Browning to deliver FMU commencement address

P.J. Browning, Chief Executive Officer of Evening Post Publishing and President and Publisher of The Post and Courier, will deliver the commencement address and receive an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree at Francis Marion University’s Fall 2025 commencement ceremony.  The event will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, December 13, in the Smith University Center.

Students from the College of Liberal Arts and Schools of Business, Education, and Health Sciences will receive their degrees during the ceremony. Each graduate will be allowed eight guests, and a ticket is required for entry. Guests without tickets may watch the livestream in Chapman Auditorium. The ceremony will also be streamed online at www.fmarion.edu and on the FMU YouTube channel.

Browning has built a distinguished career dedicated to serving communities through journalism.  She began her career at the News-Leader in Springfield, Missouri, after graduating from Missouri State University, and has since held leadership roles across the country, including serving as president and publisher of The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and The Telegraph in Macon, Ga.

In 2013, she joined The Post and Courier, South Carolina’s oldest daily newspaper, as publisher and president. During her tenure, the newspaper has successfully adapted to the evolving media landscape, expanding its digital presence, launching podcasts, and opening new bureaus across the state, including The Post and Courier Pee Dee, which employs student interns from FMU in both the newsroom and business operations.

Under Browning’s leadership, The Post and Courier received the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Public Service for its groundbreaking series, “Till Death Do Us Part,” which exposed the high rate of domestic violence in South Carolina and spurred legislative reform.

Her contributions to journalism have earned numerous honors, including Publisher of the Year by Editor and Publisher in 2019 and Executive of the Year by the Inter American Press Association in 2023. Browning has also devoted her time to a number of professional and community organizations including the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association, America’s Newspaper Foundation, the South Carolina Press Association, and Trident United Way.