Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, the first black woman to serve as mayor of a major Southern city, and the Rev. Susan Henry-Crowe, the first woman elected president of the United Methodist Church's Judicial Council, will address LaGrange College students during end-of-year ceremonies scheduled for May 15-16.

Franklin will deliver the Commencement address on Saturday, May 16, and Henry-Crowe will speak during the Baccalaureate ceremony on Friday, May 15.

As a first-time candidate for public office in 2001, Franklin was elected the 58th mayor of the city of Atlanta and became the first female to lead Georgia's capital city.

Since taking office in 2002, Franklin has worked to improve Atlanta's financial and budget management practices, implemented ethics reform, laid the foundation for the city's $3.2 billion overhaul of its aging water and sewer system, and completed the fifth runway of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport as part of a $6.3 billion airport investment plan.

Active with the Democratic Party on national and state levels, Franklin has served as co-chair of the 2008 National Democratic Convention and as treasurer of the Democratic Party of Georgia and president for the Conference of National Democratic Mayors.

She has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Black Enterprise and Essence. In 2005, Time Magazine named her one of the top five mayors in the country, and in 2007, Newsweek named her one of the women to watch in its Women and Power issue.

Prior to becoming mayor, Franklin served as the commissioner of cultural affairs for Mayor Maynard Jackson and was subsequently named chief administrative officer and city manager for Major Andrew Young. When Jackson was elected to his third term, Franklin served as executive officer of operations.

Henry-Crowe, this year's baccalaureate speaker, has served as dean of the chapel and religious life at Emory University since 1997. Prior to becoming dean, she was university chaplain at Emory from 1991-1997.

A United Methodist minister since 1974, Henry-Crowe was only the second woman to serve as a full-time Methodist minister in South Carolina. Last year, she became the first woman elected president of the United Methodist Judicial Council, the ecclesiastical court of the United Methodist Church.

She has served as a member of the Assembly Worship Committee for the February 2006 Assembly of the World Council of Churches, and she is currently a member of the International Peace Conference Planning Committee for the W.C.C.

In 1995, Henry-Crowe was awarded the Candler School of Theology Alumni/Alumnae Award in appreciation for her years of service to the School of Theology and Emory University and for her leadership in the seminary, the university and the church.

As dean of the chapel and religious life, a key aspect of her work at Emory has been to foster inter-religious dialogue in the ever-changing world of religious pluralism.

Both Franklin and Henry-Crowe will be awarded honorary doctorates during Commencement. Franklin will receive an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree, and Henry-Crowe will be awarded an Honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. Additionally, Sarajane N. Love, Verner F. Chaffin Distinguished Professor in Fiduciary Law at the University of Georgia, will be presented an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree.