Auburn, Ala. - Three of Auburn's notable alumni will be returning to campus this weekend for Auburn's spring commencement ceremonies. Susan Story, Randall Ennis and Melanie Barstad will all be giving keynotes as Auburn rewards more than 4,000 students with their college degrees.
Susan Story graduated from Auburn in 1981. She serves as the president and CEO of American Water Works, the largest publicly traded U.S. water and wastewater utility company. Before that, she spent 31 years at Southern Company Services, where she also served as CEO.
Story has also served as CEO and president of Gulf Power Company. She currently serves as the independent lead director for Raymond James Financial, a member of the Dominion Energy Board and a member of the Moffitt Cancer Center Board of Advisors.
Story will be speaking at two ceremonies held on Saturday. First, she will speak at the 10 a.m. ceremony for the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering and University College. At 2 p.m., Story will speak at the ceremony for the College of Architecture, Design and Construction; the College of Human Sciences; the School of Nursing; and the College of Sciences and Mathematics.
Randall Ennis graduated from Auburn in 1983. Ennis currently works as the CEO of the World Poultry Foundation. After 30 years in the poultry industry, Ennis accepted his CEO position in 2015. This nonprofit organization has the hopes of finding solutions to world hunger and poverty issues through producing and consuming poultry, while also empowering farmers.
In the past, Ennis has been active in industry trade associations and has led the Alabama Poultry and Egg Association as their president. He has also had the opportunity to sit on several boards, including the National Chicken Council, the International Poultry Council and the European Primary Breeders Association and the National Poultry Technology Center.
He will be speaking at both of the ceremonies held on Sunday. Earlier in the day, at 1 p.m., Ennis will speak to the graduating students of the College of Agriculture, the College of Education and the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences. Later, at 5 p.m., he will speak at the ceremony for the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business.
Melanie Barstad graduated from Auburn in 1975 and is the former president of women's health for Johnson & Johnson. Before retiring from her job at Johnson & Johnson, Barstad served as their president of women’s health, president of acute care and co-chair of the company’s global women’s leadership initiative.
Barstad currently holds a seat on the Cintas board of directors, and has recently served on the Auburn University Foundation board of directors. She is set to speak at Monday's 10 a.m. ceremony for the College of Liberal Arts.
Auburn University will be holding their spring 2018 commencement ceremonies in a series of five ceremonies held between May 5-7. All ceremonies are to be held in the Auburn Arena. Auburn will be giving degrees to 4,032 new graduates during these ceremonies.
