Hal and Marjorie Roberts with President Kerr and Robert L. Fryer, Jr., '70, chairman of the Board of Trustees.

LAKELAND, Fla. (Dec. 1, 2008) — Florida Southern College will welcome J.H. “Hal” Roberts Jr. to deliver the winter commencement address to 177 graduates at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 13 in Branscomb Auditorium.

At the winter commencement ceremony, the College will confer degrees on graduates from the college’s traditional day program, the Lakeland evening program, and the Orlando and Ocala programs. Twenty-one students will receive master’s degrees.

“We are proud of all of our graduates, and we are thrilled they will have the opportunity to hear from Hal Roberts, who has set such a fine example of business ethics, entrepreneurial stewardship, and service to the community,” said FSC president, Dr. Anne B. Kerr. “Mr. Roberts has been a leader in law and business, and he is an outstanding ambassador for our College.”

Mr. Roberts is CEO of EarthLinked Technologies, which manufactures geothermal heat pumps. He holds a bachelor’s degree and law degree from Emory University. As a former city attorney for the city of Lakeland, he handled environmental permitting, contracts and bond financing for the addition of two electric generating units and the first joint venture between municipal electric systems in Florida. His 30-year private practice included electric utility and industrial cogeneration consulting.

Mr. Roberts and his wife, Marjorie, established and endowed FSC’s Roberts Learning and Literacy Center, which trains teachers to identify learning differences among young students, especially in the areas of reading and literacy. In October, they announced a $3.5 million gift that will create the Roberts Academy, a transitional school that will serve gifted children with dyslexia.

The Robertses have three children who graduated from Florida Southern College. Mrs. Roberts is a member of the Florida Southern College Board of Trustees. The Roberts family has been actively involved in the support of educational excellence for many years.