Back to News 
MILLIGAN COLLEGE, TN (May 1, 2009) – Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association (TICUA) President Dr. Claude O. Pressnell, Jr., will be the keynote speaker for Milligan College’s commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 9, at 4 p.m. in Seeger Memorial Chapel.
Pressnell spent more than 20 years working in higher education administration before being named president of TICUA in 2000. He began his career at Southwest Baptist University in Missouri as an admission recruiter and was soon promoted to senior director of admissions and student development. While working on his doctorate in higher education administration/ educational leadership at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., he also served as the director of financial assistance and assistant professor of religion at Belmont University. Pressnell later served as the founding executive director of the Institute for Family Studies and as executive director of the Tennessee Foundation for Independent Colleges.
In 2003, the United States Senate appointed Pressnell to the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance where he served as vice chair from 2007 until his second and final term expired in 2008. The committee serves as an independent source of advice and counsel to the United States Congress and the Secretary of Education on student aid issues and higher education policy.
Pressnell also serves on numerous international, national and state level boards, including as an international advisor on higher education reform in the Balkan region of Europe and South America. Most recently, he was asked to assist in the rebuilding of the higher education system in the Kurdish region of Iraq.
Class of 2009
Milligan will graduate 187 students. The spring 2009 graduates include 46 bachelor of arts (B.A.), 85 bachelor of science (B.S.), 25 bachelor of science in nursing (B.S.N.), 10 master of education (M.Ed.), 19 master of business administration (M.B.A.) degrees and two master of occupational therapy (M.S.O.T) degrees.
For more information, call 423.461.8756, or visit www.milligan.edu.