Dr. Paul Blaylock will address UT Martin’s spring 2016 graduating class during next Saturday’s commencement exercises.
The graduation ceremony will begin at 11:00 in the Elam Center on the university’s main campus.
Blaylock received a Bachelor of Science degree in liberal arts from UTM in 1968 before earning a medical degree from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis in 1972. He later graduated from the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore., and has spent the past 40 years serving as both a trauma doctor and a trial lawyer in the Portland area.
Blaylock received the UTM Outstanding Alumni Award during homecoming festivities in 2003 in recognition of outstanding achievement in his chosen professions. During his time at UTM, he was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and served as president of the Student Government Association. The student government office was officially named after him in 2006. Blaylock was also a close mentee and friend of Dr. Phil Watkins, then vice chancellor of student affairs and SGA adviser, and their friendship is memorialized in the bronze statues titled “Friends” outside the Paul Meek Library.
He was later honored with both the President’s Award and the Jefferson Award from the American College of Legal Medicine for his disaster work at ground zero following 9/11 and additional community and charity contributions.
The UTM spring commencement ceremony, expected to be the largest in university history, is a ticketed event. However, attendees without tickets are welcome to watch a livestream webcast from the overflow area located inside the Skyhawk Fieldhouse.
Tickets may only be obtained from individual graduates.