University Park, Pa. -- Penn State will hold its 2004 summer commencement ceremonies at University Park on Saturday, Aug. 14, for 1,976 total graduating students.
An estimated five associate, 1,253 baccalaureate and 718 graduate degree students will be recognized at the ceremonies. The associate and baccalaureate ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. in The Bryce Jordan Center, and The Graduate School ceremony will begin at 2:30 p.m. in Eisenhower Auditorium.
Throughout the Penn State system, an estimated 173 will graduate with associate degrees, 1,556 with baccalaureate degrees and 966 with graduate degrees, for a systemwide total of 2,695 summer graduates.
This summer, Penn State's honorary degree recipient is Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jody Williams, campaign ambassador for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). Williams will address graduates receiving their associate and baccalaureate degrees at the 10 a.m. ceremony.
Only the third woman in the United States and the 10th worldwide to receive a Nobel Peace Prize, Williams has been lauded for her work to eliminate antipersonnel landmines worldwide and is praised as an international organizer, activist, teacher and writer on human rights and international law, the role of civil society in international diplomacy, and individual initiative in bringing about social change.
Addressing students at The Graduate School ceremony at 2:30 p.m. will be Joanna Floros, professor of cellular and molecular physiology, pediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology at Penn State College of Medicine. Floros leads a research program that looks at understanding the basis of individual variability to susceptibility of pulmonary disease. A graduate of Temple University School of Medicine with postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School, Floros has been recognized nationally by such organization as the American Lung Association and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
For a complete schedule of summer commencement ceremonies and activities, visit http://www.psu.edu/ur/grads/