TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama awarded some 1,000 degrees at summer commencement ceremonies held Monday, Aug. 11, in Coleman Coliseum on the Tuscaloosa campus.

Thomas C. Hubbard, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea and a 1965 UA graduate, was the featured speaker. During the ceremony Hubbard was given an honorary doctor of humane letters degree. Also during the ceremony, Gloria Narramore Moody, a longtime patron of the arts, received the Julia and Henry Tutwiler Award, UA’s most prestigious award for volunteer service.

With this graduating class, UA has awarded more than 186,000 degrees since its founding in 1831 as the state’s first public university. UA holds commencement ceremonies three times a year.

The following students from the Florence area were listed as candidates to receive degrees:

MASTER’S DEGREE

ATHENS -- Kristi Hipps Bowers, Kimberly Arleen Mason

FLORENCE -- Chapple Leigh Goodwin, Gary Wayne Shannon

MUSCLE SHOALS -- Crystal Ann Sorrelle

BACHELOR’S DEGREE

ATHENS -- Erin Lynne Fry, Ashley Hudson, Jennifer Lou Yarbrough

CHEROKEE -- Tiffani Larnelle Fuqua

COURTLAND -- Monique Sharae Grant

FLORENCE -- Gabriel Seth Davis, Benjamin Wilson Grover, James Wesley Johnson, Heather Deanna Lawson, Michael Andrew Myrick, Jill Elizabeth Sealy, John Ashley Towns

HILLSBORO -- Reginald Tavares Reynolds

KILLEN -- John Casey Goodwin, Jessica Brooke Mays, Linda Nicole Watson, Charles Jason Wilson

LESTER -- James Heath Birdsong

MUSCLE SHOALS -- Anton Lamar Young

RED BAY -- Brandon Scott Elliott, Barry Chadwick Wright

SHEFFIELD -- Marianne Leigh

TUSCUMBIA -- Jason Presley Jeffreys, Ashley Rae Willingham, Olivia Catherine Wooten