Dr. Mark Becker, who began his educational career at a community college and went on to become a college president, will be the guest speaker at Georgia Perimeter College’s May 12 commencement exercises.

Becker has been president of Georgia State University for the past five years and previously held leadership positions at the University of South Carolina, the University of Minnesota and the University of Michigan. He is trained as a statistician and is an internationally-recognized researcher in biostatistics and public health sciences.

As a first-generation college student, Becker is personally and professionally committed to ensuring that students of all economic backgrounds succeed and are given opportunities to compete on a level playing field, according to the GSU website.

Becker attended Harford Community College in Maryland and then earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Towson State University in 1980 and his Ph.D. degree in statistics from the Pennsylvania State University in 1985.

Throughout his career Becker has served on boards and committees of civic, government and professional bodies. Among them are the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities, World Affairs Council of Atlanta, Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Georgia Aquarium, Georgia Research Alliance, Woodruff Arts Center and the Atlanta Committee for Progress.

The graduation ceremony will take place at 10:30 a.m. at the Atlanta Civic Center, 395 Piedmont Ave., Atlanta.

An expected 2,044 students will receive their diplomas, according to Doug Ruch of the GPC Registrar’s office. The oldest GPC student to graduate is 71 years old. The youngest is 17. Among the students receiving their associate degrees are 167 nursing graduates, 23 dental hygiene students and 557 business administration grads.