Morehouse College to Welcome 12-Time, NBA All-Star Chris Paul as Commencement Speaker

Paul to receive honorary degree alongside Chris Womack, CEO of Southern Company, and the Rev. Dr. Lawrence Edward Carter Sr., the College's retiring founding dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel.

Morehouse College will welcome 12-time NBA All-Star, two-time Olympian, philanthropist, and entrepreneur Chris Paul as its keynote speaker for the 142nd Morehouse College Commencement exercises on Sunday, May 17, 2026, at 9 a.m. on the College's Century Campus. Paul will also receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the institution, alongside two exemplary individuals whose lives reflect a legacy of stewardship, ethical leadership, public service, and societal impact: the chairman, president, and CEO of Southern Company Chris Womack, and the founding dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel, the Rev. Dr. Lawrence Edward Carter Sr., set to retire this summer after 47 years of consecutive service to the College.

Paul’s speech will culminate a week of undergraduate and alumni reunion events, celebrating the class of 2026, as well as milestone alumni anniversaries, including Khalil “DJ Khalil” Abdul-Rahman ’96, Grammy Award-winning music producer; Milton Little Jr. ’76, president of the United Way of Greater Atlanta; Stephen Reed ’96, mayor of Montgomery; Albert Sanders ’01, executive vice president at the National Basketball Association; Rashaun Williams ’01, serial entrepreneur, investor and judge on ABC’s Shark Tank; and Raphael Warnock ’91, U.S. senator for Georgia and senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church.

Honorary degree recipient Chris Womack, chairman, president, and CEO of Southern Company, one of the nation’s largest energy providers, serving nine million customers across the United States, joined the organization in 1988. One of only nine African American Fortune 500 CEOS in the United States, Womack rose through the ranks to become the first African American chief executive officer of Georgia Power. Womack has lived the charge to be "first of all, servants of all” and that has lived that out through his community and civic engagement, leading Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens’ task force on homelessness and chairing the East Lake Foundation, among a myriad of other civic and community leadership roles. Most recently, Womack was named to the Georgia Historical Society’s “The Georgia Trustees,” the highest honor the State of Georgia can confer. 

Under his leadership, Southern Company launched a $50 million HBCU initiative that provides scholarships, leadership development, and expanded technology access to students across six states. Womack’s leadership also extends to the future of energy. He championed the completion of the Vogtle nuclear expansion, the nation’s largest clean energy generator, and has advanced hydrogen fuel blend technology. He was also named to the inaugural ForbesBLK 50 list and recognized by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of its Most Admired CEOs and a Leader in Corporate Citizenship.

Recruited to Morehouse by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself as a 10-year-old, the Rev. Dr. Lawrence Edward Carter Sr. will finally become a “Morehouse Man” with the conferral of his honorary degree after 47 years of steadfast service to the College through its Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel. With the mission of “healing the broken body of Christ,” Dean Carter has served the College since 1979, and under his visionary leadership, the Chapel has evolved into a hub for spiritual reflection, interfaith engagement, and ethical leadership, where more than 1,000 Morehouse spiritual and religious leaders received their ecumenical foundations, and few more thousand interfaith leaders and global luminaries from across the world have stood inside its walls, including Nelson Mandela, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Cheikh Anta Diop, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Dr. Gardener Taylor, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, and countless others. Dean Carter has established several enduring programs and initiatives, including the Chapel Assistants Program, the International Hall of Honor, the College of Ministers and Laity, and the Gandhi King Ikeda Institute for Global Ethics and Reconciliation. His legacy reflects a lifelong commitment to fostering purpose, moral leadership, and cross-cultural understanding.

This year’s Baccalaureate speaker, the Reverend Dr. Winford Kennadean "Kenny" Rice Jr., is a 2014 Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude graduate of Morehouse College, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in Religion & Philosophy as the department's top-ranking scholar and was named the 2013–2014 Martin Luther King Jr. Scholar. He went on to earn a Master of Divinity as a Ministry Fellow at Harvard University's Divinity School, a Master of Theology from Emory University's Candler School of Theology, and a Doctor of Ministry in biblical hermeneutics from Candler in 2025. In 2017, he was inducted into the Martin Luther King Jr. College of Pastoral Leadership at Morehouse College for his commitment to bridging civil societies, political institutions, and religious communities. Reverend Rice currently serves as Senior Pastor of Beulah Baptist Church in the Historic Vine City neighborhood of Atlanta and as an Adjunct Professor of Religion at Morehouse College. Above all, he is passionate about preaching, pastoring, and people, and seeks to bridge the church and the academy by serving in the parish with both head and heart.

For commencement updates, a complete list of events, and supporting information, visit morehouse.edu/commencement.