Over 240 Students To Graduate From Reinhardt On Saturday

More than 240 students will graduate on Saturday at Reinhardt University in Waleska.

The school's commencement ceremony will start at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, May 3 at the James and Sis Brown Athletic Center. 

Georgia Independent College Association President Susanna Baxter will serve as this year's keynote speaker at the ceremony. 

Baxter joined GICA in August 2010. Before that Baxter, served as the chief operating officer for the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association for 10 years. She worked as the dean of students at Barton College in North Carolina before beginning her association work.  

Baxter earned her bachelor's degrees in both religion and Christian education from Pfeiffer University. She went on to earn both her master's degree and doctorate in higher education leadership and policy from Vanderbilt University.

While in Tennessee, Baxter worked to establish several collaborative organizations in order to better serve private colleges. The first was the Coalition for College Cost Savings, a national group purchasing organization providing a range of contracts for small- to medium-sized private colleges in order to help reduce expenditures and improve efficiency.  

The second organization was a statewide public and private college coalition to foster healthy and safe campuses with a focus on alcohol and other drug abuse prevention.

Baxter is a member of the Georgia Professional Lobbyist Association and Atlanta Rotary. She is married to Mark R. Huffman and they, along with their two sons, live in Atlanta.