CIU to Hold Two Commencements Dec. 9

CIU to Hold Two Commencements Dec. 9

Sen. Darrell Jackson

South Carolina State Sen. Darrell Jackson will be the commencement speaker at CIU December graduation ceremonies on the main campus.

There will be commencement celebrations on both sides of the Broad River on Dec. 9. The first will be on the Monticello Road main campus of Columbia International University at 10 a.m. Then, at 1:30 p.m., directly across the river from CIU, graduates of the CIU Prison Initiative will receive their diplomas at the Kirkland Correctional Institution.

CIU President Dr. Bill Jones and CIU Provost Dr. James Lanpher will preside over the commencements, conferring degrees on 77 graduates on the main campus who have earned bachelor degrees, master’s degrees and doctoral degrees. At the Prison Initiative commencement, 12 student-inmates will receive Associate of Arts degrees.

The commencement speaker on the main campus will be South Carolina State Sen. Darrell Jackson of Richland County who will receive an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from CIU. Jackson earned a master of arts degree in Theological Studies from Columbia International University in 2012. In addition to serving in state legislature, Jackson is the senior pastor of Bible Way Church of Atlas Road in Columbia and founder and owner of two businesses: the public relations firm Sunrise Enterprise and Sunrise Family Health Benefit Services.

The commencement speaker at the CIU Prison Initiative graduation will be Loren Roméus, a former U.S. Navy pilot who serves as pastor of the Forest Acres campus of Sandhills Community Church

The mission of the CIU Prison Initiative is to train inmates to live in accordance with biblical principles and to equip them for the unique ministry opportunities afforded by their incarceration. After graduation they are assigned as chaplain assistants to prisons throughout South Carolina. Since its inception in 2007, 124 men and women have graduated from the program and serve in over 23 institutions.