Seattle Poet To Deliver Ewu Commencement Speech

Mona Lake Jones, a poet and educator who was raised in Spokane, will deliver the commencement speech Friday at Eastern Washington University.

Nearly 1,940 baccalaureate degrees and 328 master’s degrees will be given during the ceremony at the Pavilion on the Cheney campus.

The event starts at 9 a.m. with a traditional march from the campus mall to the pavilion. Commencement is expected to run from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. A barbecue and reception is planned afterward in the mall.

Jones, of Seattle, is author of “The Color of Culture,” a collection of poetry on black culture, ethnicity and family life. She has been called the poet laureate of Seattle.

She holds a doctor’s degree in education and now teaches graduate courses at Pacific Oaks College in Seattle.

, DataTimes