JOPLIN, MO (SNS) - The 45th Commencement at Missouri Southern State University is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 17 in the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.

The speaker for graduation will be Dwight Douglas, a lawyer from Neosho and member of the Missouri Southern State University Board of Governors.

Dwight Douglas has practiced law in Neosho, Missouri for 35 years. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Jurist Doctorate degrees from the University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo. The Jurist Doctorate degree was awarded in 1968. Mr. Douglas has a long record of service to his community and the State of Missouri.

He currently serves as a member of the Missouri Southern State University Board of Governors. He is the immediate past president of the Board. He was on the Board of Regents for Southwest Missouri State University from 1981-1986 and served two years as president of that board. Thereafter he served nine years as president of the Board of Directors of the Crowder College Foundation.

He recently completed 14 years as a member of the Missouri Safe Drinking Water Commission. This commission is responsible for adopting regulations which govern all public water supplies in the State of Missouri. He has served on the Governor’s Task force on Dioxin and the Missouri Environmental Improvement and Energy Resources Authority.

In July of this year Governor Blunt recognized Mr. Douglas for 18 years of volunteer service to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the citizens of Missouri. He has been awarded the EPA Partnership Award for his volunteer service at the Pools Pierre Superfund site. Both the Neosho, Mo., and Joplin, Mo., chapters of the National Exchange Club have awarded him their Book of Golden Deeds Award.

Mr. Douglas practices law in the areas of estate planning, real estate, health care and commercial transactions. He is corporate counsel for Freeman Health System and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Missouri Society of Health Care Attorneys.

Mr. Douglas has been married to his wife Bonnie for 39 years. They have two children. He is an avid sailor and amateur photographer.

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