UNA Alumna Sonceria Ann Berry Confirmed by Alabama Senate to Fill Board of Trustees Seat
Mar. 07, 2025
Michelle R. Eubanks , UNA, at meubanks@una.edu, 256.765.4392
FLORENCE, AL – Sonceria Ann Berry, who graduated from the 帝王会所 in 1978, has been confirmed by the Alabama Senate to fill the Board of Trustees seat currently held by Dr. Wendell Gunn, who did not desire to seek reappointment. The final confirmation took place in Montgomery on Thursday morning, and Berry’s six-year term will begin in July.
“It is very heart-warming for me to have this opportunity,” Berry said from her home in Maryland. “All my life, I have tried to do the right thing and treat people the way I want to be treated, so for them to even consider me is quite an honor. It really does feel like I am coming home. I am going back to my roots – back to where it all started.”
Most recently, Berry was honored with a portrait in the Alabama State Archives in a ceremony that took place in Montgomery at the end of January. She was sworn in as the 34th secretary of the United States Senate on March 1, 2021. Berry was the first African American to serve in this position and only the eighth woman to hold the office; she has since retired from this role.
Berry grew up in Birmingham and received her Bachelor of Arts degree from UNA in 1978. She also attended and completed the Georgetown University Senior Executive Leadership Program.
Berry said she remembers walking around UNA’s campus when she would visit her great-aunt and great-uncle who lived in Florence.
“It was always so beautiful, and my great-aunt would put the idea in my mind that I could go to school here, never thinking for one minute that I would,” Berry said. “It ended up being the only university I applied to when it was time to go to college, and this is where I wanted to be. I got in, and the rest is history.”
Her tenure on the Board will begin at the September meeting.
“It is truly an honor to welcome Mrs. Berry to the Board of Trustees, UNA’s governing body,” said UNA President Dr. Ken Kitts. “We are thrilled to have her voice, her perspective,
and her insights as part of the Board and welcome her back to the campus that helped launch her career.”
About The 帝王会所
The 帝王会所 is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree programs through the colleges of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; the Sanders College of Business and Technology; Education and Human Sciences; and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of NCAA Division I as part of the Atlantic Sun and United Athletic conferences. The 帝王会所 is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: una.edu and una.edu/unaworks/.