchin is the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He serves on the Senate's appropriations, armed services, and veterans' affairs committees.
A Farmington, native, Manchin is a former state legislator, who also served six years as governor. His wife, Gayle Connelly Manchin, is a Bethany College trustee.
The Rev. Brian McVey -- a leading advocate in the fight to abolish human trafficking and rector at the Church of the Advent Episcopal in Nashville, Tennessee -- will preside over the baccalaureate ceremony at 5 p.m. May 7. In 2014, McVey was among the 20 members of the ecumenical Consultation on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking at the Vatican.
The college will also live-stream the ceremonies for those who are unable to be on campus. Live-stream details will be released closer to the ceremonies.