Colorado State University to Hold Spring Commencement Ceremonies May 11 and 12

Colorado State University will confer degrees on spring 2012 graduates at commencement ceremonies May 11 and 12.

College ceremonies and two ROTC commissionings will recognize 2,892 undergraduates, 125 professional veterinary medicine students and 930 graduate students, of which 71 are doctoral students. Fifty-five students are candidates to graduate summa cum laude, 121 are candidates to graduate magna cum laude and 233 are candidates to graduate cum laude.

Commencement ceremonies, with the exception of the ROTC commissionings, will be webcast live at commencement.colostate.edu.

Colorado State will confer an honorary doctoral degree on business leader and philanthropist Dick Monfort at the Graduate School Commencement at 3 p.m. on May 11.

CSU President Tony Frank will award the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, to Monfort in recognition of his significant contributions to Colorado, industry and higher education. A Colorado native, Monfort is owner/chairman and chief executive officer for the Colorado Rockies Major League Baseball Club and is now in his 15th season with the franchise while holding these responsibilities.

Commencement speakers for this year’s ceremonies include the following.

– U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner will speak at the College of Agricultural Sciences’ commencement ceremony at noon May 12 at Moby Arena. Gardner is a fifth-generation Coloradoan with family roots dating back to 1886. He grew up working in his family’s farm implement dealership where he did everything from sweep the floors to manage the books and order inventory. Gardner served in the state legislature for five years prior to being elected to Congress to represent the state’s 4th Congressional District. During his tenure in the Colorado General Assembly, he created the Colorado Clean Energy Authority, which brought millions of dollars of economic development to the state. He brought high-tech telemedicine to rural communities and was a strong voice for rural families and small businesses. His first order of business after being sworn in as a member of the United States House of Representatives was to co-sponsor a balanced budget amendment and vote to cut 5 percent from his congressional office budget. As a member of Congress, Cory serves on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which has jurisdiction ranging over national energy policy to interstate and foreign communications.

– Dorothy Horrell, president of the Bonfils Stanton Foundation, will speak at the College of Applied Human Sciences’ commencement ceremony at 7:30 p.m. May 11 at Moby Arena. Horell is from Holyoke, Colo., and attended Colorado State University, where she received bachelor’s through doctorate degrees from the School of Education in the College of Applied Human Sciences. Her focus on vocational education and research on the per¬sistence and success of community college students who transferred to four year colleges, as compared to traditional four-year students, have served her well in her distinguished career in higher education spanning nearly three decades. Her roles have included service as president of the Community Colleges of Colorado and president of Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood. She has led the Bonfils Stanton Foundation as president since 2002. A passionate and energetic leader, Horrell has dedicated her life to leading organizations and institutions, helping them be more strategic and better connected to the community, where they may leave a positive impact on our world.

– Terry A. Ruhl serves as the senior vice president and director of consulting and international operations for the Transportation Business Group at CH2M HILL, a global infrastructure company with $6.3 billion in revenue and almost 30,000 employees. He will speak at the College of Engineering commencement ceremony at 11:30 a.m. May 11 at Moby Arena. Based at CH2M HILL’s Denver Headquarters, Ruhl leads the Aviation, Highway and Bridge, Ports and Maritime, and Transit and Rail Market Segments. Prior to this appointment, Ruhl held the role of Aviation Market Segment director from 2006 to 2009, directing growth and business strategies for the group. He is nationally recognized as an expert in airport planning and design and also has significant experience in various modes of transportation, including highway, bridge, rail and pedestrian facilities. Most recently, Ruhl has been involved with some of the world’s most challenging airport programs, including major programs in Mumbai, India; Washington, D.C.; Chicago, Illinois; Palm Beach, Florida; and Memphis, Tennessee. He has also served as lead/senior transportation planner for various transportation planning and traffic engineering projects, including the development of multimodal transportation plans, corridor studies and interchange/intersection functional design projects. He currently serves on the CH2M HILL Joint Venture Board responsible for implementing the multi- billion dollar nationwide Amtrak stimulus program.

– Douglass Given and Bruce Given will speak at the College of Natural Sciences’ commencement ceremony at 8 a.m. May 12 at Moby Arena. Douglass Given is an Investment Partner at Bay City Capital. He was formerly chief executive officer and a director of NeoRx, corporate senior vice president and chief technical officer of Mallinckrodt, and chief executive officer and a director of Progenitor and Mercator Genetics. He is chairman of the Visiting Committee, University of Chicago Medical Center, Division of Biological Sciences and the Pritzker School of Medicine, a member of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Advisory Board, and the Harvard School of Public Health AIDS Initiative International Advisory Council. Bruce Given is chief operating officer of Arrowhead Research Corporation. Given served as president, chief executive officer and member of the board of directors of Encysive Pharmaceuticals. Since 2010, he has served as chief executive officer of Leonardo Biosystems, Inc., a company in which Arrowhead maintains a minority equity interest, and he also has served as a director of Calando Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a subsidiary of Arrowhead, since 2009. Additionally, Given has served on the Board of Directors of ICON, plc since 2004 and was elected chairman in 2010.

– Mike King, executive director of Colorado’s Department of Natural Resources, will speak at the Warner College of Natural Resources’ commencement ceremony at 9 a.m. May 12 at the Lory Student Center Main Ballroom. King is a native West Slope Coloradan. He became assistant director for Lands, Minerals and Energy Policy in January of 2006 and was appointed deputy director of the Department of Natural Resources in September of 2006. King was appointed executive director of DNR in May 2010. He was reappointed to the position by Gov. John Hickenlooper in January 2011. Prior to his employment in the Executive Director’s Office, King worked in the Policy and Regulation Section at the Colorado Division of Wildlife in various capacities for six years and was assistant attorney general from 1993-1999.

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

May 11

– Professional Veterinary Medicine, 8 a.m., Moby Arena
– Air Force ROTC Commissioning, 8 a.m., Griffin Hall, University Center for the Arts
– Army ROTC Commissioning, 9:30 a.m., Lory Student Center, Main Ballroom
– College of Engineering, 11:30 a.m., Moby Arena
– Graduate School, 3 p.m., Moby Arena
– College of Applied Human Sciences, 7:30 p.m., Moby Arena
– College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, 7:30 p.m., Lory Student Center, Main Ballroom

May 12
– College of Natural Sciences, 8 a.m., Moby Arena
– Warner College of Natural Resources, 9 a.m., Lory Student Center, Main Ballroom
– College of Agricultural Sciences, noon, Moby Arena
– College of Business, 3:30 p.m., Moby Arena
– College of Liberal Arts, 7:30 p.m., Moby Arena

For more information about commencement ceremonies at Colorado State University, visit commencement.colostate.edu.
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