Colorado State University Fall Commencement ceremonies set for Dec. 15-16
Contact for reporters:
Kate Jeracki
kate.jeracki@colostate.edu
970-491-2658
970-980-3678 (cell)
Colorado State University expects to confer degrees on nearly 1,900 graduates during Fall 2017 commencement ceremonies Dec. 15-16.
College ceremonies and the ROTC commissioning will recognize 1,373 undergraduate and 519 graduate students, and four Army ROTC commissionees. Twelve undergraduates are candidates for distinction as summa cum laude, 35 magna cum laude and 70 cum laude.
The ceremonies will be held in Moby Arena and the Lory Student Center. An interactive map for locations and parking is available at maps.colostate.edu. Commencement ceremonies, with the exception of the ROTC commissioning, will be webcast live.
Schedule of Commencement Ceremonies
Friday, Dec. 15
10 a.m., Army ROTC Commissioning, LSC North Ballroom
1 p.m., University Honors Recognition Ceremony, LSC Ballroom
3 p.m., Graduate School, Moby Arena
6 p.m., Warner College of Natural Resources, LSC Ballroom
7 p.m., College of Business, Moby Arena
Saturday, Dec. 16
9 a.m., College of Agricultural Sciences, LSC Ballroom
9 a.m., College of Liberal Arts, Moby Arena
12:30 p.m., Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering, LSC Ballroom
2 p.m., College of Health and Human Sciences, Moby Arena
4 p.m., College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, LSC Ballroom
6 p.m., College of Natural Sciences, Moby Arena
Speakers to share insights with graduates
Brigadier General Michael Jay Willis
Army ROTC Commissioning
Brigadier General Willis is Assistant Adjutant General – Cyber, Space and Missile Defense, Colorado National Guard. His duties include current operational oversight and emerging mission capabilities and technologies advocacy in the critical mission area of Space and Cyber with a specific focus on Mid-Course Missile Defense, Army Space Support Teams, Space Support Elements, Computer Network Defense Teams and Cyber Protection Team.
In addition, he provides leadership for the soldiers and airmen of the Colorado National Guard serving in the 100th Missile Defense Brigade, the 117th Space Support Battalion and the 233rd Space Warning Squadron.
A graduate of the ROTC program at the University of Colorado in 1989 with a degree in psychology, Willis also holds a master’s degree in space operations management from Webster University and is a 2012 graduate of the U.S. Army War College.
Willis has held numerous command positions serving overseas and has been awarded the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal (with four Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters) and a host of other awards and decorations.
Ken Barbarick, Ph.D.
College of Agricultural Sciences
Ken Barbarick, professor of soil science, is a University Distinguished Teaching Scholar and Associate Dean of Academic Programs in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Colorado State University. He has served as a faculty member in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences since 1979. He is also a Fellow in the Soil Science Society of America, American Society of Agronomy and the National Association of College and Teachers of Agriculture.
Best known for his innovative teaching approach and dry wit, Barbarick teaches Introductory Soil Sciences, a foundational course for many undergraduate majors. His primary goal in this course is to serve students by making his large classes deeply personal and impactful as they become experts in the foundations of soil science.
Barbarick’s peers seek him out as a mentor, friend, adviser and also seek to emulate his accomplishment as a remarkable teacher. National awards for teaching include the USDA-NASULGC Food and Agriculture Sciences Excellence in Teaching Award (2004), Soil Science Education Award from the Soil Science Society of America (1991) and the Agronomic Resident Education Award from the American Society of Agronomy (1990).
Sonny Lubick
College of Business
Sonny Lubick first came to Colorado State University in 1982 as the offensive coordinator for Leon Fuller’s original football coaching staff. Following highly successful assistant coaching stints at Stanford and Miami, Lubick returned to CSU in 1993 to become the head coach of the Rams. His success is among the greatest of any head football coach in school history, winning six conference championships and taking nine of his 15 teams to bowl games. During his career, Lubick produced five All-Americans and seven academic All-Americans along with 61 first-team all-conference players and 112 academic all-conference players.
Lubick was named the conference coach of the year in 1994, ’97, ’99 and 2000. In 1994, Sports Illustrated named him the National Coach of the Year. The at the new on-campus stadium is named after the legendary coach, as was the field at Hughes Stadium. When Lubick left after the 2007 season, he had produced more than 40 professional football players in the NFL.
Lubick now teaches a leadership seminar in the CSU College of Business every semester.
Carla Dore
College of Health and Human Sciences
Carla Dore is the president and owner of Workplace Resource, a Herman Miller certified dealer, recognized as one of Colorado’s largest office furniture dealers. She began her career with Workplace Resource in 1990, eventually becoming president in 2002. In 2011, she purchased the organization from Herman Miller Inc., at which time she applied for and received her Women’s Business Enterprise National Council Certification and Woman Owned Small Business Certification.
Dore is extensively involved in the Colorado community. She is co-chairperson of the executive committee for the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp., a past board chairperson for The Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center, and current board trustee for the Metro Denver YMCA. Dore also takes an active role in several other organizations including Denver Kids Inc., the College of Health and Human Sciences at Colorado State University, and Project Angel Heart.
A 1983 graduate of CSU, Dore holds degrees in both Interior Design and Industrial Construction Management. Prior to joining Workplace Resource, she acquired considerable experience at major design firms in the Chicago and Denver metro areas.
Bruce Bodaken
College of Liberal Arts
Bruce Bodaken served as the chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Blue Shield of California from 2000 to 2012, and currently serves on the board of directors of Rite Aid Corp.; WageWorks, Inc., a consumer directed health plan provider; AltheaDX, a molecular diagnostics company; and the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on value and science-driven health care. He is a visiting scholar at the Brookings Institution and recently joined the faculty at University of California, Berkeley, in the Division of Health Policy Management. He is a co-author (with Robert Fritz) of The Managerial Moment of Truth, and taught philosophy at the university level before his career in health care.
Bodaken came to Colorado State University from his native Iowa, lived in Corbett Hall where he met lifelong friends, and studied history and political science until he found his home in philosophy. He graduated from CSU in 1973 with a bachelor’s in philosophy and later received a master’s in philosophy from the University of Colorado.
Bodaken has a great passion for the discipline of philosophy and has reconnected with his undergraduate program at CSU. He currently lives in the San Francisco area and has two sons, one of which is a CSU graduate. Bodaken enjoys traveling, tennis and visiting with his son, daughter-in-law and, most importantly, his two grandchildren.
Brent Keeler, M.D.
College of Natural Sciences
Dr. Brent Keeler is a Colorado native and a graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School. He received his bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University in 1974, with a major in physical science. He earned his M.D. from the University of Colorado in 1977, after which he served for four years as an obstetrics and gynecology resident physician at Exempla St. Joseph’s Hospital in Denver. He is board certified in Ob/Gyn and has delivered more than 5,000 babies during his career.
Keeler has held leadership positions in the medical community, including chief of staff at The Medical Center of Aurora, president of the Colorado Gynecological and Obstetrical Society, and president of the Colorado Medical Society. He met his wife, Marianne (B.S., Biological Science, ‘73) at CSU. Together they are longtime supporters of the College of Natural Sciences’ Women in Natural Sciences program.
Frank Ostojic
Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering
Frank Ostojic is senior vice president and general manager of the ASIC Products Division at Broadcom. In this role, he is responsible for product strategy and product development that enables APD to grow in market share and revenue in the networking, machine learning, and high-end computing sector. He has held this position since 2007. In 2007, the ASIC division generated $100 million in sales; today the division generates $1 billion in sales. Ostojic leads an organization with 500 engineers, with teams located in Colorado, California, China, India, and Singapore.
Ostojic came to the company as a design engineer for computer ICs in 1996 through a series of acquisitions and roles with HP and then Agilent. He has held a variety of senior research engineer positions and has managed software, test, hardware, and marketing teams.
Ostojic holds a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Brigham Young University and a master of science in electrical and computing Engineering from Colorado State University. Ostojic enjoys traveling with his family during vacations and is a long-distance runner who has completed 13 marathons.