Fall Commencement Featured Speaker is BESE Board President, Nicholls Alumna

Helen Marie Joseph
December 3, 2021
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Houma Terrebonne Mardi Gras 2022 Route is Announced!
December 3, 2021
Helen Marie Joseph
December 3, 2021
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Houma Terrebonne Mardi Gras 2022 Route is Announced!
December 3, 2021

Veteran educator, administrator and policymaker Sandy LeBlanc Holloway (MEd ‘84) will be the keynote speaker at the 109th Commencement Ceremony held on Saturday, Dec. 18.

The ceremony will begin at 9 a.m. in John L. Guidry Stadium.

Holloway has more than four decades of experience as an educator and administrator in Lafourche Parish. She first began teaching in 1977 working in the classroom for traditional and special education before elevating to assistant principal, principal and supervisor. In 2010, she was named the Executive Director of the Bayou Community Academy Charter School.


She held the position until 2019 when she was elected to the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. She has served as the BESE Board President since 2020.

In 2021, the Nicholls State University Alumni Association named her the 2021 College of Education and Behavioral Sciences Outstanding Alumni.

During the ceremony, the University will award an Honorary Doctorate of Science to Windell Curole, general manager of the South Lafourche Levee District. Few individuals have been more influential in South Louisiana coastal protection measures than Curole (BS ‘74) who has led the South Lafourche Levee District since 1980, overseeing hundreds of coastal protection projects.


Changes in weather patterns may require changes to the commencement ceremony schedule.

For more information and updates, visit nicholls.edu/commencement.