Colorado State University Announces December Commencement Ceremonies on Dec. 18 and 19

Colorado State University will confer degrees on fall 2009 graduates at commencement ceremonies Dec. 18 and 19.

College ceremonies and an ROTC commissioning will recognize 1,464 undergraduates and 347 graduate students, of which 67 are doctoral students. Twelve students will graduate summa cum laude, 30 will graduate magna cum laude and 63 will graduate cum laude.

Commencement ceremonies, with the exception of the ROTC commissioning, will be webcast live this year. The ceremonies can be found at commencement.colostate.edu.

CSU will honor Professor C.N.R. Rao, chief advisor to the Prime Minister of India for science and technology, with an honorary doctoral degree at the Graduate School Commencement ceremony Friday, Dec. 18 at 3 p.m. at Moby Arena. Rao, who is honorary president of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bangalore, India, also plans to sign an International Memorandum of Understanding with Colorado State University on Friday. The agreement encourages research collaboration and student exchanges between the Centre and Colorado State.

Commencement speakers for this year’s ceremonies include:

– Laura Pritchett, an author whose works address natural resource issues, will speak at the Warner College of Natural Resources commencement ceremony at 7 p.m. on Dec. 18 at the Lory Student Center Main Ballroom. Her book “Sky Bridge” is the winner of the WILLA Literary Award and a finalist for the Dublin International Award and the Colorado Book Award. Pritchett has also written a collection of short stories, “Hell’s Bottom, Colorado,” winner of the PEN USA award and the Milkweed National Fiction Prize. Pritchett received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English at Colorado State University and her doctorate degree in Contemporary American literature/creative writing at Purdue University. She teaches writing around the country and is a member of the faculty at Denver’s Lighthouse Writers Workshop.

– CSU President Tony Frank will speak at the College of Applied Human Sciences commencement ceremony at 7 p.m. on Dec. 18 at Moby Arena. Frank became the 14th President of Colorado State University on June 24, 2009. He had served as Interim President of CSU since November 2008, after having served the university for more than 16 years including four years as Provost and Senior Vice President. Frank earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from Wartburg College and his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Illinois. He completed a Ph.D. and residencies in pathology and toxicology at Purdue University. He served on the faculty at Oregon State University before joining Colorado State in 1993, where he served as chairman of the Department of Pathology and Associate Dean for Research in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

– Michael Logan, senior vice president of the Bank of Oklahoma’s Denver Energy loan production office, will speak at the College of Natural Sciences commencement ceremony at 9 a.m. on Dec. 19 at Moby Arena. Logan graduated from Colorado State University in 1973 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. Since then, Logan has spent an extensive part of his career working for publicly traded com-panies in the finance industry. He served as vice president of the Energy and Minerals Group for Wells Fargo Bank in Denver and was both secretary and vice president of Corporate Development for Natural Gas Marketing with Columbus EnergyCorp./Consolidated Oil & Gas, Inc. Logan is an active member of the Denver community, having rep¬resented District 1 on the Greenwood Village City Council for eight years and the Planning and Zoning Commission for two years. He also served on the board of directors for the Greenwood Village Chamber of Commerce, Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Metro Denver, the Independent Petroleum Association of America, and Top of the Rockies Home of the Denver Petroleum Club.

– Bill Hammerich, chief executive officer of the Colorado Livestock Association, will speak at the College of Agricultural Sciences commencement ceremony at 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 19 at the Lory Student Center Main Ballroom. Hammerich grew up on a ranch near Rifle on the Western Slope of Colorado. He graduated from Colorado State University with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics. Hammerich spent several years in the cattle feeding industry working for industry leaders such as Monfort, Farr Feeders and Cattco. From 1991 to 1992, he served as president of the Colorado Cattle Feeders Association, the predecessor organization to the Colorado Livestock Association. Hammerich joined the Colorado Livestock Association as CEO in May 2002.

– Tery R. Larrew will speak at the College of Business commencement ceremony at 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 19 at Moby Arena. Larrew is a Colorado native and a graduate of Colorado State University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. As a three-year varsity basketball player, he was honored three times as Outstanding Defensive Player and twice as an All-Conference Player, as well as Most Valuable Player and an Academic All-American. In 1978, Larrew started Larrew & Company, a commercial real estate development, property management, real estate sales and mortgage brokerage firm. In 1982, Larrew joined Mid-Continent Computer Services, Inc., an online, real-time account processing com¬pany in Englewood, Colo.. After leading the company through a period of significant growth, he started Pinnacle Management LLC, a firm specializing in helping companies become profitable, growth-oriented businesses. During the next 20 years, Pinnacle Management became an incubation firm for founding several new companies. In 2006, Larrew established Caddis Capital LLC, as a private equity firm to provide private investors exclusive access to unique, high-yield investments.

– Judy Dorsey, founding president and principal engineer at Brendle Group, will speak at the College of Engineering commencement ceremony at 4 p.m. on Dec. 19 at the Lory Student Center Main Ballroom. Her 16-year career has included developing a unique expertise in engineering, centered on demonstrating the business case benefits of sustainability. In 2006, Dorsey helped form the Northern Colorado Clean Energy Cluster, a collaboration that is growing the regional economy around clean energy technologies. Dorsey now serves as the executive director of the cluster and is one of the thought leaders behind FortZED, an initiative to transform an area covering downtown Fort Collins and the CSU campus into a zero-energy district, the largest of its kind in the world. Dorsey also is a recognized leader in climate protection efforts throughout Colorado and the western United States. In 2006, she received the Climate Change Hero recognition at the Aspen Climate Action Conference, and she served on the Colorado Climate Action Panel to provide expertise and input to the state’s Climate Action Plan. In 2008, Dorsey was selected from more than 200 nominees for the Denver Business Journal’s Outstanding Women in Business award in the consultant category.

The following is a list of CSU commencement ceremony starting times and locations for each ceremony.

Dec. 18
– Army ROTC Commissioning, 1 p.m., 111 Military Science Building (Annex)
– Graduate School, 3 p.m., Moby Arena
– Warner College of Natural Resources, 7 p.m., Lory Student Center Main Ballroom
– College of Applied Human Sciences, 7 p.m., Moby Arena

Dec. 19
– College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, 9 a.m., Lory Student Center Main Ballroom
– College of Natural Sciences, 9 a.m., Moby Arena
– College of Agricultural Sciences, 12:30 p.m., Lory Student Center Main Ballroom
– College of Business, 12:30 p.m., Moby Arena
– College of Engineering, 4 p.m., Lory Student Center Main Ballroom
– College of Liberal Arts, 4 p.m., Moby Arena
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