The University of Wisconsin–Madison will present an honorary doctorate degree to Rev. Dr. Alex Gee Jr. this May at the spring commencement ceremony.
Gee is the longtime senior pastor of Fountain of Life Church on Madison’s South Side, president and founder of the Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development and its renowned initiative, Justified Anger.
He is also the founder and CEO of The Center for Black Excellence and Culture, a Black-inspired, Black-designed and Black-led project that will celebrate Black culture in South Madison. The Center, set to break ground this summer, is a community-wide effort to bring together a collective Black brilliance to affirm, inspire and advance the Black community in Madison and beyond, according to its mission.
“Dr. Gee’s commitment to education, public service and community stewardship is the very essence of the Wisconsin Idea,” says UW Chancellor Jennifer L. Mnookin in a statement. “Few others have contributed more to the public good or given themselves more fully to the work of bettering society than Dr. Gee. He richly deserves this honor for his decades of impactful community leadership and passionate advocacy.”
Gee earned a bachelor’s degree from UW–Madison in Afro-American studies in 1985 and worked for several years at UW–Madison as an admissions officer and minority recruiter, minority affairs director for the School of Pharmacy, and as a special assistant for minority community relations for Chancellor David Ward, according to an article from UW News. He studied at Fuller Seminary and holds a doctorate from Bakke Graduate University.
Gee will be conferred the honorary doctorate of humane letters at the spring commencement ceremony for all doctoral, MFA and medical professional degree candidates at the Kohl Center on Friday, May 10, at 5:30 p.m.
