ALMA — Dr. Julie McKay, a member of the Alma College Class of 1981; as well as a physician, humanitarian and volunteer, will deliver the keynote address at Alma College’s 137th year commencement ceremony.
Nearly 300 students will participate in the ceremony on Saturday, April 20, at the campus’s Hogan Center, in Art Smith Arena.
“We are delighted to have Julie McKay address our graduating seniors at commencement,” Alma College President Jeff Abernathy said. “As a former Barlow Trophy winner, Julie spoke at her own commencement from Alma College. She has since led by example, as a model of leadership, selflessness and altruism. I believe our students will benefit greatly from hearing what she has to say.”
While at Alma, McKay was president of the Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society and the Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Society. She also participated in Alpha Zeta Tau and the women’s cheerleading club. In 1981, she was the winner of the Most Outstanding Senior award and the Barlow Trophy, Alma’s most prestigious award for a graduating senior. McKay earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology, with a minor in chemistry, from Alma.
McKay went on to earn her M.D. from the Wayne State University School of Medicine and completed her medical residency at the University of Florida. She worked for a decade at the Veterans Administration Outpatient Clinic, in Florida and Georgia, including service as associate chief of medicine. McKay is currently the lead physician for the Sulzbacher Clinic for the Homeless, in Jacksonville, Fla.
McKay also volunteers with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team, as a chaplain to victims of disasters; Samaritan’s Purse, as disaster assistance response team physician; and the Wildflower Clinic of the Good Samaritan System, as a physician volunteer for uninsured homeless.
In addition to delivering the keynote address at Alma’s commencement, McKay will receive an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters.
