Gospel Music Artist Smokie Norful is the Speaker at The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff's Commencement Ceremony

Smokie Norful, renowned gospel singer and pastor, was the commencement speaker at The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB)'s162nd commencement ceremony, virtually, on Friday, December 18, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. You can re-watch the service at the University's YouTube channel and Facebook page.

The ceremony recognized both spring and fall 2020 graduates and include the commissioning of Army officers. Seventeen graduates will be awarded the Chancellor's Medallion, an honor bestowed to students with the highest cumulative grade point average from each of the University's five schools of study.

An alumnus of UAPB, Norful is senior pastor of Victory Cathedral Worship Center in Bolingbrook, IL and is an internationally-acclaimed musician, music composer, and recording artist. His debut and now-classic gospel record, "I Need You Now," catapulted him to worldwide recognition and commercial success with four number one Billboard albums and more than 2.5 million albums sold worldwide. He's earned two Grammy awards, the first in 2005 for Contemporary Soul Gospel Album of the Year for his debut album Nothing Without You, and a second in 2015 for Best Gospel Performance/Song, "No Greater Love."

Pastor Norful is also the recipient of several Stellar, Dove, Soul Train, and NAACP Image Awards and a multi-gold certified artist by the Recording Industry Association of America. Norful is an educator at heart and earned a Bachelor's of Arts in history before teaching junior and senior high school students for several years. He went on to attend both Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary (Evanston, IL) and Trinity International Seminary (Deerfield, IL) where he received a Master's of Divinity and also served on the board of Regents for Trinity International University. Norful launched Victory Cathedral Worship Center in 2005 and opened a second campus in Chicago in 2008.

 

 

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