AAICU Board Member Gov. Albert P. Brewer to speak at Judson Commencement

Former Alabama governor, Albert P. Brewer, will be annual commencement speaker at Judson College on June 25.

Brewer earned two degrees from the University of Alabama and served Morgan County in the Alabama House of Representatives. He was elected Speaker of the House in his third term and, at age 34, was the youngest person in the state's history to attain that position.

He was elected Alabama's 21st lieutenant governor in 1966 and became governor in 1968 following the death of Gov. Lurleen Wallace.

As governor, Brewer chaired the Appalachian Regional Commission, a body composed of the governors of the 13 Appalachian states. He served on the executive committee of the National Governor's Conference and chaired the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Authority that received its first funding from Congress at this time. He established the Alabama Development Office, combining several loosely-organized state agencies in order to coordinate industrial development and traveled widely to recruit industry. He created the state motor pool to reduce the number of state vehicles and lower costs. His term also saw the division of the state Court of Appeals into two courts, criminal and civil, in order to reduce overcrowded dockets. He initiated the state's first Ethics Commission to promote accountability in state government and he also directed the state's sesquicentennial celebration in 1969.

 Following his term, Brewer returned to the practice of law in Montgomery and Decatur, joining the faculty of the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in 1987 as Distinguished Professor of Law and Government. He is the co-author of "Brewer and Cole: Alabama Constitutional Law," published by Samford University Press in 1992. He continues service as emeritus professor of law at Samford.

 Brewer is board chairman of the Public Affairs Council of Alabama. He renewed his work for constitutional reform that he began in the late 1960s as a current board member of Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform. His home county named the Albert P. Brewer High School and the Albert P. Brewer Vocational School in Somerville in his honor.

Because of his exemplary service to the state of Alabama, The Judson College Board of Trustees voted to confer on Brewer the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

 Commencement will be in the Alumnae Auditorium at 11 a.m. on June 25.

<= Go Back