April 30, 2015

PASSHE universities list spring 2015 commencements and speakers

Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu

Harrisburg – Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education universities will hold their spring commencement ceremonies at various times and locations May 8-11. Details of the programs, including scheduled speakers, follow:

Bloomsburg – Three university alumni will address undergraduates at separate ceremonies scheduled for 8:30 a.m., noon and 3:30 p.m., May 9, on the Academic Quadrangle. The program for graduate students receiving degrees will be held at 7 p.m., May 8, in Haas Center for the Arts, Mitrani Hall (no speaker is scheduled).
Terry Zeigler (’76), founder and CEO of Datacap Systems Inc., a pioneer in the development of integrated electronic payment systems, will address graduates of the Colleges of Business and Education in the morning ceremony. Tracey Dechert (’88), assistant professor of surgery at Boston University School of Medicine, will speak to graduates of the College of Science and Technology at noon. Dechert was among a team of physicians who treated the injured and fielded reporters’ questions after the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013. Rebecca Campbell (’83), president of the ABC Owned Television Stations Group since 2010, will address graduates of the College of Liberal Arts in the afternoon ceremony.
In the case of inclement weather, all undergraduate ceremonies will be held at Nelson Field House on the upper campus.
California – Thomas M. Rutledge (’77), president and chief executive officer of Charter Communications Inc., will address undergraduate and graduate degree recipients at separate ceremonies scheduled for May 8 and 9. Graduate students will receive their degrees at 7 p.m., May 8; undergraduates, at 10 a.m., May 9. Both events will be held in the Convocation Center.
Rutledge has led Charter, a leading broadband communications company and the fourth-largest cable operator in the United States, since February 2012.
Cheyney – Gladys Styles Johnston, director of the Millennium Leadership Initiative and assistant to the president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, will address graduates at 11 a.m., May 9, on the historic Quadrangle.
Johnston was one of the founders of MLI, a leadership program within AASCU for high achieving academic administrators who seek the opportunity to be seriously considered as a candidate for a presidency or chancellorship of a college or university.
Clarion – A trio of alumni will address graduates at separate morning, afternoon and evening ceremonies May 9 on the main and Venango College campuses.
Keith Abrams (’82), vice president of programming and national brand coordinator for iHeart Media, will address graduates in the College of Arts, Education and Sciences at 10 a.m., and Mark Demich (’79), partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers in New York, will speak to graduates in the College of Business Administration and Information Sciences and from Venango College Clarion-based programs at 2 p.m. Both ceremonies will be held in the Waldo Tippin Gymnasium.
Venango County Commissioner Bonnie Summers (’82) will serve as the Venango College commencement speaker at 7 p.m. in the Robert W. Rhoades Center gymnasium.
East Stroudsburg – Steve Somers, owner of Vigon International, Inc., a flavor and fragrance company, will address undergraduates at separate ceremonies scheduled for 8:45 a.m. and 1:15 p.m., May 9, in Koheler Fieldhouse. Students in the Colleges of Business Management and Health Sciences will receive their degrees in the morning ceremony and those in the Colleges of Arts & Sciences and Education and University College, in the afternoon.
ESU Provost Joanne Zakartha Bruno will address graduate students at 7 p.m., May 8, at Koheler Fieldhouse.
Edinboro – U.S. Senator Robert P. Casey Jr. will address undergraduates at 10 a.m., May 9, in McComb Fieldhouse. Sen. Casey also will receive an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree during the ceremony.
Graduate students will receive their degrees in a ceremony scheduled for 2 p.m., May 9, in Louis C. Cole Auditorium – Memorial Hall.
Indiana – Donald J. Mash (’64), executive senior special assistant for chancellor selection and leadership development for the University of Wisconsin system, will speak at separate ceremonies scheduled for 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., May 9, in the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex. Mash, who previously served as chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and president of Wayne State College, also will receive an honorary doctorate of human letters.
Students from the Colleges of Fine Arts, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and Health and Human Services will receive their degrees during the morning ceremony and those in the Eberly Colleges of Business and Information Technology, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Education will receive their degrees in the afternoon.
Kutztown – Faculty and student speakers will address separate ceremonies scheduled for 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., May 9, in O’Pake Fieldhouse.
Speaking at the morning ceremony to graduates from the Colleges of Business and Education will be Samantha Phipps and Amanda Oswald, both of who will be graduating with bachelor’s degrees in secondary education; Ramah Steinruck, who will be receiving a Master of Education degree in student affairs; and Patricia Walsh Coates, an associate professor of education and director of secondary graduate programs. Speaking during the afternoon ceremony to graduates from the Colleges of Visual and Performing Arts and Liberal Arts & Sciences will be Letecia Garcia, who is graduating with a dual major in clinical-counseling psychology and criminal justice and a minor in biology; Jonathan Asayag, who is graduating with a Master of Social Work; and Karen Rauch, associate professor of Spanish.
Lock Haven – Major General Walter E. Piatt (’87), deputy director of operations, readiness, and mobilization for the U.S. Army, will address graduate and undergraduate students at separate ceremonies May 8 and 9. The graduate ceremony will be held at 7:30 p.m., May 8, in Price Performance Center; the undergraduate ceremony, at 10 a.m., May 9, in Hubert Jack Stadium.
Piatt has served in numerous assignments all over the world, including tours in Korea, Panama, Hawaii, Alaska and Germany. He also was deployed to Suriname, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Mansfield – U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Jim Reese (’89), founder, chairman and chief executive officer of TigerSwan, will speak at 11 a.m., May 9, at Karl Van Norman Field.
Before founding TigerSwan, an international security and global stability firm, in 2008, Reese served 25 years in the Army. His military commitment began while an ROTC cadet at Mansfield.
Millersville – WGAL news anchor Kim Lemon will address undergraduates at 10 a.m., May 9, in Biemesderfer Stadium. Lemon, a graduate of Clarion University of Pennsylvania, has been with WGAL since 1979 and currently anchors News 8 at 5 and 6 p.m.
German professor Leroy Hopkins will speak to graduate students at 6:30 p.m., May 8, in Pucillo Gymnasium. Hopkins received his undergraduate degree in German and Russian from Millersville University and his doctoral degree in Germanic Languages & Literature from Harvard University.
Shippensburg – Frank T. Brogan, chancellor of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education, will address undergraduates at 11 a.m., May 9, in Seth Grove Stadium. Mr. Brogan has served as State System chancellor since October 2013. He previously was chancellor of the Florida State University System, president of Florida Atlantic University and lieutenant governor of Florida.
Michael Coolsen (’96), an associate professor of marketing at Shippensburg, will speak at the graduate ceremony at 7 p.m., May 8, in the H. Ric Luhrs Performing Arts Center.
In the event of inclement weather, undergraduate commencement will be held in Heiges Field House in two separate ceremonies. Members of the Grove College of Business and the College of Education and Human Services would participate in the 11 a.m. ceremony, and members of the College of Arts and Sciences, at 3 p.m.
Slippery Rock – Faculty members William Bergmann and David Valentine will speak at separate ceremonies scheduled for 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., May 9, in Morrow Field House.
Bergmann, an assistant professor of history and the 2014-15 recipient of the President's Award for Scholarly and Creative Achievement, will address graduates of the Colleges of Health, Environment and Social Sciences, and Liberal Arts and Graduate Studies during the morning ceremony.
Valentine, a professor of computer science, interim dean of the College of Business and the 2014-15 recipient of the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching, will address graduates of the Colleges of Business and Education in the afternoon.
West Chester – Three university alumni will address undergraduates and graduates in separate ceremonies scheduled for May 9, 10 and 11. The undergraduate ceremonies will be held in Farrell Stadium; the graduate ceremony, in Hollinger Field House.
Roger Ware Jr. (’82), president, CEO and majority owner of Genesee General, a specialty property and casualty insurance company based in Alpharetta, Ga., and Broomfield, Colo., will address undergraduates in the Colleges of Business & Public Affairs and Health Sciences, at 10 a.m., May 9. Mr. Ware graduated from West Chester University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice in 1982 and earned an MBA from the University of Colorado in 1987.
Nicole Melander (’83), executive vice president, digital strategy and chief customer officer for Boston-based publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, will address undergraduates in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences and Visual & Performing Arts, at 10 a.m., May 10. Melander received a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from West Chester University, a Master of Science degree in technical management from Johns Hopkins University and a Doctorate of Philosophy degree in information technology from George Mason University.
Perry M. Cozzone (’83) president of the North American Division of Colorcon, Inc., an international, industry-leading supplier of pharmaceutical excipients and services, will address graduate students at 7 p.m., May 11. Mr. Cozzone holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science and a Master’s in Business Administration from West Chester University.

Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth, with about 110,000 degree-seeking students and thousands more who are enrolled in certificate and other career-development programs. Collectively, the 14 universities that comprise the State System offer more than 2,300 degree and certificate programs in more than 530 academic areas. Nearly 520,000 State System university alumni live in Pennsylvania.
The State System universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. The universities also operate branch campuses in Oil City (Clarion), Freeport and Punxsutawney (IUP), and Clearfield (Lock Haven), and offer classes and programs at several regional centers, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg and in Center City in Philadelphia.