Tubbs, Dickerson, White to Address 2018 Stan State Graduates

Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs, Gallo Center for the Arts CEO Lynn Dickerson and California State Student Association President Maggie White will be the keynote speakers for Stan State’s 2018 Commencement ceremonies.

Commencement Keynote Speakers:

Thursday, May 24, 2018 9:00 a.m.
Gallo Center for the Arts CEO Lynn Dickerson

Thursday, May 24, 2018 6:00 p.m.
California State Student Association President Maggie White

Friday, May 25, 2018 9:00 a.m.
Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs

Tubbs, who will address the graduates from the College of Business Administration and the College of Science the morning of Friday, May 25, is the first African-American Mayor of Stockton and at 27 is the youngest mayor in American history of a city of more than 100,000 people. Before being elected Mayor in 2016, Tubbs served on the Stockton City Council, having been elected at 22.

Born and raised in Stockton, Tubbs attended Franklin High School and Stanford University, from where he earned his master's degree in policy, leadership and organization studies. He is a Truman Scholar and a recipient of Stanford’s Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel award.

Dickerson, who earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Texas A&M, will address the graduates of the College of the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and the College of Education, Kinesiology and Social Work on the morning of Thursday, May 24. Dickerson became CEO of the Gallo Center for the Arts in 2009 after a 29-year career in the newspaper industry. She was publisher and president of The Modesto Bee from 2000-2006, when she was promoted to Vice President of Operations for The McClatchy Company, the parent company of The Modesto Bee.

Dickerson, a past president of the Modesto Rotary Club, has served on many community boards, including Stanislaus Community Foundation, Opportunity Stanislaus, the Great Valley Center American Leadership Forum and the Modesto Downtown Partnership. She also represents arts, entertainment and sports on the County CEO’s Focus on Prevention Task Force. She was recently named a board member emeritus for the Stanislaus Education Foundation.

White, a Stan State graduate in communication studies, is completing her master’s in public administration at Stan State while serving as president of the California State Student Association. She will address the students who have earned advanced degrees and credentials at the Thursday, May 24 evening ceremony.

White represents the 480,000 students of the CSU system while overseeing seven full-time staff members and two interns in the association’s Sacramento and Long Beach offices. The job requires meeting with legislators and campus administrators and, as head of the largest university student association in the nation, White lobbies legislators in Washington, D.C.

White, from Modesto, is a 2013 graduate of Valley Charter High. She graduated in 2014 from Modesto Junior College with an associate degree in communication studies before transferring to Stan State.