Penn State Berks to hold two commencement ceremonies May 4

WYOMISSING, Pa. — Penn State Berks will hold two separate ceremonies for its spring 2019 commencement. On Saturday, May 4, the first commencement ceremony will be held for students graduating from the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS) division and the Science division at 10 a.m. The second ceremony for students graduating from the Engineering, Business, and Computing (EBC) division will be held at 2 p.m. Both ceremonies will be held on the Perkins Plaza. In the event of inclement weather, the ceremonies will be held in the Beaver Community Center.

For the HASS and Science divisions ceremony at 10 a.m., students are required to arrive at the Perkins Student Center at 9 a.m. for registration, instructions, and robing. Guests must arrive no later than 9:45 a.m. for seating; the Beaver Community Center will open at 8:30 a.m. There will be a reception prior to the ceremony, from 7:30 to 9 a.m. in the Multipurpose Room, located in the Perkins Student Center. For more information about degrees within the HASS division, visit the HASS division webpage and for the Science division, visit the Science division webpage.

For the EBC ceremony at 2 p.m., students are required to arrive at the Perkins Student Center at 1 p.m. for registration, instructions, and robing. Guests must arrive no later than 1:45 p.m. for seating; the Beaver Community Center will open at 12:30 p.m. There will be a reception immediately following the ceremony in the Multipurpose Room, located in the Perkins Student Center. For more information about degrees within the EBC division, visit the EBC division webpage.

The decision to hold two separate spring commencement ceremonies was necessitated by the growing number of degree graduates; the first year this took place was 2015. This May, a new class of more than 200 Penn State Berks students will participate in the ceremony, receiving their baccalaureate and associate degrees. This semester nearly 300 students will earn their degrees from Penn State Berks.

Jay Sidhu, chairman and chief executive officer of Customers Bank, will be the commencement speaker for both ceremonies. Previously, he served as the chief executive officer of Sovereign Bank and Sovereign Bancorp, Inc. from 1989 and then as chairman from 2002 until his retirement in December 2006. He was also the chairman and chief executive officer of Sidhu Advisors, LLC, a consulting firm, from 2007 to 2009.

Sidhu is a recipient of Financial World’s CEO of the Year Award, and was also named Turnaround Entrepreneur of the Year while he was the CEO of Sovereign. In 2016, he was named Financial Technology Entrepreneur of the Year. He has received many other awards and honors, including a Hero of Liberty Award from the National Liberty Museum. Sidhu earned an master of business administration from Wilkes University, and he went on to help establish the Jay Sidhu School of Business and Leadership at his alma mater. He is also a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Leadership Course for CEOs.