FOLEY, Ala. — Columbia Southern University reached a major milestone this month as it celebrated the Class of 2026, a group of more than 1,300 graduates whose degrees pushed the Baldwin County university’s alumni count past 100,000 since its founding in 1993.
Graduates and their families gathered for a three-day series of events Oct. 22-24, capped by commencement ceremonies at the Foley Event Center at OWA.
Three days of celebration
Festivities opened Thursday, Oct. 22, with the university’s annual Grad Bash, held on the CSU campus. The informal gathering gave graduates and their loved ones a chance to celebrate together before the formal ceremonies.
Commencement followed on Friday, Oct. 23, and Saturday, Oct. 24, at the Foley Event Center, part of the OWA resort and entertainment destination in Foley. The ceremonies honored graduates who traveled from around the world to walk across the stage.
According to the university, the events also celebrated CSU’s mission of offering higher education to adults who are balancing their studies with jobs, families and other responsibilities.
President reflects on the university’s founding
CSU President Ken Styron, DBA, spoke to the graduates during commencement, looking back on the vision behind the university and the persistence it takes to finish a degree while juggling other obligations.
“When CSU was founded in 1993, the vision was simple but extraordinary: build a university for adults who couldn’t pause their lives to pursue a traditional education,” Styron said.
Styron contrasted the graduates’ experience with the path many students take straight from high school.
“For many people, college is simply the next step after high school. For you, it was a decision, and a bold one. You chose to invest in yourself while building a career, meeting your daily responsibilities, and showing up for the people who count on you,” he said.
A Texas couple graduates together
Among those receiving diplomas were John and Cassandra McEuen of Fort Worth, Texas. The married couple became first-generation college graduates together, meaning neither had a parent who earned a four-year degree before them. Their four children were in the audience to watch them receive their diplomas.
John McEuen earned a bachelor’s degree in occupational safety and health with a concentration in construction. Cassandra McEuen completed a bachelor’s degree in nursing leadership and administration of healthcare systems.
John McEuen said it was his wife’s success in the classroom that first convinced him he could pursue a degree of his own, overturning a long-held belief that school simply wasn’t for him.
“Seeing her, seeing how proud she’d get when she got on the dean’s list or the president’s list… I was like ‘You know what, I can do that,’” John McEuen said.
He said the experience surprised him and changed the way he sees himself.
“I never thought in a million years I’d like being a student. I’ve always had that mindset, ‘I’m not a school guy.’ It’s helped me with my confidence,” he said.
The couple’s story reflects the kind of student CSU’s president described in his remarks: working adults with family responsibilities who fit coursework around the rest of their lives.
Employees among the graduates
The university’s own workforce was also represented in the Class of 2026. Seventeen CSU employees earned degrees this year, joining the students they serve at commencement.
From 1993 founding to 100,000 alumni
Crossing the 100,000-alumni mark during this year’s commencement season underscores how much the institution has grown over more than three decades, according to the university.
Columbia Southern University is a private, primarily online university headquartered in Orange Beach. Its distance-learning model is designed to let students complete coursework without relocating or leaving their jobs, which is why graduates come from across the United States and other countries even though the university’s home base is on the Alabama Gulf Coast. Its degree programs include fields such as occupational safety and health, business, criminal justice, fire science and emergency services, along with programs in health care administration and leadership.
Because most CSU students complete their studies remotely, the annual commencement weekend at OWA is a rare chance for graduates, faculty and staff to gather in person, and it draws graduates and their families from far beyond Baldwin County each fall.
Serving adult learners
CSU’s focus on working adults places it in a growing segment of American higher education. Adult learners frequently face obstacles that traditional students do not, including full-time jobs, child care, military deployments and shift work. Flexible online programs have expanded access for those students, many of whom, like the McEuens, are the first in their families to earn a college degree.
For the more than 1,300 graduates in the Class of 2026, commencement weekend marked the end of a journey that, as Styron put it, required a deliberate decision to invest in themselves while carrying on with careers and family life. Their diplomas also made them part of a milestone class that carried CSU’s alumni ranks beyond 100,000.
