Campbell professor to be commencement speaker at correctional institution

     Dr. Edward Fubara will be the commencement speaker at Shaw University’s graduation exercises held at Harnett Correctional Institution on Tuesday, June 5. A total of seven students receiving Bachelor of Arts degrees in Business Management will be graduating from Shaw.

     “I was surprised and quite honored to be selected as a graduation speaker,” said Fubara, who is an assistant professor of business at Campbell’s Lundy-Fetterman School.

     “I’m really looking forward to being a part of the ceremony that recognizes these graduates’ accomplishments.”

     Fubara, whose speech will draw lessons from the biblical story of Samson, said he was selected to speak after someone at Shaw heard him deliver an address at a Martin Luther King Day annual breakfast in January.

     “That person was in the audience at the breakfast and thought I would be a good fit for the commencement speaker’s job,” he said. “This will be the first commencement address I have ever delivered.”

     A graduate of the University of Benin in Benin City, Nigeria, Fubara received a master’s of Business Administration and a Ph.D. from Michigan State University. He came to Campbell in 2005, where he teaches management courses and serves on the campus Multicultural Council. He has developed and facilitated workshops and seminars on diversity management, employability skills, leadership, Christian education, Time management, market research, small business development and conflict resolution. At a recent HIV/AIDS awareness fundraiser, Fubara received an award from the Multicultural Council for his work on the event.

     Fubara, who has written a book on Samson, said he chose the subject for his address because Samson’s life demonstrates the inextinguishable quality of hope.

     “There is a parallel between the life of Samson and these graduates,” he said. “Samson was a strong man and a leader with potential who also made some pretty serious mistakes, yet he was used by God in spite of them, even at the end of his life.”