Harrisburg – The caps and gowns have been ordered and the stages are almost ready for the annual spring commencement programs to be held on each of the campuses comprising Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education. Thousands of students will walk across those stages during the first two weekends of May to receive their degrees from the 14 universities.

Speakers at the events will include top-performing students and faculty, successful alumni returning to their alma maters, and other notable individuals. Details of each of the programs follow:

Bloomsburg – Daniel Greenstein, chancellor of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education, and Michael Boguski, a director and president of Eastern Alliance and its operating subsidiaries, will address graduates at separate ceremonies May 11 at Robert B. Redman Stadium on the university’s upper campus.

Greenstein will address graduates in the colleges of Liberal Arts and Education at 10 a.m., while Boguski will address graduates from the College of Science and Technology and the Zeigler College of Business at 3 p.m. Greenstein was named chancellor in September. He previously led the postsecondary success strategy at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Boguski, who graduated from Bloomsburg with a bachelor’s degree in business management, has been with Eastern Alliance since the inception of the workers’ compensation insurance company in 1997. He was named to the Board of Directors of the Bloomsburg University Foundation in 2012 and serves on the executive committee, the Capital Campaign Cabinet and is chairperson of the Strategic Planning Committee.

California – Terence Carter, executive vice president of drama and comedy development at 20th Century Fox Television, will speak during separate graduate and undergraduate ceremonies to be held in the Convocation Center. Carter, who joined the network in 2009, has been responsible for developing and overseeing shows such as Empire, Gotham, The X-Files, Glee, Bones and more. He is the great-great grandson of Elizabeth “Jennie” Adams Carter, California’s first African-American graduate.

Jennie Adams Carter graduated with a normal school diploma in 1881 and went on to become a respected teacher, school administrator and orator. Her photo and related artifacts are displayed in Carter Hall, a Cal U residence hall that also houses the university’s Multicultural Center.

The graduate ceremony will be held at 7 p.m., May 10; the undergraduate program, at 10 a.m., May 11.

Cheyney – Susan L. Taylor, who served as editor-in-chief of Essence magazine for 27 years, will speak to graduates at 10 a.m., May 11, in the Marian Anderson Music Center auditorium. Taylor now runs the National CARES Mentoring Movement, a mentor recruitment organization dedicated to “changing the predictable futures defined for our young men and women who are struggling along the margins and living with the indignity of poverty.”

Clarion – Faculty representing each of the three university colleges will give the keynote addresses at separate ceremonies scheduled for May 4 in the auditorium of Marwick-Boyd Fine Arts Center.

Dr. Brandon Packard, assistant professor in the Department of Computing and Information Science, will speak at the ceremony for those receiving degrees from the College of Business Administration and Information Sciences. The program will begin at 10 a.m. Dr. Deborah Kelly, assistant professor and chair of the Department of Nursing, will address graduates from the College of Health Science and Human Services at 1 p.m. English professor Dr. Ralph Leary will speak to students in the College of Arts, Education and Sciences at 4 p.m.

Dr. Ray Feroz, chair of the Department of Human Services, Rehabilitation, Health and Sport Sciences, is the scheduled speaker for graduates from the Venango Campus. The ceremony will be held at 6:30 p.m., May 3, in Robert W. Rhoades gymnasium.

East Stroudsburg – Lieutenant General Susan Lawrence (Ret) will address undergraduates who will receive their degrees in a pair of ceremonies to be held at 8:45 a.m. and 1:45 p.m., May 11, in Koehler Fieldhouse. Lawrence is managing director of the national security practice for Accenture Federal Services.

Undergraduates in the colleges of Arts and Sciences and Education will receive their degrees during the morning ceremony. Philip P. Andujar, a social work major from Milford, also will speak during the program.  Students in the colleges of Business and Management and Health Sciences will be awarded their degree at the afternoon ceremony. Darian L. Cruz, a communication sciences and disorders student from Northampton, will be the student speaker.

Graduate students will receive their degrees during a separate ceremony to be held at 7 p.m., May 10, also in Koehler Fieldhouse. Evelyn Farah, a communication sciences and disorders graduate student from Saylorsburg, will be the speaker.

Edinboro – LaToya Ruby Frazier, an internationally recognized visual artist and social justice advocate, will be the keynote speaker at the undergraduate ceremony scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., May 4, in McComb Fieldhouse. Anna C. George, who will receive a Bachelor of Science in early childhood and special education degree during the ceremony, also will address her classmates.

Frazier, who earned a bachelor’s degree in applied media arts from Edinboro in 2004, also will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters during the ceremony. Chosen by Ebony magazine as one of the 100+ Most Powerful Women of All Time, Frazier uses photography, video and performance art to capture the effects of economic erosion, racism, healthcare inequality and environmental toxicity in post-industrial cities. She is an associate professor of photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Graduate students also will receive their degrees May 4, in a separate ceremony to be held at 2 p.m. in Louis C. Cole Auditorium. Rebecca May Keller, who will receive a Master of Arts in communication studies, will be the speaker.

Indiana – A trio of graduating students will address their classmates during ceremonies scheduled for May 10 and 11 in the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex. Graduate students will receive their master’s and doctoral degrees at 7 p.m., May 10. Rachel Schiera of Indiana, who will receive a Doctor of Education degree in curriculum and instruction, will be the student speaker. Undergraduates in the Kopchick College Natural Sciences and Mathematics and the College of Health and Human Services will receive their degrees in a ceremony scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., May 11, while those in the colleges of Education and Communications, Fine Arts and Humanities and Social Sciences and the Eberly College of Business and Information Technology will be presented with their degrees in an afternoon program set to begin at 2 p.m.  Tegan Kriebel, an education, family and consumer sciences major from Punxsutawney, Stephanie Raby-Reeger, an anthropology major from Black Lick, will be the student speakers at the morning and afternoon ceremonies, respectively.

Kutztown – Outstanding students and faculty will speak during a trio of ceremonies to be held May 10 and 11 in O’Pake Fieldhouse.

Graduate students will receive their degrees at 5 p.m., May 10. Letecia Garcia, a clinical counseling major, will be the student speaker; and Dr. Paula Holoviak, professor of political science and public administration, will be the faculty speaker.

Undergraduate students from the colleges of Education and Liberal Arts and Sciences will receive their degrees during ceremonies scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., May 11. Grant Fickes, a mathematics major, will be the student speaker. Physical sciences professor Dr. Kurt Friehauf will be the faculty speaker.
 
Graduates from the colleges of Business and Visual and Performing Arts will receive their degrees during the afternoon program, scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. Amanda Meck, a business administration major, will be the student speaker; and Dr. Amy Pfeiler-Wunder, professor of art education, will be the faculty speaker.

Lock Haven – Lock Have University alumnus Philip Evans, president and CEO at ProtoCall Services in Portland, Oregon, will address both undergraduate and graduate students during separate ceremonies to be held May 10 and 11. Evans earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from LHU in 1986.

Graduate students will receive their degrees at 7 p.m., May 10, in Thomas Fieldhouse. The undergraduate program will be held beginning at 10 a.m., May 11, in Hubert Jack Stadium.

Mansfield – State System Chancellor Daniel Greenstein will be the keynote speaker for commencement ceremonies scheduled to begin at 11 a.m., May 4, at Karl Van Norman Field.

Millersville – Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Pedro A. Rivera will address undergraduates at 10 a.m., May 11, in Biemesderfer Stadium. Hugh Herr will receive the presidential medallion. Rivera is a first-generation college graduate, having earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Pennsylvania State University and a master’s degree in education administration from Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. He was appointed secretary of education by Governor Tom Wolf in 2015. Previously, he was superintendent of The School District of Lancaster.

The graduate commencement ceremony will be held at 6:30 p.m., May 10, in Pucillo Gymnasium.

Shippensburg – Two-time Super Bowl champion John Kuhn will be the speaker for the undergraduate ceremony scheduled for 11 a.m., May 11, in Seth Grove Stadium. Kuhn, a 2004 graduate, recently announced his retirement from the NFL. He was a two-time ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-American while at Shippensburg, receiving the honor after both his junior and senior seasons. He won Super Bowl rings playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers.

The graduate ceremony will be held at 7 p.m., May 10, in the Luhrs Performing Arts Center.

Slippery Rock – Graduate students will receive their degrees at 7 p.m., May 10. The program for undergraduates in the colleges of Health, Environment and Sciences and Liberal Arts will be held at 10 a.m., May 11; and for those in the colleges of Business and Education, at 2 p.m., the same day.

West Chester – Student speakers will highlight the 14 separate undergraduate commencement ceremonies scheduled for May 10-12 at West Chester. The departmental programs will be held in either Hollinger Field House or Emilie Asplundh Concert Hall.

West Chester President Christopher Fiorentino will attend the graduate ceremony at 6 p.m., May 11, in Hollinger. Two additional ceremonies will be held May 13 at the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel Philadelphia Center for students who attended classes at the university’s Philadelphia campus. The undergraduate ceremony will be held at 5 p.m., and the graduate program at 7 p.m.

Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education oversees 14 four-year public universities educating more than 90,000 students across the Commonwealth. The State System offers more than 2,300 degrees and certificates in more than 530 academic areas.