University Park, Pa. -- The University Park campus will hold its spring commencement ceremonies for approximately 7,129 associate, baccalaureate and graduate degree students on May 14 and 15.
As of mid-April, 7,129 students are scheduled to receive degrees at the University Park ceremonies. That figure includes 26 associate, 6,137 baccalaureate, 743 master's and 223 doctoral degree students. Systemwide, Penn State will graduate a total of 10,010 students -- approximately 703 with associate degrees, 7,641 baccalaureate degrees, 1,380 graduate degrees, 115 medical degrees, and 171 juris doctorate degrees.
This year, Penn State's honorary degree recipients are Wallace Broecker, Newberry professor of geology at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory; Vernon E. Jordan Jr., senior managing director for Lazard Frères and Co. LLC; John C. Bogle, president of the Bogle Financial Markets Research Center; and Helene D. Gayle, director of the HIV, TB and Reproductive Health Program for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Broecker will speak and receive an honorary degree at the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences commencement ceremony at 8 p.m. Friday, May 14, in Eisenhower Auditorium. He is recognized as a pioneer in the development of techniques to study and understand changes in the earth's climate. Broecker was the first to identify the "great conveyor belt" of ocean currents and their possible effects on global climate changes. In addition, he is recognized as the world's leading interpreter of Earth's operation as a biological, chemical and physical system, and his groundbreaking research has contributed greatly to the understanding of chemical changes occurring in the ocean and atmosphere.
Jordan will speak and receive an honorary degree at the College of the Liberal Arts commencement ceremony at noon Saturday, May 15, in The Bryce Jordan Center. A presidential adviser and prominent lawyer renowned for his leadership in the civil rights movement, Jordan currently is a senior managing director of the investment firm Lazard Frères and Co. LLC. Previously, he served as the executive director of the United Negro College Fund and as president and CEO of the National Urban League.
Bogle will speak and receive an honorary degree at The Smeal College of Business Administration commencement ceremonies at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, May 15, in The Bryce Jordan Center. He is the founder of the internationally renowned investment company The Vanguard Group and is known for transforming the mutual fund industry by popularizing low-cost index investment funds. He now is president of the Bogle Financial Markets Research Center.
Gayle will speak and received an honorary degree at the Penn State College of Medicine commencement ceremony at 1 p.m. Sunday, May 16, in Founders Hall of the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. A physician and public-health researcher, Gayle is one of the leading authorities on HIV/AIDS research, policy and programs. As director of the HIV, TB and Reproductive Health Program for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, she leads a tireless effort to educate the public and to prevent the further spread of HIV/AIDS. Before joining the Gates Foundation, Gayle was the director of the National Center for HIV, Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Tuberculosis at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The commencement schedule follows:
Friday, May 14
3 p.m.: ROTC commissioning ceremony in Schwab Auditorium. Maj. Gen. C. Robert Kehler, U.S. Air Force, will speak.
5 p.m.: Schreyer Honors College medals ceremony in Eisenhower Auditorium.
8 p.m.: The College of Earth and Mineral Sciences commencement ceremony in Eisenhower Auditorium. Wallace Broecker, honorary degree recipient, will speak.
8 p.m.: The College of Engineering commencement ceremony in The Bryce Jordan Center. Michael A. Brunner, retired president of AT&T Federal Systems, will speak.
Saturday, May 15
9 a.m.: The College of Agricultural Sciences commencement ceremony in Eisenhower Auditorium. Kathleen A. McGinty, secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, will speak.
9 a.m.: The College Health and Human Development commencement ceremony in The Bryce Jordan Center. K. David Boyer Jr., chairman and CEO of MacKenzie Associates, will speak.
9 a.m.: The College of Communications commencement ceremony in Rec Hall. Alan Pottasch, creative consultant for PepsiCo Worldwide, will speak.
Noon: The College of Arts and Architecture commencement ceremony in Eisenhower Auditorium. Jack Travis, principal architect for JTA Studios, will speak.
Noon: The College of the Liberal Arts commencement ceremony in The Bryce Jordan Center. Vernon Jordan, honorary degree recipient, will speak.
2 p.m.: The Eberly College of Science commencement ceremony in Rec Hall. France Cordova, chancellor of the University of California at Riverside, will speak.
4:30 p.m.: The School of Information Sciences and Technology commencement ceremony in Eisenhower Auditorium. Donald A. Haile, president and CIO of Fidelity Investments, will speak.
4:30 p.m.: The Smeal College of Business Administration commencement ceremony in The Bryce Jordan Center. John C. Bogle, honorary degree recipient, will speak.
4:30 p.m.: The College of Education commencement ceremony in Rec Hall. Stanley O. Ikenberry, regent professor of educational organization and leadership, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will speak.
7:30 p.m.: The Graduate School commencement ceremony in Rec Hall. Richard Alley, Evan Pugh professor of geosciences, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, will speak.