North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University issued the following announcement on Oct. 28.
The Honorable Michael S. Regan, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, will serve as the Fall 2021 Commencement keynote speaker for North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, school officials announced today.
The ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 11, at Greensboro Coliseum.
A native of Goldsboro, North Carolina, and a 1998 graduate of North Carolina A&T with a B.S. in earth and environmental science, Regan was nominated to serve as administrator of the Cabinet-level agency in 2020 by president-elect Joe Biden and confirmed in March of this year. Prior to that, he served as N.C. Secretary of Environmental Quality under Gov. Roy Cooper since January 2017.
In both his state and federal capacities, Regan’s leadership on environmental justice, clean energy and holding “big polluters” accountable for fouling the environment have won him strong support among pollution opponents and nature preservation groups. He is the first Black man to serve as EPA administrator, and when he was sworn into office in March by Vice President Kamala Harris, it marked the first time a graduate of a historically Black college or university (HBCU) had sworn in another into a Cabinet office (Harris is a graduate of Howard University).
“We are exceptionally proud of the work Administrator Regan has done, both in the public and private sector, with his north star always being the health of our state, our nation and the world beyond,” said Chancellor Harold L. Martin Sr. “He is serving as our nation’s top environmental official at a time when climate change is profoundly affecting our weather, agriculture, land use and development – even the essential viability of entire nations. I am confident that those issues and many others are in very capable hands with Administrator Regan, and I look forward to the wisdom he’ll share with our graduating students.”
After graduating from A&T, Regan earned a master’s degree in public administration from The George Washington University while serving for a decade as an environmental regulator in the EPA under the Clinton and Bush administrations. He served as an executive leader for the Environmental Defense Fund for the next eight years before joining the Cooper administration.
Regan’s wife, Melvina T. Regan, is also an A&T graduate, who until last December served as global talent acquisitions operations manager for the China-based information technology giant Lenovo. She holds a master’s degree in industrial/organizational psychology from Radford University. The couple have a son, Matthew.
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