Calvert County Commissioner President Wilson Parran

Wilson Parran will provide the commencement address as the College of Southern Maryland celebrates its 49th spring commencement at its La Plata Campus

The College of Southern Maryland will celebrate its 49th spring commencement at its La Plata Campus May 22. Calvert County Commissioner President Wilson H. Parran will provide the commencement address.

Parran, serving as president of the Calvert County Board of County Commissioners since 2006, was elected a commissioner in 2002 and has previously served as the board’s vice president. Formerly president of Windspeed Technologies, Inc, he is a retired telecommunications executive and previously the chief information officer for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services and the Department of Natural Resources.

Locally, Parran has given his time to Calvert Alliance Against Substance Abuse, Concerned Black Men of Calvert County, Friends of Jefferson Patterson Park Museum and the Friends of Calvert Marine Museum. He served on the Calvert Board of Education for six years and the Maryland State Board of Education for five years, including serving as its president in 1989. He served on CSM’s Board of Trustees for more than two years before being elected county commissioner. Parran holds a bachelor of science from Columbia Union College and a master’s of science in information systems from The George Washington University.

More than 300 CSM students are candidates for degrees and certificates representing 57 programs of study. Graduation activities include an Honor’s Convocation at 6 p.m., May 21 on the front lawn of the Administration Building to recognize students with academic honors; and a nurses’ recognition program at 1 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center, followed by a reception in the Center for Business and Industry, (BI) room 113.

The college’s 49th Spring Commencement Ceremony will begin at 6:30 p.m., May 22 on the Administration Building front lawn with a reception to follow in BI building, room 103/104. The rain location is the Physical Education Center with the ceremony to be simulcast in the BI-113. For information, call 301-934-7508 or 301-870-2309, 240-725-5499 or 443-550-6199, Ext. 7508 or visit http://www.csmd.edu/commencement/.