The Rev. Dr. Vernon P. Howard, Jr., to deliver Commencement Address
04/19/2024
The Reverend Dr. Vernon Percy Howard, Jr., has been named the Commencement Speaker for ceremonies on Saturday, May 11, at 10:30 a.m. The native son of Kansas City is a faith leader, educator, activist and civil and human rights leader now serving as president of the local chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and senior pastor of the Historic St. Mark Church.
As a faith leader he has served churches across various protestant denominations and is known for his prophetic preaching and evangelistic zeal, having led hundreds to salvation and life in Christ in that unique spirit embodied by the Black church tradition.
As a civil and human rights leader, he has been at the forefront of movements in the region to successfully advance causes and initiatives such as Medicaid expansion in Missouri, a living wage ordinance in the City of Kansas City, Missouri, local law enforcement reform and accountability, and economic justice through the Central City Economic Development program that focuses on reinvestment into marginalized urban areas. In addition, his prophetic leadership spawned the renaming of major thoroughfares in Kansas City to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
His academic work has included teaching within the Africana Studies Department of the University of Arizona in Tucson and Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas. He now serves as adjunct professor at William Jewell College, teaching courses within the Center for Faith and Culture and the Applied Critical Thought and Inquiry Core Curriculum. His doctoral work was completed at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University, an historic Black college in Richmond, Virginia.
Among his many honors are the NAACP Harold Holliday, Sr., Civil Rights Award (2019), The Invictus Award for Social Justice (2018), the Kansas City Star's Top 50 Influencers (2017), William Jewell College Citation for Achievement as a distinguished alumnus (2020) and William Jewell Athletic Hall of Fame inductee for basketball (2022).