Colorado State University to Celebrate Largest Graduating Class During Commencement May 16-17
Colorado State University will hold its spring commencement ceremonies on Friday, May 16, and Saturday, May 17, when more than 3,500 degrees will be conferred.
Degrees to be awarded for spring commencement include 2,654 bachelor’s degrees, 614 master’s degrees, 151 doctoral degrees and 134 Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degrees.
Colorado State President Larry Edward Penley also will confer an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, on Michael Smith, chairman and chief executive officer of Freeport Liquefied Natural Gas Development. The degree is being awarded to Smith in recognition of his visionary contributions made to energy development, local economies and the communities in which he has lived. He will receive the degree at Colorado State’s Graduate School commencement ceremony at 3 p.m. Friday, May 16, in Moby Arena.
Gov. Bill Ritter, who graduated 30 years ago from Colorado State, will be among the commencement speakers addressing the College of Liberal Arts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 17, at Moby Arena. Ritter was elected Colorado’s 41st governor in 2006 – the first Colorado-born governor in more than 35 years. His address will be broadcast via the Web at http://cope.colostate.edu/commencement.
Other commencement speakers include the following.
– Elizabeth Caldwell Walzel, director of Design Engineering and Project Execution for the Houston Engineering Center of The Dow Chemical Company, will speak at the College of Engineering ceremony at 11:30 a.m. Friday, May 16, at Moby Arena. Walzel joined Dow in 1984 after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Colorado State. Her work experience includes 14 years of plant operations as well as assignments in Environmental Services, Process Engineering, Integrated Supply Chain and Global Technology Centers.
– Matthew Hickey, associate professor of Health and Exercise Science and director of the Human Performance Clinical/Research Laboratory at Colorado State, will speak at the College of Applied Human Sciences ceremony at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 16, at Moby Arena. Hickey has been recognized with the College of Applied Human Sciences Tenure-Track Faculty Teaching Excellence Award, the Alumni Association Best Teacher Award and most recently with the 2008 College of Applied Human Sciences Outstanding Teacher Award.
– Mary Cleave, former astronaut, will speak at the College of Natural Sciences ceremony at 8 a.m. Saturday, May 17, at Moby Arena. Cleave is one of a small group of people to have seen the earth from space. Selected as an astronaut in 1980, she is a veteran mission specialist on two Space Shuttle Atlantis flights. Cleave has logged nearly four million miles in space. Cleave has received two NASA Space Flight Medals, two NASA Exceptional Service medals, an American Astronautical Society Flight Achievement Award, a NASA Exceptional Achievement Award, a NASA Engineer of the Year Award and the Colorado State University Honor Alumna Award.
– Tom L. Thompson, president of the Society of American Foresters, will speak at the Warner College of Natural Resources ceremony at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 17, at the Lory Student Center Main Ballroom. The Society of American Foresters represents over 14,000 professional foresters throughout the United States. Thompson is a native of Colorado and graduated from Colorado State University’s College of Forestry and Natural Resources. He was a leader in helping the Forest Service celebrate its centennial in 2005 by organizing the Centennial Congress and acting as principal adviser for the film, "The Greatest Good."
– Jerold L. Harris, president and chief executive officer of U.S. AgBank, FCB, will speak at the College of Agricultural Sciences ceremony at noon Saturday, May 17, at Moby Arena. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Business from Colorado State in 1963, Harris began his career of service to farmers and ranchers as a loan officer trainee with the Federal Land Bank of Wichita. His focus has been on working toward solutions that serve the greater good of agriculture and, correspondingly, the Farm Credit System. In 2007, Harris was the recipient of the Colorado State University Distinguished Ag Alumni Award.
Colorado State’s full commencement schedule follows.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Professional Veterinary Medicine
8 a.m.
Moby Arena
Air Force ROTC Commissioning
8:30 a.m.
Lory Student Center Main Ballroom
Army ROTC Commissioning
9 a.m.
Lory Student Center Theatre
Engineering
11:30 a.m.
Moby Arena
Graduate School
3 p.m.
Moby Arena
Applied Human Sciences
7:30 p.m.
Moby Arena
Biomedical Sciences
7:30 p.m.
Lory Student Center Main Ballroom
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Natural Sciences
8 a.m.
Moby Arena
Warner College of Natural Resources
9 a.m.
Lory Student Center Main Ballroom
Agricultural Sciences
Noon
Moby Arena
Business
3:30 p.m.
Moby Arena
Liberal Arts
7:30 p.m.
Moby Arena
Both the Graduate School and College of Liberal Arts ceremonies will be broadcast live on the Web and can be accessed by visiting http://cope.colostate.edu/commencement any time during the ceremony.
For more information about commencement ceremonies, visit commencement.colostate.edu.